International Day of Forests 2023: history and traditions of the holiday

The forest is a whole microcosm, an ecosystem where you can meet various species of plants, animals and microorganisms. 80% of land living creatures live in forests. They occupy about a third of the planet’s land (38 million kmXNUMX). One of the important functions is the production and purification of oxygen, as well as the reduction of dust levels.

Preservation of the forest is one of the urgent tasks today, because the volume of deforestation is often several times higher than the volume of its natural restoration. More than 13 million hectares of forest are cut down annually. To solve this problem, some places prohibit deforestation or create artificial forest plantations.

When is International Day of Forests celebrated?

International Day of Forests is celebrated every year 21 March.

history of the holiday

The United Nations is also involved in environmental protection. The 1972 Stockholm Conference, the 1992 and 2012 conferences in Rio de Janeiro were devoted to environmental problems. The Stockholm Declaration, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, was adopted, which established 26 principles for the conservation of the environment. On December 21, 2012, the United Nations established the International Day of Forests.

Holiday traditions

The idea of ​​the holiday is to draw attention to the problem of deforestation and create a platform for the exchange of views and joint work for the conservation and restoration of forests. Therefore, the International Day of Forests is the time for holding round tables, conferences and symposia on the problems of protection and restoration of forest lands, environmental actions, tree planting campaigns. Each year has its own theme, for example, in 2020 it sounded like “Forests and Biodiversity”.

Related Holidays

Before the advent of the International Day of Forests, there were two related holidays: World Forest Day, established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1971, and Forest Day organized by the Center for International Forestry Research (2007-2012).

In Italy March 21 celebrate Tree Day. The first time it was celebrated in 1898, and since 1923 it has become official.

In Our Country, Belarus, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, on the third Sunday of September, Forest Workers Day is celebrated – a professional holiday established back in 1966.

In 1972, the UN established World Environment Day. He belongs to 5 June.

And in Our Country since 2007 5 June celebrating Environment Day.

Billion Tree Campaign

The United Nations has developed a program on the environment – UNEP (United Nations Environment Program, UNEP). UNEP launched a worldwide tree planting campaign called the Billion Trees.

A major role in its organization was played by Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004, founder of the Green Belt movement, which is engaged in the restoration of African forests.

The goal of the campaign was to plant a billion trees during 2007, and by May the funds had been raised.

Interesting facts about the forest

• Now forests cover about a third of the land, and 200 years ago their size was twice that.
• The Siberian taiga is the largest forest in the world.
• About half of all forest land in the world is in the tropics.
• About 7% of all forests have been planted by man.
• Every year the Earth loses almost 100 million trees.
• The net loss of forests on the planet is 3,3 million hectares per year.
• The forest zones of Malaysia have been almost completely destroyed.
• More than 70% of Finland is covered with forests.
• The most “poor” country in forests is the UK: forest land in it makes up only 6% of the area.
• 8,09 million sq. km – this is how much the forests of Our Country occupy.
• The Schmidt birch is one of the hardest trees in the world, it cannot be cut down with an axe.
• The tallest tree is the sequoia. It grows in California (USA) and reaches 115 meters in height.
• Birch is the most common deciduous tree.
• Trees grow all their lives.
• The oldest tree is about 2000 years old. It grows in the Lithuanian forest.
• Drunken forest – this is the name of the forest with inclined and curved tree trunks. Most often it is found in the permafrost zone and is mainly represented by coniferous trees.
• On the 37th kilometer of the Curonian Spit (Kaliningrad region) there is an amazing Dancing Forest. It is part of the Curonian Spit National Park and attracts tourists with its curved trunks.
• Forests absorb only 10% of nutrients from the soil, and they get the rest from the atmosphere.
• Trees reduce the greenhouse effect.
• About a million people in the world work in the wood industry.
• Wood fuel, mainly charcoal, generates approximately 40% of the world’s energy.
• In order to make one sheet of A4 format, 15-20 grams of wood is required. And for a book of medium volume, you will need from 5 kilograms of wood.
• The use of recycled materials helps to save wood. More than half of paper products are made from it.
• Eighty kilograms of recycled waste paper can save one tree from being cut down.
• Walking in the forest is very beneficial. In the forest, the pulse rate decreases and breathing becomes smoother.
• More than 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are absorbed by forests every year.
• A quarter of modern medicines are made from tropical forest plants.