Links

Other Useful Websites to Visit

• An Oige www.anoige.ie
• An Taisce www.antaisce.org
• Birdwatch www.birdwatchireland.ie
• Coillte www.coillte.ie
• Crann www.crann.ie
• COFORD www.coford.ie
• Department of the Environment www.environ.ie
• ECO-UNESCO, Irish Environmental Youth Organisation www.ecounesco.ie
• ENFO www.enfo.ie
• Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.ie
• People's Millennium Forests www.millenniumforests.com
• Pro Silva www.prosilvaireland.org
• Teagasc www.teagasc.ie
• The Heritage Council www.heritagecouncil.ie
• The Farmers Journal www.farmersjournal.ie
• The Tree Council (UK) www.treecouncil.org.uk
• Treasure the Holly Tree www.treasurethehollytree.com

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Irish Tree Trivia

Large-scale deforestation is now causing major global environmental problems.

Deforestation is not new, for example, it happened here in Ireland, albeit over a long period of time. The world’s population grew from 1.5 billion people in 1900 to 6 billion in 2000.

All of these people have to eat and have to live somewhere, and often forests are cut down to provide shelter and fuel, and to create clearances for growing crops. Sadly, this way of dealing with rising populations is simply not sustainable.

Large-scale deforestation can cause the soil to be washed away, resulting in the land loosing its fertility. In the end, the cleared land becomes impoverished and useless for either shelter or food.

Trees and forests protect soil, slow down the speed at which the rain hits the ground, and act like giant sponges that soak up heavy rain. In deforested areas, the soil is quickly washed away, and rainfall rushes downhill, resulting in destructive flash flooding.

Serious and direct consequences of deforestation are actually not something new. They were recognised as long ago as the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia. In the 5th century BC, Plato noted the damage to soil resources caused by deforestation in Attica.