Maureen
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth, and are distributed across the globe. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the
Earth's biosphere, and contain 80% of the Earth's plant biomass. (Yude, 2013).
Human society and forests influence each other in both positive and negative ways. (Vogt, 2007). Forests provide ecosystem services to humans, but also impose economic, environmental, health and aesthetic costs. Human interactions with the forest, including harvesting forest resources, affect the forest ecosystem. Humans have generally decreased the amount of forest worldwide. Anthropogenic factors that can affect forests include logging, urban sprawl, human-caused forest fires, acid rain, invasive species, and the slash and burn practices of swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation. The loss and re-growth of forest leads to a distinction between two broad types of forest, primary or old-growth forest and secondary forest. There are also many natural factors that can cause changes in forests over time including forest fires, insects, diseases, weather, competition between species, etc. In 1997, the World Resources Institute recorded that only 20% of the world's original forests remained in large intact tracts of undisturbed forest . (World Resources Institute, 1998) More than 75% of these intact forests lie in three countries—the Boreal forests of Russia and Canada and the rainforest of Brazil.
The Municipality of Catarman, especially the interior barangays, is faced with the problem of degradation of natural resources, especially its forest resources. This is usually due to illegal practices of the people such as logging of young trees; the lumber harvested indiscriminately for money, and also to due to the irresponsibility of the residents/ people.
In this research, I will be determining the extent of deforestation through quadrat sampling. And will see if the
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth, and are distributed across the globe. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the
Earth's biosphere, and contain 80% of the Earth's plant biomass. (Yude, 2013).
Human society and forests influence each other in both positive and negative ways. (Vogt, 2007). Forests provide ecosystem services to humans, but also impose economic, environmental, health and aesthetic costs. Human interactions with the forest, including harvesting forest resources, affect the forest ecosystem. Humans have generally decreased the amount of forest worldwide. Anthropogenic factors that can affect forests include logging, urban sprawl, human-caused forest fires, acid rain, invasive species, and the slash and burn practices of swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation. The loss and re-growth of forest leads to a distinction between two broad types of forest, primary or old-growth forest and secondary forest. There are also many natural factors that can cause changes in forests over time including forest fires, insects, diseases, weather, competition between species, etc. In 1997, the World Resources Institute recorded that only 20% of the world's original forests remained in large intact tracts of undisturbed forest . (World Resources Institute, 1998) More than 75% of these intact forests lie in three countries—the Boreal forests of Russia and Canada and the rainforest of Brazil.
The Municipality of Catarman, especially the interior barangays, is faced with the problem of degradation of natural resources, especially its forest resources. This is usually due to illegal practices of the people such as logging of young trees; the lumber harvested indiscriminately for money, and also to due to the irresponsibility of the residents/ people.
In this research, I will be determining the extent of deforestation through quadrat sampling. And will see if the