World Forestry Day [/b]
21 March[/b]
The day of the autumn equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. This day commemorates the contribution and value of forests and forestry to the community. Forest is the basis of life which contributes towards environmental, economical & socio economical. World Forestry Day has been celebrated around the world to ring a bell among the society about the importance of forests and the scores of benefits which are gained from them. The concept of celebrating a day every year as World Forestry Day originated at the 23rd General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture in 1971. Many interdependent populations of plants and animals too dwell beneath the forest canopy; the forest soil is a home to large variety of invertebrates, bacteria and fungi which play an essential role in cycling nutrients in the soil and the forest. The survival of the rich generation of flora and fauna in the country is in danger due to exploitation of forests, cutting of forests in Hilly areas is loosening the soil, thus the upper layer of fertile earth is eroding which is resulting in uncontrolled rain and flood. India economy largely depends on agriculture. Forest has been of great importance to mankind since prehistoric days. Forest provides multiple benefits to environment, people, and animals. Today the forest coverage is reduced to only 30% as opposed to 60% earlier. We are paying the cost of development by reduction in vegetation (by clearing of forests) to lead the path for mines, towns and roads. Forests, supply many products like timber for making furniture, houses, ships and railway sleepers, plywood, fuel wood or charcoal, paper, processed wood products like cellophane, plastics, synthetic fibers like rayon and nylon, rubber from the latex of rubber tree. Fruits, nuts and spices are gathered from the forest. A lot of medicinal plants such as camphor, cinchona also come from the forests. The roots of the trees hold the soil together and thus help to conserve soil by preventing rapid runoff of water after heavy rain and minimizing flooding. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into air which is needed to breath by the mankind. Vegetation affects local and global climate. Trees form a protective cover of the earth as well as provide shelter to the wild animals and protect all the living beings from the solar heat and temperature. Trees absorb heat, thus helps to regulate the temperature of earth. Similarly natural wildlife is important for it is an important part of the lifecycle. Forests reduce light reflection, offer a sound barrier and help guide wind direction and speed
How do we celebrate forest day? Here are some suggestions:
Use forest, its products or management as the theme of a project at school. This will help students learn more on forest.
Students can grow/plant trees and shrubs at home, school or even neighborhood. One can use ice cream cups for planting the seedlings. This will help transplant the seedlings easily. A little love and care make plants grow.
Recycle paper: Students can tear out unused pages from old notebooks and use them. This can be made into an excellent slam book, with papers of different colours, shades and sizes!
Students can reuse greeting cards by cutting out the picture and writing message behind it. This is a good way to save money and save trees! And yes ask them to think before they throw away anything, they may be able to use it again.
On this occasion, students can also gather information about the forests and wilderness areas in their locality, district or state. Ask them to list the plants and animal life supported by these forests along with the goods and services provided by them.
Plants and trees attract a lot of birds, butterfly and other insect life. Encourage students to invite these to their gardens, by building bird feeders and nesting boxes on the trees or your house.
Name game: Each plant has a botanical name and there’s a story behind each name! The first word of a tree’s name is the genus name and the second word is its species name. Sometimes plants are named after the person who discovered them or who first described them in detail or after places, other important people or particular features like the way the tree or a part of the tree looks.
Above were some of the ideas that you can implement to enjoy the Forestry Day today