WHY WE NEED FORESTS

Forests play an important role in the livelihoods and welfare of a vast number of people who live in and off the forest.

1. By absorbing water and holding soil in place, forests reduce the risk of floods and mudslides that result from earthquakes and hurricanes.
2. Forests protect watersheds which supply fresh water to rivers - critical sources of drinking water.
3. The cloud forests La Tigra National Park in Honduras provide more than 40% of the water supply for the capital city,tegucigalpa and it's 850,000 people.
4. More than 1.6 billion people around the world depend to varying degrees on forests for their livelihoods,not just for food but also for fuel,for livestock grazing areas and for medicine.
5. More than 300 million people live in forests.
6. Forests are home to 80% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity.
7. Forests cover 31% of total land area .
8. More than 40% of the world's oxygen is produced by rain forests.

1. Forests Provide

SHELTER

• Livelihoods
• Water
• Fuel and Food to 2 billion people directly and help regulate the climate for everyone on the planet.

• Forests play an important role in the livelihoods and welfare of a vast number of people who live in and off the forest.

• Marine ecosystems support more than 660 million jobs globally and are significant source of protein,particularly in developing countries.
• More than 1.6 billion people around the world depend to varying degrees on forests for their livelihoods,not just for food but also for fuel,for livestock grazing areas and for medicine.
• Forests protect watersheds which supply fresh water to rivers(critical sources of drinking water).
• The cloud forests of La Tigra National Park in Honduras provide more than 40% of the water supply for the capital city,Tegucigalpa and its 850,000 people.
• Forests are home to 300 million people.
• Forests are home to 80% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity.
• The carbon in forests exceeds the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere.
• More than a quarter of medicines  worth an estimated 108 billion us dollar a year,originate from tropical forest plants.

MANGROVE FORESTS

• Mangroves are the most productive ecosystems.
• Globally  there are 60 true mangrove sp. in 23 genera and families.
• In India there are 34 species of true mangroves. Bhitarkanika (Orissa)has 31 species. 
• Sunderbans  have 27 species
• Andaman and Nicobar islands have 24 species.
• India is home to more than 7% of the world's mangrove forests.
• Mangroves make up 8% of the Indian coastline.
• 80% of the mangrove forests are found on the eastern coast of India.
• Mangroves are also found in over two thirds of the salt water coastal areas of tropical and subtropical Africa,Asia,Australia and North America,and South America.
• Mangroves are nesting grounds for hundreds of species of birds,which build nests on the branches.
• Mangroves are very leafy and take in a lot of CO2 from atmosphere to make biomass.This reduces the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• If mangroves are destroyed migratory birds will no longer have a safe haven to halt and rest.
• Mangrove deforestation is contributing to decline in fisheries,degradation of clean water supplies, increasing salinity of coastal soils,erosion, and land subsidence.
• Mangroves are known as soldiers of the Coasts.
• Indonesia has the largest area under mangroves with 30% of the global coverage,followed by Brazil,Australia and India.
• Red mangroves is the most common mangrove sp. in the world.
• Redmangroves (genus Rhizophora)are well adapted to salty swamps.
• Black mangroves,white mangroves,and buttonwood mangroves  grow around redmangrove clusters.
• Mangroves slow down the force of the sea waves and thus,protect coastline.
• Sunderban mangrove forests are home to more than 35 sp. of reptiles,270 sp. of birds,and 42 sp. of marine mammals.
• The salt water or estuarine crocodile (the largest of all living reptiles) is found in this mangrove forest.

VANAMAHOTSAVA

The first successful tree planting week was celebrated in Delhi in July 1947, with the participation of national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad , Abdul Kalaam Azad, among many other important personalities. The celebration was renamed Vana Mahotsava , the grand festival of forests or trees.

BLUE CARBON FACTS

1. Mangrove ecosystems,tidal marshes and sea grasses sequester and store large quantities of blue carbon in the plants.
2. Global annual loss of these ecosystems is at the rate 1-2 % for tidal marshes;0.7 - 3% for mangroves; and 0.4 - 2.6% for sea grass.
3. The loss of all these systems  releases significant emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere and the ocean, contributing to climate change
4. Emissions from drained coastal wetlands result in 3 to 19 % of emissions from REDD
5. Coastal ecosystems provide other benefits for Climate change adaptation,local livelihoods,tourism and culture.Protection from storm and prevention of shoreline erosion,regulation of coastal water quality,habitat for important fish species and other vulnerable species.

ORGANISMS IN DRINKING WATER

1. Anabaena circinalis ,a compylobaster,salmonella
2. Salmonella enterica
3. Chironomids
4. Cryptosporidium
5. Copepods
6. Legionella pneumophila
7. Campylobacter
8. E. coli
9. Naegleria fowleri

CONSUMPTION OF WATER

In order to produce one A4 SIZE SHEET OF PAPER
10 litres of water is used
One slice of bread FORTY Litres
One glass of beer requires 75 litres of water
One cup of coffee requires 140 litres of water
Onekilogram of rice  requires 3419 litres of water.One cotton T- shirt needs 4100 litres of water.
One pair of leather shoes........8000 litres of water.

50 countries are experiencing moderate to severe water stress on a year-round basis.

• One kilogram of beef requires  15497 litres of water

One ton of aluminium requires 13 40 000 litres of water.

THE LIVING WORLD

• Rainforests cover less than 2% of Earth's total surface area but they are home to about half of it's plants and animals.
• Arctic Tern  performs the largest known annual migration.
• Tropical and subtropical rainforests present examples of how a hot ,steady climate promotes remarkable diversity in plant growth.
• One in every 113 men,women and children is a refugee.
• War and Violence cost global economy 13.6 trillion dollar in 2015 according to the Global Annual Peace Index.Worldwide 65 million people were forced to  flee their homes last year.
• One of the oldest animals in the world live in the ocean.The oldest 507 year old was an ocean quahog(Ming,scientific name Arctica islandica) found on a seabed near Iceland in 2006.
• The oldest tree in the world is 4148 years old Methuselah, a bristle corn pine in California .
• The oldest rock fragment in the world is a tiny zircon crystal dating back 4.4 billion years,found in Australia.
• The oldest known fossils of cyanobacteria found in rocks in western Australia , belongs to 900 million years back.
• The oldest mountain range is the Appalachian Mountains.
• Oldest oceanic crust found under the Mediterranean Sea.
• The oldest water  located 2 miles under Ontario, Canada,  in Kidd Mine,the deepest base metal mine in the world.The water here  is 2 billion years old. 
• The oldest human fossil found in Ethiopia in 2013.It was 2.8 million  years old.
• The Dragonflies are able to determine if an insect is prey or not within 500th of a second.They are able to do this because they can see 300 images per second.
• Tiny eel like aquatic critter is known for it's ability to detect approaching storms.
• They have swim bladder attuned to changes not only in water pressure but also barometric pressure . They become more active due to changes in barometric pressure .They are known as weather fish.
• Whiskers are sensitive and accurate that seals can even hunt while blind folded.Whiskers follow trails of fish swimming up to 600 feet away.
• African giant pouched rat has a super-sniffer that we humans use to find out buried land mines.
• Specially trained rats can locate land mine with their keen sense of smell and even walk over the land mines without triggering them.They are so efficient that they can 2000 square feet in twenty minutes.It would take a human with a metal detector 4 days to search the same area.
• The Penguins have to see well on land to find breeding sites and in water to find food  and avoid predators.  They are able to do this with the help of a flattened cornea.The flattened cornea refracts light less than a human eye does.Coupled with their eye muscles that allow them to change the shape of the eyes ' lense penguins can focus in and out of water with ease. 
• Beetles are everywhere.But Jewel Beetles (belonging to Buprestidae family)are different.Their distinct and beautiful colours are notable.They can detect fires up to 7 miles away using infrared receptors.The thoracic infrared organs pick up radiation emitted by forest fires.This is a useful trait since the beetle requires recently burned wood to lay their eggs.
• Humans and cats are roughly the same when it comes to hearing things on the lower end of the sound spectrum, cats hear better than we do when it comes to higher pitched sounds.Cats can hear 1.6 octaves higher than us.(one octave above a dog).
• Mantis shrimp can detect a range of colours. Because it's eyes have up to 16 photoreceptors .A male is able to know that the female is ready to mate by seeing the biofluorescence. Its wavelength matches that of the detected shrimp's eye pigments. 
• Dogs are anecdotally considered reliable indicators of Earthquakes.Their keen sense of hearing alerts them to impending temblor. Ancient Greeks have noticed dogs behaving strangely before earthquakes.
• Hamsters communicate each other  at ultrasonic frequency.The sense of hearing of hams is so good that they are able to hear on the ultrasonic frequency.
• World's biggest shell fish lives in coral reefs.giant clams grow well over one meter long  - big enough to bathe in it's shell.

People live in forests.300 million people live in forests worldwide.
Deforestation kills wildlife,reduces oxygen,damages soil,pollutes atmosphere and finally messes up our world.
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth.
Bushfire spread across the continent from December 2019 onwards. It lasted for months with devastating effects. Plant ecosystems as well as livestock and other wildlife were lost in huge numbers.

AMAZING FACTS ON EARTH

1. The amount of time a Tardigrade(the hardiest animal ) can exist in a vacuum is 10 minutes.
2. A human being can survive in space unprotected for 2 minutes.
3. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957 more than 38000 man-made objects orbited the Earth
4. Earth is smoother than a bowling ball.High mountains and deep ocean trenches make up only 1/5000th of the earth's circumference.
5. Currently 22000 man-made objects larger than 10 cm are orbiting the earth.
6. The value of earth's atmosphere based on the price of CO2 ; 1.3 part per cubic meter is 4.3 quadrillion pounds.
7. 8.6million lightnings strike on a single day.
8. Salted water on Earth 97%  and fresh water 3%
9. One litre of sea water 13 billionth's of a gram of gold
10. 90 % of rubbish in the world's oceans is plastic.
11. 99% of living space on Earth is represented by oceans.
12. About one million species live in the world's oceans.Two third are yet to be discovered.
13. Earth is the only planet in the solar system with plate tectonics.
14. Without it carbon would not be consumed and recycled, and the earth would overheat just like Venus.
15. 99% of  earth's  gold lies in its core.It is sufficient to form a 1.5 foot coat around the surface of the earth.
16. The temperature of the earth's core is as hot as the surface of the sun.(5500 degree celsius)
17. Earth rotates 1609 kliometers per hour at the equator.
18. Rare earth elements are not rare.Lutetium , the last abundant rare earth element , is nearly 200 times more common in the earth's crust than gold.
19. A solid iron ball 1500 miles wide sits on the heart of the Earth.Although it is white hot the pressure is so high the iron cannot melt.
20. The weight of the earth's largest crystals found beneath Mexico's Naica mine .It weighs 55 tonnes.
21. The age of bacteria fossils found in Australia is longer than earth's atmosphere has had oxygen.(3.5 billion years)
22. If the earth stopped rotating suddenly and if you are not attached to ground you would fall over for 0.8 kilometer in one second if nothing is on your path.
23. The coldest temperature recorded, in 1983 at Vostok Station,Antarctica.(-89 degree celsius) or ( minus 128.6 Farenheit)
24. The continents are moving 2 centimeters every year.
25. Bee stings are acidic while wasp stings are alkaline.
26. Copper is the only metal that is naturally antibacterial.
27. Chalk is made of trillions of microscopic skeleton fossils of plankton. 
28. There is about 13 billionth of a gram of gold in each litre of sea water.
29. The human body contains enough carbon to provide 'lead ' (which is really graphite) for about 9000 pencils .
30. Lightning strikes produce ozone (O3) and help strengthen the ozone layer. 
31. 20 % of the Oxygen in the atmosphere was produced by the Amazon Rainforest.
32. One bucket full of water contains more atoms than there are in a bucket full of water in the Atlantic Ocean.
33. Occuppying less than one quarter of 1% of the marine environment,coral reefs  are home to more than 25% of all known marine fish species.
34. In 2013 worldwide chemical sales were valued at 3.2 trillion Euros.These substances are vital to our modern lives and our economies,but they can also be dangerous.
35. The chemicals we exploit to assist agricultural production ,develop medicines and produce consumer goods can be dangerous to human health.
36. Bats not only control pests for a wide variety of crops,cotton,various nuts,and rice,but also pollination for some 300 fruit varieties.The value of bats for their services estimated to Texas farmers is millions of dollars.
37.  humans have harvested1,75,000 tons of gold till 2015.
38. Species identified so far is 1.5 million.
39. The radiation hitting the earth is 10,000 times the consumption of energy in the world.
40. 5 trillion plastic pieces float on world's oceans weighing about 2,69,000 tonnes.
41. Some caves are made of a tube of lava.
42. Ice has the power to make rocks crumble.
43. Oceans are so deep that mountains are hidden beneath them.

TODAY IS WETLAND DAY

 ‘Wetlands for disaster risk reduction’, the day will allow countries around the world to increase awareness of the important role of wetlands in safeguarding against natural disasters.