Mass Media News (наматериалах BBC News)
Environment
STEP TWO
- Read the article and answer the questions below
DEFORESTATION
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. The term does not include the removal of industrial forests such as plantations of gums or pines. Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area. Indigenous forests now cover 21% of the earth's land surface.
Of great concern is the rate at which deforestation is occurring. Currently, 12 million hectares of forests are cleared annually. Almost all of this deforestation occurs in the moist forests and open woodlands of the tropics. At this rate all moist tropical forest could be lost by the year 2050, except for isolated areas in Amazonia, the Zaire basin, as well as a few protected areas within reserves and parks. Some countries such as Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka are likely to lose all their tropical forests by the year 2010 if no conservation steps are taken.
Deforestation is brought about by the following:
* conversion of forests and woodlands to agricultural land to feed growing numbers of people;
* development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries;
* commercial logging (which supplies the world market with woods such as meranti, teak, mahogany and ebony) destroys trees as well as opening up forests for agriculture;
* felling of trees for firewood and building material; the heavy lopping of foliage for fodder; and heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals like goats.
To compound the problem, the poor soils of the humid tropics do not support agriculture for long. Thus people are often forced to move on and clear more forests in order to maintain production.
CONSEQUENCES OF DEFORESTATION
a) The carbon cycle. Forests act as a major carbon store because carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken up from the atmosphere and used to produce the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up the tree. When forests are cleared, and the trees are either burnt or rot, this carbon is released as CO2. This leads to an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration. CO2 is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect. It is estimated that deforestation contributes one-third of all CO2 releases caused by people.
b) The water cycle. Trees draw ground water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). In Amazonia over half of all the water circulating through the region's ecosystem remains within the plants. With removal of part of the forest, the region cannot hold as much water. The effect of this could be a drier climate.
c)Soil erosion With the loss of a protective cover of vegetation more soil is lost.
d)Silting of water courses, lakes and dams This occurs as a result of soil erosion.
e)Extinction of species which depend on the forest for survival. Forests contain more than half of all species on our planet - as the habitat of these species is destroyed, so the number of species declines
f) Desertification. The causes of desertification are complex, but deforestation is one of the contributing factors
- Give the definition of deforestation.
- What way are forests different from woodlands?
- What factors is deforestation brought about by?
- What could be the consequences of deforestation?
- Find the words which mean the following:
-growing naturally in a particular place
-the careful preservation and protection of natural things such as animals, forests, rivers and plants, to prevent them being spoiled, wasted and lost forever
-cutting down trees
-cutting branches off a tree
-food for horses and farm animals
-a young tree
-all the plants in a particular place
-the natural home of a plant or animal
- Translate the following into English:
a)Аргентина является одной из самых продвинутых стран с развивающейся экономикой в области защиты лесных богатств. Три основных проблемы в области охраны лесов это: · вырубка лесов под пастбища и сельскохозяйственные угодья · незаконная вырубка лесов местным населением для продажи древесины или для использования ее в качестве топлива для обогрева домов, вследствие экономических причин · лесные пожары, вызванные неосторожным обращением с огнем Тем не менее, эти проблемы ничто по сравнению с трудностями, с которыми столкнулись другие страны Латинской Америки. Аргентина имеет множество запретных зон для вырубки леса, занимает ведущее место в Южной Америке по посадке лесных плантаций и, как правило, закупает древесину за рубежом, экономя свои лесные ресурсы.
в) За последние 10 тыс. лет на Земле уничтожено 2/3 лесов. За
историческое время около 500 млн. га превратились из лесов в бесплодные
пустыни. Леса уничтожаются так быстро, что площади вырубок существенно
перевешивают площади посадок деревьев. К настоящему времени в зоне лесов
вырублено около половины их первоначальной площади.
Влажные тропические леса деградируют и сокращают площадь со скоростью около
26 га в минуту, есть опасения, что они исчезнут через 25 лет. Вырубленные
участки влажного тропического леса не восстанавливаются, а на месте их
образуются малопродуктивные кустарные формации, а при сильной эрозии почв
происходит опустынивание.
В связи с вырубкой лесов сокращается водоносность рек, высыхают озера,
понижается уровень грунтовых вод, усиливается эрозия почв, более засушливым и
континентальным становится климат, часто возникают засухи и пыльные бури.
- Read the article, watch the news items and answer the questions below:
Amazon 'stealth' logging revealed
By Simon Watts BBC News
Scientists from Brazil and the US say new research suggests deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has been underestimated by at least 60%. The team has completed a study using a more advanced technique of satellite imagery that can pick up more types of logging activity. These include selective logging, where loggers pick out trees of value but leave the surrounding forest intact.
Brazil's government welcomed the report but said the figures were exaggerated. Deforestation in the Amazon is on such a massive scale that the only way of measuring it is by using satellites. The trouble has been that while traditional aerial images can show areas that have been completely destroyed, they do not reveal selective logging of valuable trees such as mahogany. With input from the Nasa space agency, the joint US and Brazilian team used an ultra-high-resolution technique to examine just how much selective logging was going on.
The report was published in the US journal Science. The researchers concluded that the area of rainforest destroyed between 1999 and 2002 was thousands of square kilometres bigger than previously thought. They also found that about 25% more carbon had been released into the atmosphere than estimated - possibly enough to affect climate change. Brazilian officials praised the scientists for highlighting the issue of selective logging, but said the new figures were hard to believe.
The businessmen involved in the practice claim picking out individual trees is more environmentally friendly than the blanket clearance of huge areas. But environmental campaigners say that to reach the prized trees, roads have to be built and heavy equipment brought in. This, they say, can be of no benefit to the Amazon.
CLIP 3-7 (19.05.05)
- What have the new figures released by the Brazilian government revealed?
CLIP 3-8(19.05.05)
- Prove the fact that exports have been put ahead of the environment?
- What were the steps the Brazilian government undertook to protect environment?
- Which is the Amazon deforestation is bound to result in?
5. Listen to the news item again and put down the words or phrases which mean the following
make sth fall by cutting it at the base with a sharp toolto force sb to move in a particular direction or to get into a particular situation
to give smb or smth priority
the act of carefully watching a person suspected of a crime or a place where a crime may be committed
the drop in the amount or size
a person, company, country, etc. that causes pollution
to take in a liquid, gas or other substance from the surface or space around
6. Give the synonyms to the following words:
entire –
to respond –
to point out –
to increase –
to threaten –
Give the antonyms to the following words:
to be on record –
previous –
growth –
fear –
to absorb -