Forest Fires

Introduction

Forest covers play a critical part in the existence and sustainability of eco-systems i.e., all the life forms present within the forested area and the ecological roles they ought to play. It not only entails trees but a variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms. There exist strata of jungle biodiversity including species, genetics, ecosystem, landscape, and population, etc. Owing to the complex interactions amongst these levels, forests play a critical role in human life. Currently, jungles cover 31% of the global area i.e., 4.06 billion hectares but unfortunately, it is exponentially declining due to anthropogenic activity. One of the major causes of declining forest cover is forest fires, which certainly need to be attended to for minimizing such harmful incidences.

Can, Plastic and Glass Bottles Cause a Forest Fire?

A host of reasons can cause forest fires including both natural and human elements. It may include but isn’t limited to lightning, negligently discarded cigarettes, burning of debris, campfires, intentional acts of arson bottles of glass and plastic. Certainly, glass and plastic bottles can cause forest fires; both these materials can reflect the sunlight in a very focused and precise manner. Occasionally in a warmer temperature, the sunlight reflected from glass and plastic bottles lying around in the jungle is directed to any inflammable material which can cause a spark. This spark, complemented by winds, can soon turn into a full-fledged forest fire.

Example

Lincoln County, Washington suffered a forest fire in August 2018 caused by rays of sunlight shining through the pieces of broken glass from a packaged bottle.

Impacts of Forest Fires

Forest fires not only abolish the jungle cover but also destroy the associated ecosystems. Additionally, the burning of wood releases a lot more carbon dioxide into the already saturated atmosphere causing global warming and fastening the process of climate change. More so, the resultant ashes cast very far-reaching impacts as they erode the soil nutrients, thus enabling the events of floods and landslides. Forest fires also create disruptions into the supply chain of many furniture businesses, thus affecting the economic prospects as well.  All these consequences significantly endanger the probability of a sustainable future for the human race.

How the Incidences of Forest Fires Can Be Reduced?

In order to avoid the incidences of forest fires or minimize the impacts, a multi-pronged strategy can serve the purpose. A combination of pro-active and reactive steps can counter the jungle fires most important of which is the creation of awareness amongst the masses for not throwing their used plastic or glass bottles in the jungles to cause any unpleasant event. For ensuring prevention, forest authorities can play a key role in the enforcement of regulations regarding the subject so that people can be deterred from spreading the waste. Cleanliness drives can be arranged to pick up the litter from the woodland so that it can’t do any further harm. The response capabilities of the forest department can further be enhanced to curb the fire ashes at the earliest so that harm can be kept limited to the minimum. Finally, more and more investments and efforts can be directed towards afforestation and reforestation to restore the destroyed ecosystems.

TEMA

TEMA, Turkish Foundation for Combating Erosion, Afforestation and Conservation of Natural Assets, or shortly, is an environmentalist foundation established in Istanbul on September 11, 1992. In the first five years of the project, 15 hectares in 2008, 17 in 2009 and 2010, 16 in 2011 and 2012, an average of 20 hectares in each province and 5 hectares in the other 10 provinces, and the maintenance of the planted areas for 5 years. work is planned. It is planned to plant 2.2 million saplings in an area of 1,470 hectares (approximately the size of 2,000 football fields) within the first planting period of 5 years. In all planting areas, field controls were carried out in company with the technical personnel of the General Directorate of Forestry and TEMA Foundation, and completion planting was carried out in the fields where sufficient success was not achieved. Aco Recycling was established  in order to develop innovative solutions for environment. The company  aims to protect the environment and encourage people to do so by offering various reward systems to its users.Upon user’s instruction the reward for collected garbage can be donated to a foundation or charity organization. It is possible to program different variants of destinations for the money to choose from. This is a perfect opportunity to combine ecological programs with charity campaigns.

Conclusion

Jungles being the integral component of human survival are being destroyed from the Earth’s surface by wild forest fires. As the majority of forest fires are caused by human-led factors, a joint front should be established to minimize the human activity in the woodland green belts. Only with enhanced awareness of masses coupled with strict regulatory frameworks and implementation, forest fires can be curbed and biological eco-systems can be healed and restored.