There is a joke, I find really interesting, about how we cut trees to make paper and on that exact paper we write ‘stop cutting trees’!
Deforestation is one of the key elements for climate change. It’s possibly the top issue for pollution and destruction of planet Earth.
To combat this issue, the government of Norway banned deforestation in June of last year, becoming the first country in the world to all-out ban the industry.
The Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee issued an Action Plan which outlawed deforestation in any way, including but not limited to, any and all products that could contribute in any way to deforestation. (source)
Deforestation usually happens because of large businesses and corporations, and their greed. Industries who don’t want to get inventive and find new more eco-friendly ways of doing what they do. That’s when governments have to step in!
By banning deforestation, the Norwegian government would in turn, drastically reduce carbon emissions caused by the process, which would lead to significantly cleaner air in the future within the country.
Some speculate that this government action could influence other countries also to consider banning or even reducing deforestation due to the climatic benefit it holds on the long term scale of operations.
This anti-deforestation movement is not only being expressed by Norway but by several other countries such as Brazil and Guyana, located in South America.
As in Brazil, the deforestation of the Amazon Forest is a massive issue, and the Brazilian government received $1 Billion to enact reforms to combat the growing issue.
This worked tremendously, as the Brazilian National Geographic agency reported a rough estimate of 33,000 square miles/53,100 kilometers of the Amazon Forest had been saved.
Many wildlife conservation organizations are finding new ways to protect more habitats every day. It’s rather selfish that we destroy the homes of many wildlife creatures just so we can satisfy our desires.
But in the process we don’t understand that it’s not just the home of animals we are destroying, but our own. We are changing the climate of this planet, we are polluting the air and poison the seas. In the end we are going to create environment in which we are not able to survive. And we’ll call that karma.
Banning deforestation is a BIG step towards the right direction. Norway is the first country to ban deforestation but it shouldn’t be the last. If enough countries integrate this law we can solve a large issue that can get us extinct.
We can save our place on this planet and make it a little bit more pleasant for other species that live here a lot longer than humanity!
