TURN DEFORESTATION INTO REFORESTATION

Deforestation — cutting down, burning, and otherwise destroying forests — is occurring at such a rapid pace that if the current rate continues, the rain forests will disappear by the year 2100, and with them more than half of the animal and plant species on the planet. Nearly 40 million acres of natural forests were destroyed per year during the 1990s, and from 1990 to 1995 alone, a total area of forest nearly twice the size of Italy vanished.

Deforestation threatens the existence of every living thing on the planet. The world's tropical rainforests as well as the dry forests are extremely valuable ecosystems that contain more than 60 percent of the world’s plant and animal life. On a planetary scale, forests help prevent an increase in global warming by serving as carbon sinks—areas that trap and store carbon dioxide. Trees absorb the gas from the air and then replenish the air with oxygen. The more trees we have, the better the air.

Preventing deforestation is also critical because forests help protect coastal regions, control avalanches and desertification, stabilize sand dunes, and prevent soil erosion and degradation. And for millions of people around the world, deforestation threatens their survival, as forests are their home and their source of food, medicine, and energy, as well as their spiritual and cultural identity.

Deforestation is practiced to make way for cattle raising and agriculture, especially in the tropical rainforests of South America and Southeast Asia, but also in parts of western Europe and North America. Deforested land often falls prey to unsustainable agricultural practices, which then fuels the need to clear even more trees for more land. Costa Rica is an example of such forest destruction. Since the end of World War II, approximately 80 percent of its forests has been cut down to provide pasture for cattle to meet the global demand for beef, especially for the fast food market.

Widespread logging is the cause of deforestation in many regions. Global desire for teakwood furniture, for example, is causing the destruction of the last of the teakwood forests, which are in Indonesia, home to one-tenth of the world's tropical forests. And on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, all of the lowland forests will be gone by 2010 unless illegal logging is stopped immediately. Other causes of deforestation include urbanization, mining, and oil exploration, while acid rain and fire also contribute to forest destruction.

Deforestation has not gone unnoticed, as many governmental and nongovernmental agencies around the world are attempting to reduce and reverse the destruction by engaging in reforestation — the restoration of deforested regions by planting seeds and/or saplings. And they need your help.

Be prepared to get your hands dirty when you volunteer with any of the life-renewing reforestation projects that are underway around the globe. Some of them are listed below and could use your hands today.

• A long-standing reforestation program in Guatemala in Quetzaltenango strives to restore 200,000 indigenous trees per year. Tasks include bagging and transplanting seedlings to the forest, preparing the soil, and collecting seeds. Room and board is with a host family.
• If you have a basic knowledge of trees, are interested in reforestation, and are fluent in Spanish, you can help create a tree nursery at the Lalo Loor Dry Forest reserve on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. You will stay in the reserve's dormitory and help collect tree seeds, plant and care for seedlings, and assist with the nursery facility. A one month minimum commitment is requested.
• Help the reforestation project in Costa Rica in a high-elevation forest (forest in the clouds). Cloudbridge Reserve needs volunteers to collect seeds and plant saplings, monitor reforestation progress, maintain saplings, and help with trail-building. You should be a university student or graduate of an environmental or biological studies program to volunteer with this project.
• Plant trees, nurse seedlings, conduct surveys, and help with landscape design in Ghana, where more than 90 percent of the country's high forests have been logged since the 1940s. You will volunteer under the government's forestry institutions or environmentally sensitive nongovernmental organizations.
• Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, needs volunteers for reforestation and forest management. Stay two weeks or longer, and enjoy room and board with a Brazilian family.
• Conservation Volunteers Australia sponsors several reforestation programs, including one in the Galapagos Islands and another in Ecuador. Each of the programs lasts two weeks and includes cabin accommodations and meals.
• Be part of a long-term reforestation project in Kenya, where you can work at the Menengai Hill Forest Station or near the slopes of Mount Kenya. Stay for one week or up to 12. Room and board are included.
• Be part of a rural reforestation project in Nepal. Tree planting is at the top of the list of duties. You'll stay with a host family during your two-week experience.

On your next vacation, you could help restore our rapidly disappearing forests and give the planet what it needs — a breath of fresh air and a chance for a future.