2 of 3
Most of us have heard about how rainforests are in trouble and the rapid rate at which we are losing these spectacular ecosystems, along with the incredible diversity of species that depend on them. Globally, most of these reports focus on tropical rainforests and there has been too little awareness about the fate of temperate rainforests. Close to home, very few know that the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island is disappearing faster than natural tropical rainforests.
Few of us have the opportunity to visit tropical forests in person, which can make us feel disconnected from the problems of deforestation and degradation of tropical countries. I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work in tropical rainforests over the past seven years as part of my graduate work in wildlife ecology. Most of this has been in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where I investigated how selective logging disrupts interactions between trees and mammals.
The loss of intact tropical forests continues to be a serious threat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently estimated that, globally, 10 percent of the remaining primary forests in tropical rainforest countries were lost between 1990 and 2015. These forests are home to many species that exist nowhere else on the planet and protecting their habitats is critical to their survival. Further, the livelihood of millions of people depends on intact forests and they play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change by storing massive amounts of carbon.
While all of this may be well known to many, few of us in Canada realize just how fast old-growth rainforest is being logged on Vancouver Island. I was very shocked to learn from recent Sierra Club B.C. data that over that same period (1990 to 2015), 30 percent of the remaining old-growth forest on Vancouver Island was logged. In other words, the rate of loss of so-called primary forests (forests that were largely undisturbed by human activity) on Vancouver Island is actually three times greater than in the tropics. In the past few years, the rate of old-growth logging on the Island has actually increased by 12 percent to 9,000 hectares per year (25 hectares a day).
Mariyah Al-Shiraida
These are roses
These are tulips.
These are daisies.
These are lillies.
These are pexels.
Flowers are great!!!