Sustainable Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation: Challenges

This report examines the critical role of forests in supporting biodiversity and human well-being, emphasizing the need for sustainable forestry practices. It highlights the economic and social benefits derived from forest resources and the detrimental effects of deforestation and biodiversity loss. The report discusses the ecosystem services provided by forests, such as climate regulation, water purification, and provision of essential resources, and the threats posed by unsustainable forest management. It also explores the impacts of various policies and the challenges in data collection, using Australia as a case study. The report concludes by advocating for the implementation of sustainable forest policies to conserve biodiversity and ensure the long-term health of the planet. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar reports and solved assignments.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Sustainable Forestry and Biodiversity Conservation
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1SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Main issue
It can be said that forests are vital for the survival and well-being of humankind. The
forests harbor almost two thirds of all the Terrestrial plant and animal species and their provide
us with oxygen spiritual sustenance shelter and of course food and they are the chief source of
more than 6000 commercially traded goods that ranges from Timber to clothing and
pharmaceuticals also (Rainey et al., 2015). As a matter of fact the biodiversity of the Woods, like
the variety of species genes and most importantly forest’s ecosystems underpins these services
and goods and surely is the basis for long term stability and good health of the forests (Pearce,
2014). The purpose of this report is to promote various ways to use the diversity of the forests in
a sustainable manner and with clear economic and social benefit for the people who are in need.
Important facts
Biodiversity underpants the vitality and health of the forests and surely is the basis for
long range of ecosystem services which are vital for the well-being and livelihood of humankind.
Forests are decreasing as in most cases they are undervalued and the economy of the market fails
to realize the services that the ecosystem provides us utilizing the forests.
The biological resources of the forests is used in a proper manner main generate in valuable
social economic and cultural benefits and if this natural treasure gets destroyed it would affect
the poor population who immensely depend on the woods for their livelihoods (Naeem et al.,
2016).

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Forests are biologically more diverse than any other ecosystem and sustainable using the forest
resources and conserving them can effectively protect more than two thirds of all the land based
plant and animal species.
Valuing the biodiversity of the forests
According to the studies of TEEB it can be said that each factor of forest specially
tropical forests provide more than $6,000 per annum in ecosystem services and foreign example
soil stabilization, watershed protection, coastal protection, regulation of climate and carbon
storage can be mentioned. In this regard it should be mentioned that various products like rubber
fibres, oils which are economical you vital for National and local or regional level are produced
from the resources that forests provide. It is truly ironical that only a small fraction of the value
that the resources of the forests provide us is accounted for while making any economic
decisions regarding the future of the forests (Pearce, 2014). United Nations environment
programs initiatives like, the green economy and various other efforts are now present to
improve the way the resources provided by forests are valued regarding taking any economic
decisions.

3SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Services provided by the forests
Figure: Services of ecosystems and net monetary worth
Source: (Mori, Lertzman & Gustafsson, 2017)
It can be said that the ecosystems generate various benefits for the humankind. Just like
the ecosystem of river gives freshwater powerful supply and Recreation the forest provide us a
wide range of ecosystem services that includes supportive regulating provisioning and cultural
services which are mentioned above in the table.
Those services include the basic material needs for the survival of numerous land species
and also impacts on various aspects like health, well-being, security and many more. It is proved
that forests are one of the most biological e in reached Terrestrial systems and a wide range of
forest lake boreal temperate or tropical forests consist a huge range of animals, plants and

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microorganisms and harbour the majority of the Terrestrial species of this world (Liang et al.,
2016). Not only that it is seen that the forests which are ecologically intact, generally store and
purified drinking water and can mitigate natural disasters like floods and droughts and also help
to store carbon and regulating the climate. These forests produce rainfall provide food and also
they provide a wide range of products which are used for cultural spiritual and medicinal
purposes (Naeem et al., 2016). Thus it can be said that the health of the forest regions and the
ecosystem services that these forests provide immensely depends on the diversity between the
species the diversity of forest types and the Genetic diversity within the species.
The Millennium ecosystem assessment had undertaken a scientific research where more
than 1000 experts worked In 95 Nations around the world indicated that a major portion of the
forest ecosystems are threatened globally and are disappearing rapidly due to degradation and
loss of forest habitats and this imbalance in the diversity of the forests can potentially harm the
benefits of the humankind (Doak et al., 2015).
Impacts of various policies and sustainable forestry
Forestry surely has a range of negative impacts on the biodiversity and specially when
carried out in an uncontrolled manner designed to protect natural assets. It can be said that on
Sustainable forest operations on the resources of the forests like gathering fuel wood may lead to
the degradation of forest and create in balance in the biodiversity (Bicknell, Struebig & Davies,
2015). It is seen that globally more than half of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome
have been removed by humans. Illegal settlements illegal hunting and livelihoods of the forest
dwellers also can negatively affect the biodiversity that can potentially harm the interests of
mankind. It is a fact that the forest ecosystems are vital for storage of carbon and loss of carbon

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may have some serious implications regarding the climate change, as the forests store more than
50% of the above ground organic carbon deforestation can cause about 20% increase of per
annum Greenhouse gas emissions (Brandt, Nolte & Agrawal, 2016).
Political backlash and issues in data collection
Australia has become a leader in respect to forestry and sustaining biodiversity. It can be
said that there have been immense pressure on the government of the country to take appropriate
stance and lead the world regarding this issue. It is a matter of fact that initially, when there was
minimum awareness regarding conservation of forests and biodiversity among the people of
Australia, the government took a strict decision and the managements of the timber related
industries received a backlash from the government and subsequently various policies were
introduced (Liang et al., 2016). It has been seen that in the primary stage, the government had to
go through a lot of issues while gathering necessary data before executing their plans. Later on
things became easier and the federal government of Australia eventually became one of the
leaders in terms with forestry and sustaining biodiversity.
Policies
There are various policies regarding sustenance of forests for the best interests of
humankind and it can be said that in each country there are some rules and regulations which are
imposed on the people of that particular nation, and apart from that, there are some global or
international forest policies that include policies made by Intergovernmental Forum of Forests,
Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, United Nations Conference in Environment and
Development, and most of the policies are aligned with one goal or target and that is
sustainability in forestry and conserving the biodiversity for the global sustenance (Mori,

6SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Lertzman & Gustafsson, 2017). Thus to conclude, it can be said that forests provide us with huge
natural resources and uncontrolled deforestation and loss of biodiversity can enhance the
destruction of the natural balance of earth.

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References
Bicknell, J. E., Struebig, M. J., & Davies, Z. G. (2015). Reconciling timber extraction with
biodiversity conservation in tropical forests using reduced‐impact logging. Journal of
Applied Ecology, 52(2), 379-388.
Brandt, J. S., Nolte, C., & Agrawal, A. (2016). Deforestation and timber production in Congo
after implementation of sustainable forest management policy. Land Use Policy, 52, 15-
22.
Doak, D. F., Bakker, V. J., Goldstein, B. E., & Hale, B. (2015). What is the future of
conservation?. In Protecting the wild (pp. 27-35). Island Press, Washington, DC.
Liang, J., Crowther, T. W., Picard, N., Wiser, S., Zhou, M., Alberti, G., ... & De-Miguel, S.
(2016). Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global
forests. Science, 354(6309), aaf8957.
Mori, A. S., Lertzman, K. P., & Gustafsson, L. (2017). Biodiversity and ecosystem services in
forest ecosystems: a research agenda for applied forest ecology. Journal of Applied
Ecology, 54(1), 12-27.
Naeem, S., Chazdon, R., Duffy, J. E., Prager, C., & Worm, B. (2016). Biodiversity and human
well-being: an essential link for sustainable development. Proc. R. Soc. B, 283(1844),
20162091.
Pearce, D. (2014). Blueprint 3: Measuring sustainable development. Routledge.

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Rainey, H. J., Pollard, E. H., Dutson, G., Ekstrom, J. M., Livingstone, S. R., Temple, H. J., &
Pilgrim, J. D. (2015). A review of corporate goals of No Net Loss and Net Positive
Impact on biodiversity. Oryx, 49(2), 232-238.