Benefits
of Social Forestry
- Social forestry focuses on the group
as a whole instead of solely on the individual.
- Social forestry is meant to help the
environment by recycling and reusing materials and by planting trees.
- Social forestry can be an affordable way to maintain your forest.
Social
forestry is a philosophy that encourages people to work together to maintain
forests. It is an extension of environmentalism and social justice. Working
together to conserve our natural resources is an important part of our
sustainable development; it protects our environment and builds empathy among
individuals. Communities can use social forestry to conserve their forests and
create employment opportunities for rural and underprivileged communities.
First,
social forestry promotes social well-being through cooperation and
self-reliance. Individuals cooperate with one another to conserve forests. For instance,
families can plant trees together in a community forest. This promotes mutual
respect between individuals as each member contributes to the greater good.
Self-reliness requires individuals to contribute to the forest's well-being on
their own by harvesting materials for building projects. Individuals must take
charge of their lives and conserve resources when they are ready. By doing so,
they will achieve social harmony and achieve their goals.
Secondly,
social forestry avoids the negative connotations associated at times with
wilderness and natural resources management. It focuses on the group as a whole
instead of solely on the individual. This is because individual actions - such
as conserving wood - are not enough in themselves to maintain a healthy
ecosystem. From a philosophical perspective, this is similar to looking at a
collective compared to its individual members; when individuals falter in their
conservation efforts, the whole group may fail as well. In comparison, looking
at nature from a strictly individual perspective - such as what we see in
Western art - can sometimes reinforce ideals of extreme separation from the
rest of the natural world, which can have ecological consequences itself (such
as the proliferation of invasive species).
Since
forests are an important part of our environment, we need to preserve them.
Trees help regulate the temperature of our planet by providing shade and
reducing air humidity. They also absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release
oxygen back into it. Therefore, maintaining our forests helps keep the earth
healthy. In addition, maintaining our forests helps us maintain freshwater
sources since trees help prevent the erosion of water sources such as lakes,
rivers, and aquifers. Thus, maintaining our forests helps us maintain many
aspects of our environment that we take for granted every day.
Social
forestry also encourages rural development through increased employment
opportunities in rural areas. Working in your community's forest conserves
resources while creating local jobs for your community members- particularly
rural workers who are unemployed or underpaid in other industries. You can also
plan your workdays around sunrise and sunset hours so you can see as many
daylight hours as possible while working in your woods. You can also find ways
to make money off your forest; you can sell timber for profit or use it for
your own projects such as building a community hall or fence your woods off for
parks or children's play areas. Essentially, working in your forest conserves
resources while creating local employment opportunities for rural communities
as well as enrichment projects for you personally.
Social
forestry encourages people worldwide to conserve forests by working together to
protect them from destruction and degradation. It promotes individual
self-reliance, cooperation and Rural Development among other goals through
activities such as logrolling, milling and tree planting festivals that unite
communities around preserving forests and promoting timber sales for rural
development programs. As our world becomes more urbanized every day, it's great
to see how communities are taking advantage of their forests both on and off
the property to conserving resources and promoting social well-being at once.
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