Practices for Afforestation

Afforestation is the practice of planting trees on barren land. It is vital to plant trees as while they provide oxygen, they also maintain a balance in the ecosystem. While reforestation is planting trees in existing forests, afforestation is planting trees in new lands. Afforestation is necessary to maintain the ecosystem. 

Afforestation combats global warming, soil erosion, pollution, and biodiversity. The commercial needs of human beings are fulfilled by planting trees as well as it maintains the balance in nature. 

Benefits of planting trees- 

• Regenerating barren land.
• Aids in making the soil fertile by decomposing the waste of animals and dead organisms. 
• Check on atmospheric carbon dioxide more trees lead to more oxygen. 
• Trees reduce the risk of natural disasters, including floods, droughts, and landslides. 
• Reduces global warming by providing more fresh air. 
• Helps in gaining money by providing woods, different spices, and products. 

One of the major causes which led to the ecological imbalance is the increase in population. Due to the rising population, people are cutting down trees. The two necessary things which trees provide are oxygen and food. We can’t afford to lose that. People should realize the fact and try to save as many trees as possible. Things like global warming and soil erosion will not be a problem if people try to plant more trees and take these things a little seriously, or in the future, there will be nothing left.

 There are many things which people and government can do to increase afforestation:

1. Many NGO’s and organizations have taken some steps to increase afforestation. The first step is to be a part of it and try to make that thing by bringing awareness to other people.
2. Planting more trees so that nature looks good, and there is nothing wrong with planting trees regularly.
3. Government has taken so many steps and actions towards making our country better, yet human beings are at fault because we don’t take these things seriously.
4.  Small steps are required to solve this huge problem. If one person plants at least one tree in a year, it would definitely make a difference.

India has been focusing on planting trees through the afforestation program throughout the country by following the Forest Conservation Act. The program started in the 1980s, so it initiated large-scale afforestation. This program includes wood lots, farm forestry, avenue forestation, and agro-forestry. 

There are several programs initiated by the government for reforestation and afforestation like social forestry initiated in the early 1980s, Joint Forest Management Programme initiated in 1990, afforestation under National Afforestation and Eco-development Board (NAEB) programs since 1992, and private farmer and industry initiated plantation forestry.

By Muskan Srivastava