International Day of Forests

Photo by: Sergey Martsevich
Photo by: Sergey Martsevich

Today, March 21 is the International Day of Forests. The 23-d United Nations General Assembly proclaimed this holiday in 1971. Its main goal is to raise awareness of the importance of all types of woodlands and trees.

 

On this day, countries all over the world organize activities dedicated to protection of forests: lectures, conferences, film shows, meetings with ecologists and representatives of environmental protections organizations who speak about the importance of forests for people. 

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Photo by: Anna Vyaznikova
Photo by: Anna Vyaznikova

According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2015), the total forest area of ​​the world is 3,999 million hectares (30.6% of the land area), while in 1990 forests covered up to 31.6% of the land area, or approximately 4,128 million hectares.

Forests are a source of food, medicinal plants and fuel. They have an important ecological function: trees contribute to the balanced content of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture in the air. They are a tool to combat climate changes.

 

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Photo by: Elena Petrova
Photo by: Elena Petrova

Russia is the world leader in ​​forests - more than one billion hectares (1.2 billion hectares), that is almost half of the territory of the country (46.6%) is covered with forests. Of these, 73% are coniferous forests.

The largest forest on the planet, stretching for 9 thousand kilometers is the Siberian taiga. Forests cover the European part of Russia, the Urals, Altai, the whole of Western and Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

 

 

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Photo by: Julia Vtyurina
Photo by: Julia Vtyurina

One of the oldest trees in Russia is the Grunwald Oak growing in the Kaliningrad region (the tree is more than 800 years old), and one of the most beautiful is the Karelian birch, which has been highly valued in Russia for its high durability and unusual patterned texture. It grows in the Republic of Karelia, and it is next to impossible to grow it artificially.

 

The most unusual forest in Russia is a dancing forest in the Kaliningrad region; the trees there have inclined and curved trunks. The reason for this unusual form is still a mystery to scientists. Some think that caterpillars damage the pine shoots, and it causes the trunk deformation.

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Photo by: Ekaterina Vasyagina
Photo by: Ekaterina Vasyagina