By: Tommy Pauk
Global warming, a man-made disaster, has been threatening our mother earth and living things for over two decades. Consequently, our earth temperatures are relatively increasing due to global warming. All living things live their lives with trees and water. Trees are the heart of our mother earth. They grow on the ground as well as in fresh water and in sea water. They balance harmonious ecosystem and climatic condition on earth which give us sufficient sustenance. In other words, trees are the natural body guards of our earth which conserve the ecosystem and ground water resources. The more abundant the trees on earth, the less extreme weather conditions occur elsewhere. Planting-new-trees is considered one of the essential tasks to be carried out to mitigate the impact of climate change indeed.
On the ground of Earth, man destroys and clears dense forests for the sake of livelihoods, making firewood and urbanization from time to time. Illegal felling of trees from the forests causes negative impact to the environment and the lack of re-planting trees causes climate change. Such conditions are detrimental to the natural landscape and the habitat of natural wildlife too. Naturally, trees help to regulate the climate by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. When the trees from forests are cut down by humans, the earth temperature is increased. Besides, urbanization and farming live stocks are also the causes to increase the world temperature because nature is transformed into man-made concrete human settlement or cities. The natural trees, plants, shrubs, the natural habitat of wild life and grassland disappear due to these activities. In this case, man needs to maintain or conserve natural environment and to mitigate the effects of climate change by any means.
The global people and the wise leaders of the respective countries are aware of the negative impact of the climate change and the depletion of ozone layer. Therefore, the countries across the world are trying to make project or plan for mitigating the impact of climate change by means of planting trees as their national plans on their respective soils. Some countries, in accord with their climatic condition and geographic conditions, they make project to plant or grow suitable trees, spending huge amount of money or funding provided by the philanthropic donors.
Since, we Myanmars are the tree lovers, we and our governments make plan or project to plant trees nationwide voluntarily. We are aware that deforestation or cutting down trees is one of the causes for climate change because trees help to regulate the climate by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. So when they are cut down, that beneficial effect is lost and the carbon stored in the trees is released into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect. In our country _ Myanmar, we mark the monsoon season as a tree planting season, we plant trees wherever the land is feasible. This activity is done for maintaining green natural environment in Myanmar and mitigating the impact of climate change occurring on our planet. In fact, we Myanmar people participate in protecting against the threat of severe climate change. In addition to this, the Dry Zone Greening Department, under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, is undertaking the Special Region Nine district Project in Dry Zone of Central Myanmar. It laid down its objectives as follows;
Objectives
The objectives of the Dry Zone Greening Department are:
(a) To make the arid region lush, green and beautiful
(b) To maintain its eco-system
(c) To fulfill basic forest produce requirements of the rural people
(d) To contribute socio-economic development of the rural people
(e) To make the local residents aware the value and essence of forest and trees
(f) To enhance public knowledge on conservation and promotion of natural environment, and escalate its participation
(g) To maintain climatic balance in order to support cultivation and
(h) To prevent desertification
The target areas of the project included Meikhtila , Myingyan, Yamethin, Sagaing, Monywa, Pakokku, Magway,Thayet and Minbu Districts which are in Mandalay, Magway and Sagaing Regions in Myanmar. The Dry Zone Greening Department has been implementing the project in line with its objectives to date.
Myanmar and other countries around the world make effort to mitigate the impact of climate change by replanting trees as a part of treatment to the injured Earth. The following countries are the examples in doing their best to create equilibrium of ecosystem in their countries.
Pakistan;
In 2014, A billion Trees Planting Project was adopted for the province of Khyber PakhtunKhwa to transform the country’s barren landscapes into forests known as ‘Green Gold “. The project will restore 3,500 square kilometers of land and the new trees help mitigate the effect of climate change. The 900,000 fast-growing eucalyptus trees and more than 42 tree species have been planted. The project has already exceeded its target of one billion trees. As a result, the new trees will help protect against erosion. In addition, they will strengthen riverbanks and decrease the risks of floods in that area. Furthermore, the upcoming growth of fore rests will increase the chances of rain and create a huge new habitat for wildlife.
China
China’s “ Green Great Wall “ or Three –North Shelter Forest Program is a series of human-planted wind breaking forest strips in China which is to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. The project targets three of the northern regions: the North, the Northeast and the Northwest of China. The program started in 1978. It is planned to be completed around 2050. The aerial seeding method is used to cover long strips of land and the offering of cash incentives to farmers to plant trees and shrubs in areas that are more arid. China aims to raise China’s forest cover from 5 to 15 percent, thereby reducing desertification. The trees will serve as windbreak from dust storms of the Gobi desert. As of 2009, China planted forest covered more than 5000,000 square kilometers – the largest artificial forest in the world.
Obviously, we have learnt that most of the countries including Myanmar are striving to mitigate the impact of climate change by means of planting trees in their countries as much as they can. They all have common aim and object i.e. to ameliorate the bad situations on earth caused by the effects of climate change. Man should wisely use natural resources or mineral resources such as trees, water, habitable land and fossilized fuel. It is an obligation to protect natural habitat as well.Therefore, we sensible human beings ought to preserve or conserve the balance ecosystem so that our world can be healthy. Unless our world is healthy, we all living things might become extinct indeed!
References; MONREC ; Dry Zone Greening Department (Myanmar ) , World Economic Forum and Wikipedia
