Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Harking and today, we're going to be exploring the future of forests.

Hopefully this is a lot more positive than the history associated with forests where I've had a lot of deforestation.

It is not as simple as just planting trees.

We'll find out more about that in a minute.

And technology is needed in order to help us prevent out of control deforestation.

Even drones are being used to help with this.

I hope you enjoy learning with me.

Today's lesson is the future of our forests taken from the Forest Biomes unit.

Why are forests so important? Today, we want to be able to describe ways in which forests are being protected for the future.

Here are some keywords that might be useful to know before we start the lesson.

To start with, we have afforestation, which is introducing the forest to land, which has not been forested for a long time or ever.

Reforestation, which is replanting of the forest that has been lost.

Agroforestry, this is trees, crops, and/or livestock that occupy the same land.

So agro to do with agricultural farming and then forestry, managing trees.

Then erosion is the process of Earth's surface, for example, the rock or soil being worn away and transported from its original site.

So soil erosion is associated with deforestation, our next word.

So deforestation is the complete removal of trees.

And when that happens, we can get a lot of soil erosion, because the roots aren't there to hold the soil together.

So afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, erosion, and deforestation.

Make sure that if there's any of these that you're not happy with you, pause the video now and take a moment to jot them down.

Today's lesson, we'll look at reforestation and afforestation methods.

So how can we plant more trees? And then also having a look at preventing deforestation after that.

So first of all, reforestation and afforestation methods.

So forests provide many important benefits.

These are to the environment, so habitats for many plants and animals, carbon sinks, they help to reduce global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide.

And we've also got that they intercept water, helping to reduce flooding.

So they slow the water's journey down to the rivers, meaning that the rivers don't fill up with water and overflow fast.

So all three of these factors help our environment and we could probably list a lot more.

They also help society.

So they're a food source.

You can see an apple tree here, but obviously there's lots of fruits and nuts, et cetera that come from trees, which are really important.

And they're also places for recreation.

So activities such as walking, birdwatching, cycling.

You might even ride horses, et cetera in woodlands, photography, all sorts of things that go on.

And many people report feeling way better in themselves, both with their physical health and their mental health, because they've spent time in forests.

There are also benefits for the economy.

Say for example, selling food, and then also selling resources.

So anything that makes money for an individual, a business or country.

That is improving the economy for that person or that business or that country.

Deforestation is the complete removal of trees in an area.

All the benefits of forests are lost.

Sustainable management does the opposite of this.

It maintains the environmental, economic, and social functions of the forest, both now and in the future.

Sustainable management includes planting trees to increase forest cover, afforestation, adding trees where there has been no forest cover for a long time or ever.

That was one of our keywords.

And reforestation, replacing trees that have been lost from the forest or damaged more recently.

These approaches are directly stopping or slowing deforestation.

A check for understanding now.

Did Izzy take part in afforestation or reforestation? Izzy says, "Last weekend, I planted native oak and beech trees in a field with other volunteers to create a new habitat for wildlife.

There haven't been any trees in there for a long time." What do you think, afforestation or reforestation? Well done, afforestation.

And the reason for that is because there was not a forest in this area for a long time before.

There are many ways of carrying out reforestation and afforestation.

Let's have a look at some now.

Tree planting, agroforestry, and shelterbelt planting.

So we're going to start looking at tree planting and then we'll move on to the next two.

Tree planting is the planting of trees.

Often, this involves just one species of tree, and it's used for commercial purposes.

So they might plant one type of tree and then that one species of tree is felled, cut down, and used for timber.

Now this is not good for biodiversity as there is only one species of tree, so that's not so good for other species in the area such as animals, birds, insects, et cetera.

They like a wide range of trees in order to provide a varied habitat and good food sources.

Mixed species planting mimics natural forests.

You can see this in the photograph at the bottom.

So this is an actual natural forest with mixed different trees there and it's better for biodiversity.

So you can do tree planting, this method of afforestation, reforestation, which can be done in a more natural way using lots of different species and that's better for the environment.

So I think what we're getting at here really is the idea that you can't just plant trees and say you fixed the problem.

You've got to really think, "Well, if we want to create an area of forest, we want to make it the best possible area of forest to really benefit the environment, society and the economy." So one of those ways is to not just plant one species, but plant mixed species to create a better area for biodiversity.

So there's one example that is really high tech, and this is in Henry Creek and it's the reforestation project here in Western Oregon in the USA.

Can you see where it's located on the map with that arrow? Yeah.

So it is an example of a large scale tree planting project.

So large scale that they haven't sent people out and just said, "We need to plant these trees individually." They have also said, "Actually, we're going to use some drones." And they've used the drones to fly out and drop seeds to start this process of regrowth.

So they can just do it on a larger scale and create more growth of new trees faster.

Time for a check for understanding.

Is it true or false? Planting one species of tree is best to increase biodiversity.

Well done, that's false.

We know that mixed species planting is best as it mimics natural forests and improves biodiversity.

Agroforestry next, so the agro part of this word means to do with agriculture, which or farming.

And then we've got forestry, which is the management of forests.

This photo is taken in Uganda and it shows how trees, crops, and/or livestock occupy the same land.

And that's what agroforestry is.

It's the idea of farming in a forest environment, creating that forest at the same time as using that land for farming.

So it can help people farm more sustainably and it can reduce forest clearance.

Really good example of where this has been used really successfully is Costa Rica.

Costa Rica experienced the highest rate of deforestation in the world, but then it became the first tropical country in the world to reverse deforestation.

So they actually stopped the deforestation happening and increased their forest cover.

So now nearly 60% of the land has been restored to forest and that's remarkable.

That's really impressive.

Agroforestry has been a key method used to increase this forest cover.

Now we're looking at our last one, shelter belt planting in Lincolnshire in the UK.

In this photograph, we can see that there is a line of trees planted along the edge of field and that is what shelter belt planting is.

So here we've got rows of trees planted as wind breaks.

They prevent the erosion from soil being blown away by the wind and it protects fields of crops from the wind.

There's actually a really great large scale example of shelter belt planting, and this is the Great Green Wall in the Sahel region of Africa.

So this isn't just a line of trees along the side of one field.

This is across the whole of Africa.

It's to help prevent soil erosion on a large scale, which is causing the Sahara Desert to spread south.

Let's have a look at the map at the bottom here.

The Sahara Desert is in the region identified here.

The Sahel region that should be to the south of the Sahara Desert is identified by this kind of sort of browny orange colour.

And then the proposed extent of the Great Green Wall is this green band across here.

So across the whole of Africa.

The cream colours show the countries that are involved in this project.

So there's a huge number of countries trying to prevent the spread of the Sahara Desert south down into the Sahel region below.

Time for a check for understanding now.

Which of the following shows agroforestry? Is it A, B, or C? Well done, it's C.

You can see that there's a mix of different farming and forests going on there.

It's not just one type of tree and it's definitely not just a band of trees down at the side of the field like we have in B showing us shelter belt planting.

Which method of afforestation or reforestation would be most suited to reducing soil erosion? Would it be A, tree planting, B, shelter belt planting, or C, agroforestry? Remember, I've said most suited.

What do you think? Well done, shelter belt planting.

Although I should note that all trees do help reduce soil erosion.

So all of these methods would be great, but shelter belt planting is really focused on trying to prevent soil erosion.

So task time now.

I would like you to first of all explain the difference between reforestation and afforestation.

And then secondly, I'd like you to complete the table to name each of the methods described.

So I've described the methods and explained how they work in the right-hand side.

You've got to fill in the left-hand side to tell me what type of method is it? So I'm not asking you to write reforestation or reforestation, I'm asking you to tell me the name of that method.

So is it tree planting, is it shelter belt planting, is it agroforestry? Which one is it? So on the left-hand side, we're looking for you to tell me whether it's agroforestry, is it tree planting, is it shelter belt planting? Which method that we've discussed is it? That should be named in there and attached to that explanation on the right-hand side.

I'd like you to pause the video now to give you time to do this.

Excellent work, everyone.

So here we've got an example answer for the first question.

Your answer might look like this.

It might look a bit different, that's absolutely fine, but please feel free to use this answer to edit your own and improve your own.

So afforestation is where trees are planted on land, which has not had forest cover for a long time or ever, whereas reforestation replants the forest that has been lost more recently.

Did you get those the right way around? Is there any detail you'd like to add? Feel free to pause if you'd like to.

Right, the second part of the task now.

You had to complete the table to name each of the methods described.

Your answer may look like this.

So we should have tree planting as the first method, then agroforestry, then shelter belt planting.

Did you get those right? Please edit your answer if you didn't.

Right, well done, everyone.

We're moving onto the second part of our lesson now, preventing deforestation, and this is an interesting one, because when I speak to students about this, they say the way to prevent deforestation is to build a, either a fence or a wall depending on who I speak to around the forest to stop people cutting them down.

And then they also say, or we could have guards and they could stop anybody cutting down any trees.

So that tends to be where people start their thinking when they come to this lesson.

And we've got to have a look at how realistic that is.

Right, let's have a look.

So first of all, stronger laws and the use of technology help to combat deforestation and illegal logging.

So legal frameworks and technology are what are needed to really help prevent deforestation.

And I'm going to explain why, and I'm gonna explain why it's more important than building a big wall.

So legal frameworks first.

First of all, forest protection laws.

So these can include banning or restricting logging from certain areas.

So there might be a zone, a certain area of land that is protected where there's no logging at all.

And there can be fines for illegal logging as well.

These laws are created by the countries that the forests are in.

So these laws can be very tailored to each country or each area or each forest or even each tree in some circumstances.

Now we're moving on to logging and timber trade regulations.

So this one is, again, these are kind of rules and regulations, but it's to do with the trade.

So it's not to do with the logging itself as much as the trade, the buying and selling of the wood.

So laws such as the EU Timber Regulation ensure that trees are not illegally sold.

And this is really important, because fundamentally trees are cut down in a lot of circumstances, not all, but in order to be sold.

So if it's impossible for trees to be sold, if they were illegally felled, that can prevent illegal logging.

International agreements and treaties are essential.

So international, this means between countries, inter, between, nation, country.

So international is between different countries.

So international agreements and treaties are when countries come together and they agree all together an aim, a goal, a law, a rule that they are going to stick to.

So one example of this is the pledge by world leaders at COP26, which is a climate conference, it's all about global warming, to end deforestation by 2030.

So this is a really ambitious aim, but a really positive one to try and protect the forests around the world.

Right, let's do a check for understanding now.

Which type of legal frameworks is Jun describing? He says, "Land use zoning can ban or restrict logging from certain areas." Hmm, is it A, forest protection laws, B, logging and timber trade regulation, or C, international agreements and treaties? So remember, forest protection laws are to do with deforestation and the logging and timber trade is to do with trade or buying and selling.

Okay, so that's the difference between the first two, which is where people might fall down.

What do you think? Yeah, well done.

So forest protection laws is what would be the official title to describe what Jun is saying.

Right, another check for understanding now just to check you're focused.

So true or false, countries are working together to take action to combat deforestation and illegal logging.

Are countries working together? Is this happening? Yes, this is true, isn't it? Countries are working together through international agreements and trade regulations.

So the legal side of things we have now covered and we're moving on to having a look at technology.

How is technology used to actually help prevent deforestation and to help afforestation? Let's have a look.

So most forests are too large for people to guard them or fence them off.

So we've discussed the idea that actually a lot of people come to a lesson like this thinking, "We should just build a wall around all the forests and put guards there to stop anybody cutting the trees down." But forests are huge.

We've got so many forests globally, it will be really hard to do that, because it would cost too much money and it would take too many people.

It just wouldn't be realistic.

So technology is used to help track forests and timber as well in order to help this improvement of management of forests globally.

So how do you think technology can help to prevent deforestation? Any ideas? Feel free to pause the video.

Great ideas.

Let's have a look at mine.

So mobile apps allow the reporting of illegal logging and forest health.

So anybody could actually access an app and log that something illegal potentially is going on or something's wrong with a forest in a certain area.

And that's really important, because you can use people that are in the area without any complicated systems. Sound detectors, I really like this one.

These listen for chainsaw sounds and can send alerts to local authorities.

So all this involves is some small devices being left in the forest in various areas, and that means that we don't have to have people watching and listening in all of these different forests.

Actually, the technology can do it for them and then they can just go and visit the forest where needed in order to actually take action if there is illegal logging going on.

So here we've got timber tracking.

Timber tracking allows for the origin of timber products to be checked to ensure they come from sustainable sources.

So the way that works is when a tree is felled or cut down, they attach a number to that tree and that's just an ID number.

And then as that tree, which is now a log, isn't it, goes and gets processed, turned into timber by being sawn up and then continues its journey to be made into whatever it is it's going to be made into.

The number is attached to that wood the whole way along that journey.

And so the person who buys the final product is able to see that actually that log, that piece of wood, that timber, that piece of furniture, that was sourced from a tree that was correctly felled in a sustainable way and not illegally.

Our last one is satellites and drones.

This one is pretty cool.

So they take pictures to monitor the forest from above.

So for example, to reveal illegal logging or another activity that's leading to deforestation.

And then they can also be used to seed trees as part of reforestation projects as they've done in Oregon in the US.

So time for a check for understanding now.

How can drones help to prevent deforestation? Is it A, they allow the public to report illegal logging, B, they listen for chainsaw sounds, C, they allow for the origin of timber products to be checked, or D, that they can take pictures to monitor forests and drop your new seeds? Well done.

So D, they can take pictures to monitor for us and they can drop new seeds as well.

Let's have a look at some images that have been taken, in this case, not from drones, from satellites, and that how they are used to actually monitor these forests.

So this is a satellite image taken from the Prey Lang Forest in Cambodia in 2014.

And you can see as we swipe across, we can see the image from 2022.

So the original image shows the 2014 forest cover and then the second image that you see as it swipes across shows in the year 2022 what the forest cover looked like then.

And you can see in the key at the bottom right here that we have the forested areas are this darker green colour.

And the deforested area is more of a browny pale colour.

So this is GIS technology.

Okay, geographical information systems. And it can be used to interpret data including satellite images to show the extent of deforestation.

So clearly here in this particular area, there's been a huge amount of deforestation within this timeframe.

Here we have a more positive example of the Saihanba afforestation project in China.

The first image in 2018 shows less forested area.

And then in 2024, we can actually see that there's more forest cover appearing over time, which is really positive.

The impacts and the health of afforestation projects can be monitored using GIS.

So it can be used not just to track deforestation and illegal logging.

It can also be used to track positive projects as well.

Time for a check for understanding now.

Which location does not experience deforestation between 2014 and 2022? Is it A, B, or C? Take a look.

Well done.

Yes, the answer is C.

So C is the only area that doesn't experience deforestation.

For our final task now, firstly, can you give an example of a legal framework that can help to prevent deforestation? And then secondly, can you complete the table to describe different ways in which technology can help to prevent deforestation and illegal logging? So here we've got the table with technology on the left.

So we've got satellites and drones, mobile apps, sound detectors, and timber tracking online.

And then on the right, what I would like you to do is explain how it can help.

How does it actually improve the health of our forests globally? Please pause the video now to give yourself time to do this.

Good luck.

Well done.

Right, let's have a look at my answers and see if you have got any of these.

Feel free to edit your answer as we go.

First of all, I asked you to give an example of a legal framework that can help to prevent deforestation.

So your answer could have been any of the following.

Could have been forest protection laws that include banning or restricting logging from certain areas, fines for illegal logging.

It could be logging in timber trade regulations.

This includes laws such as the EU Timber Regulation, which ensures that trees are not illegally cut down and sold.

And then we could have also said international agreements and treaties.

For example, the pledge by world leaders at COP26, which is a climate conference, to end the deforestation by 2030.

Which one of those did you get? Task two was to complete this table.

So we should have a nice bit of explanation to explain how this strategy can help.

For satellites and drone technology, I have said that it takes pictures to monitor the forest from above and can reveal illegal deforestation.

You might have also put there that the drones can be used to seed new forests as well.

That will be another additional thing to add in if you want it.

Mobile apps allow the reporting of illegal logging.

Sound detectors, listen for chainsaw sounds and can send alerts to local authorities.

And timber tracking online can show the origin of timber products and show that it can be checked so that people know that it's the wood that they have purchased isn't from an illegal source.

Well done, everyone.

Great effort.

If your answer doesn't match these exactly, that's absolutely fine.

You'll probably have slightly different wording, but if there's anything you'd like to add there, please pause the video now in order to allow you time.

Well done, everyone.

We've come to the end of the lesson.

Thank you so much for learning with me.

We're going to go through our summary now.

So what we've covered today is that sustainable management of forests is vital for the health of Earth and for future generations.

The reforestation and afforestation schemes help absorb carbon dioxide and improve biodiversity.

Agroforestry can help people farm more sustainably and reduce forest clearance.

Stronger laws and the use of technology can help to combat deforestation and illegal logging.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson today.

Looking forward to seeing you next time.

Bye.