UCS3312 GREEN TECHNOLOGY

TOPIC 10: CONSERVATION (PROTECTING OUR PLANT RESOURCES

Mdm. Nurzalikha Sa'adi

University Courses & Innovative Learning
nurzalikha@uts.edu.my
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
THERE ARE 5 LEARNING OUTCOMES WHICH ARE:

Identify forest and water cycle

Analysing threats to forests

Tropical forest preservation

Saving riparian habitats

Reducing wood waste

 Grassland Taiga

Desert

Temperate forest Tropical forest

Tundra.
 Function of forest
q climate regulation;
q regulate water and other nutrient cycles;
q offer habitat for the majority of the globe’s species;
q filter pollutants from the air;
q reduce the rate of global warming by absorbing the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide;
q reduce soil erosion with their root systems; and
q provide watersheds by absorbing rainfall and releasing it slowly into streams.

But today, we’re losing our green element…

 The water cycle, also called the hydrologic cycle, operates similarly

Water Cycle
to biogeochemical cycles in which plant and animal nutrients move
through the atmosphere, the earth, and through living things.
 Stage 1:
Evaporation

Ø Evaporation is the process of a liquid’s surface changing to gas.

Ø In the water cycle, liquid water from the ocean, lakes or rivers evaporates and becomes water vapour.
Ø The evaporation process is driven by the sun.
Ø It also can be influenced by wind, temperature and the density of the body of water.
 Stage 2:
Condensation

Ø In the water cycle, water vapour in the atmosphere condenses and becomes liquid.
Ø It can happen high in the atmosphere or at ground level.
Ø Clouds form as water vapor condenses or becomes more concentrated (dense).
Ø It also influenced by the sun.
Ø As water vapour cools, it reaches its saturation limit or dew point.
Ø Air pressure is also an important influence on the dew point of an area.
 Stage 3:
Precipitation

Ø Precipitation describes any liquid or solid water that falls to Earth as a result of condensation in the
atmosphere.
Ø It includes rain, snow and hail.
Ø Precipitation is one of many ways is cycled from the atmosphere to the Earth or ocean.
 Stage 4:
Infiltration

Ø After the water has fallen and the soil has become saturated or the snow has melted, the water follows gravity and falls
down any hills, mountains or other inclines to form or join rivers.
Ø It is how water comes to rest in lakes and returns to the ocean.
Ø The water falls according to the incline of the place from which it is falling and when several threads of water meet,
they form a stream.
Ø These streams and rivers will runoff eventually to either form lakes or rejoin the ocean depending on their proximity to
the ocean.
Human activities interfere
with the water cycle by:

1. A lot of development,
2. polluting water, and
3. removing or damaging
the world’s forests.
• Malaysia had the world's highest rate of
forest loss between 2000 and 2012.
Malaysia's total forest loss amounted to
14.4 percent of its year 2000 forest cover.
The loss translates to 47,278 square
kilometres (18,244 square miles), an area
larger than Denmark.
• Malaysia's forest loss was partly offset by a
25,978 sq. km gain in vegetation cover
resulting from natural recovery,
reforestation, and establishment of
industrial timber and oil palm plantations.
These tropical rain forests account for at least half of all the Earth’s biodiversity even though they cover only about 2
percent of the Earth’s surface. These forests have also become the most threatened by deforestation.
 Major Threats to Forests Worldwide

Activity Reason Main Effects

Clearing Agriculture, Erosion, degradation of soil quality, wastes, habitat loss,

livestock desertification

Timber Erosion, carbon dioxide production, habitat loss,

harvesting desertification

Urban development Pollution, erosion, habitat destruction

Mining Pollution, mountain destruction

Conversion to monoculture Commercial tree plantations loss of native animals, insects

vineyards loss of native animals, insects

Urban tree planting programs possible invasive species

Illegal drug cultivation pollution, erosion, habitat destruction

Fragmentation Development Habitat degradation

Vehicles Recreation, road-building Soil erosion, transmittance of disease

 Deforestation

Forest loss has a devastating impact on biodiversity because forests, especially the tropical rain forests near the
equator, make a great contribution to the world’s plant and animal diversity.
 Clearing of evergreen coniferous forests for timber

Conversion of forests to monoculture

Clearing of tropical forests for crops, livestock, and

timber

Clearing of temperate deciduous Illegal logging

forests for timber, crops, and
urban development
Population Encroachment

Urban areas that overshoot their carrying

capacity must increase the amount of goods
they import from outside their region just to
sustain daily life.

Nearby forest falls under extreme threat of

deforestation to provide more room for
homes, buildings, roads, farms, and parks, not
to mention timber for construction materials
and paper.
 Agriculture, Logging, and Industry
The world’s three main forest types-tropical, temperate, and
boreal-since the 1800s
Logging
o Clear-cutting, removes all trees in an area in a single cutting
operation.
o Selective-cutting, removes only the older trees, which are cut
down individually while other trees remain standing.
Mining
o Shaft mining to the creation of a narrow tunnel from the
ground’s surface to the ore or coal below, perhaps as far as a
mile (1.6 km) beneath the surface.
o Strip mining involves the removal of a large piece of the land.
 Climate Change

increased pests and infections

decreased growth and productivity
flood
 Pollution

Acid rain, other air

pollution, ozone,
and runoff
containing
excess nitrogen
fertilizers
 Tropical Forest
Preservation
• Restoration involves activities that enable a
degraded forest to recover its health and return
to normal growth.
• Restoration methods make up a science called
restoration ecology, which is the transformation
of land back to its original state, or close to its
original state.
• Restoration of tropical forests consists of three
main techniques:
o Reforestation,
o Rehabilitation of degraded forests, and
o Conversion of damaged areas to sustainable
forestry.
 What can we do?
Trees, however, do not possess the luxury of moving; entire species can slowly die as a
result of continuous temperature changes

Habitat fragmentation from urban growth or agriculture reduces the ability of tree populations to
propagate and lessens their genetic diversity
Saving Riparian Habitats

Riparian habitat comprises the trees,

shrubs, plants, and physical features
found on the banks of rivers, streams,
and non-beach borders of lakes.
Riparian areas occupy a small portion
of the Earth’s total land area, they
serve two major purposes in the
environment:
o contribute to watersheds and,
o hold a large amount of plant
and animal biodiversity.
Saving Riparian Habitats

Riparian areas serve watersheds by:

1. Lessening damage caused by floods;
2. Improving the supply to groundwater
sources;
3. Removing chemicals from runoff by
filtering water through their wetlands;
and
4. Reducing wind erosion on nearby land,
5. Serve as wildlife corridors and as a
transition zone where aquatic and
terrestrial habitats meet.
 Saving Riparian Habitats

• Much of the human-caused damage to riparian habitat:

o upstream chemical pollution, and
o a portion of that starts with intentional misuse of rivers and streams.
• People use rivers and streams for dumping waste, ranging from household
garbage to used appliances.
 Saving Riparian Habitats

Passive restoration consists of minimal activities that allow a riparian

area to re-establish on its own. Active restoration consists of
activities that rebuild the riparian area.
 Reducing Description
Wood Waste

1. Sustainable Sustainable wood production involves three main focus areas:

Wood 1. Harvesting trees no faster than they can replenish;
Production 2. Protecting old growth; and
3. Reducing forest vulnerability by finding wood alternatives.
The Scientific Certification Systems run by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has since 1993 graded wood producers
on their level of meeting sustainable practices to make their product. FSC inspectors visit the production site and look
for the following practices:
1. Tree harvesting rates do not exceed the forest’s regeneration rate.
2. Harvesting maintains the natural forest ecosystems of plants and wildlife.
3. Operations protect rare, threatened, and endangered species.
4. Tree plantations do not replace natural forests.
5. Tree plantations occupy only agricultural or pasturelands.
6. Harvesting maintains conservation zones or buffer zones around the forest.
7. Chemical use is minimized or eliminated.
8. Logging companies protect riparian areas from erosion runoff.
9. Workers, communities, and indigenous tribes benefit from the operations.

2. Wood Non-wood materials that substitute for wood in the making of traditionally wooden products. Example: plastic lumber,
Alternatives contains no wood- recycled milk jugs, 93 percent, and fiberglass, 7 per- cent; recycled low-density polyethylene, 50
percent, and wood fibres, 50 percent; glass-reinforced plastic; plastic-rubber combinations; and plastic peanut shell
combinations. Other examples: linoleum, tile, plaster, stucco, or sealed concrete for flooring, and steel for support
structures
Plastic lumber

Linoleum
Reducing Wood Waste Description

3. Recycled and Scrap Recycled wood consists of wood products that have been recovered from furniture or
Wood structures and reused to make other wood products. Some recycled wood also comes
from trees that have been cut down for landscaping.
Scrap wood consists of the chips and waste that accumulate from logging, milling, and
construction.
Furniture makers have turned wood recycling into a small.
For example, recyclers recover wood from old furniture, old buildings, demolished
bridges, fallen trees, driftwood, and bonfires.
Scrap wood often comes in sizes and shapes that do not work in furniture making. Yet
scrap wood serves to conserve living trees in the following ways: as fuel for wood-burning
stoves; crafts material; and use in composites, which are materials that combine scrap
wood with a non-wood material such as plastic.

4. Renewable Wood Renewable wood refers to materials that replace the normal woods that have been used
Resources for years in construction and furniture. Renewable woods grow fast and economically, so
they have fit well into plans for new green building plans. The main renewable woods in
use today are the following: bamboo, cork, palm, eucalyptus, invasive cedar, and oriented
strand board.
 Reducing Wood Waste

Recycled Wood

Scrap Wood
Thanks!