World timber reserves. Country-leader in timber reserves

The total timber reserves are estimated according to several factors: this is the indicator of the forest cover, the size of the forest area, and the timber reserves. Forest resources are exhaustible, but renewable, because they can be used for different purposes.

Decoding of indicators

Woodland is estimated by the ratio of the area of forests to the total territory of a particular country. So, according to this indicator, the leading countries are Finland, Sweden, Canada, Guinea, Mozambique, Russia. The total forest area is more than 4 billion hectares, which occupies 30% of the land area. The country-leader in timber reserves per capita is Russia: there are about 3 hectares of forest per person, while in European countries this figure is significantly lower - only 0.3 hectares.

What was - what became

The area of forests in the world each year is reduced by about 20,000,000 hectares, which is caused by numerous cuttings. And most of the forest is cut down in Latin America and Asia. But in the countries of Scandinavia, active work is underway to restore and cultivate the forest, so that the area of forests is not decreasing. The stock of wood in the world is about 300 billion m ³ , and Russia accounts for about 25% of the timber reserves.

Forest resources are referred to as renewable, but if the plantations are not timely managed, the forest resources will become less and less. Another country, the leader in timber reserves - Suriname, where per capita there are about 36 hectares of forest. But in tropical countries and in the south of the temperate zone , one person accounts for less than a hectare of forest.

How are the calculations carried out?

Forest resources are both forest resources in the country and non-timber values. It is thanks to the forest that it is possible to obtain universal raw materials for many industries, in addition, the forestry is the maintenance of the Earth's ecological system. Due to the fact that forest resources can be renewed, the world's timber reserves can be constantly replenished, increasing their productivity in order to meet human needs.

Forest resources around the world are distributed unevenly. For example, European countries have a characteristic large forest cover, while in Africa this figure is much lower. The lowest degree of forest cover is in African countries, and its highest rate is in Latin America, Europe and North America. The country-leader in coniferous timber reserves is Russia: this country accounts for 88% of coniferous forests.

Features of the distribution of forests around the world

The modern forest grows in different natural and climatic zones, and depending on the zones, they differ in their pedigree composition, the structure of the stand, their productivity, their various economic and ecological significance. Most of Europe is occupied by a forest zone of temperate belts, where boreal coniferous forests grow. In Central, South America, in eastern Africa and in East India, tropical forests are prevalent, in which evergreen mixed forests predominate . Mountainous terrain is characterized by vertical zonality, while depending on the altitude, the thermal regime and humidity will change.

If Russia is a leading country in terms of timber reserves, then in most European countries most of the forests are cut down. For example, in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, mainly grows young and middle-aged trees that are planted artificially. Coniferous forests have been preserved only in Scandinavia, with good forest cover and pure coniferous plantings. In the center of Europe, mainly pine, spruce, fir, and larch grow, while the forest area has significantly decreased because of constant cutting and walking of cattle.

Among the regions of Europe, the largest area of forests is in Scandinavia. Here 35.6% of productive forests and 28.5% of the total timber stock are concentrated. This region is characterized by the highest degree of forest cover.

What about Asia and Africa?

The total timber stock in Asian countries is about 1/5 of the continent. Here grow tropical forests, coniferous and deciduous plantings in the temperate zone. A vast territory is occupied by taiga forests. In the East of the region is a species diversity of relics, endemics. In the south of the region there are arrays, in which the steppes alternate with small shrubs. In the mountains there are taiga and deciduous forests. On the territory of Africa, forests are also unevenly distributed. The total forest area on the continent can be divided into four regions: in the north - the subtropics, in the west - the tropics, in the east - the mountain tropics and in the south - the subtropics.

North and South America

Forests in North America occupy about a third of the continent, while in the north due to difficult climatic conditions the rock composition of the tree is limited, and their productivity is low. The forest massif is mainly represented by conifers and an admixture of small-leaved trees. Closer to the south of the mainland, the composition of the forests is wider, the trees themselves are more productive.

Almost half of the territory of Latin America is occupied by forest vegetation with a predominance of hardwood trees. On the banks of the Amazon is a rich and ancient floral composition. Mexico and the Antilles are mainly occupied by coniferous forests, mostly pines.

In Australia, the predominance of forests is noted on the coastal strip. Here, almost 85% of the territory is occupied by eucalyptus trees.

What is a liquid stock?

The liquid stock of wood is the volume of the general stocks of wood of a plantation which is equal to all volume of the harvested wood products without a bark and tops of trees. This volume is established in different ways on the basis of various computational techniques. Liquid wood is a material that can be used for logging. At the same time, the root stock of wood is much higher.

The main tendencies of logging in Russia and the world

Even 60 years ago, little was known about the forest composition of Russia and the world as a whole. Rather, the rock composition was simply not studied. During the Soviet period more than 500 million hectares were taken into account in the USSR, where forest inventory was conducted. However, over time, there was a shortage of wood, first of all, this applies to high quality saw logs and plywood logs, which are obtained from large parts of the trunk. That is why in industrialized countries these assortments are used for growing forests.

The remaining waste of sawmilling and processing wood leaves after deep processing in different industries - in the production of pulp, paper, cardboard. In the 1980s, the wood deficit led to the fact that the scale of international forest trade was higher. And if the developed countries of Europe and North America are large exporters of finished wood products in the form of sawnwood and paper, then developing countries like Asia, Africa, Latin America mainly export roundwood. At the same time, one-sided exploitation of forests prevails in these countries, as a result of which the forest area becomes smaller and worse.

By the end of the twentieth century, there was a noticeable trend towards multi-purpose forest exploitation, especially for industrialized and densely populated countries. They faced the problem of creating events that would allow the restoration of forest resources, which would have an impact on improving the economic situation in the country.

As for Russia, about 78% of the forests consist of industrial breeds - pine, spruce, fir, larch, oak, birch. And like in the whole world, forest resources are distributed unevenly. The European part accounts for only 17.06% of the forest, while in Siberia and the Far East 82% of forests are concentrated. At the same time, the entire volume of the forest can be divided into three groups: the first includes protective plantations, the second - raw materials, and the third - reserve wood, which is not used as raw materials. The total annual growth of wood is about 830 million m ³ .

conclusions

Forest - a renewable kind of resources, so you can not only regulate its operation, but also gradually reproduce. When assessing forest tracts, not only the rate of growth is taken into account each year, but also the amount of accumulated stock. This is the only way to regulate the world's total timber reserves.