What is the difference between a forest and plantation?

What is the difference between a forest and plantation?

1. Native forests comprise of Australian tree species that naturally regenerate. Plantation forests are planted by man, usually in rows for the purpose of wood production.

Are plantations forests?

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), even industrial plantations with their cloned trees fall into the category of forest types. In order to build these green deserts, forests are cleared – but these areas do not count as being deforested. Tree monocultures are NOT forests.

What does forest plantation mean?

In FRA 2000 “forest plantations” are defined as those forest stands established by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation.

Why is a tree plantation not a forest?

Tree plantations are not forests. They are a monoculture which causes huge impacts throughout the world. Plantations are a huge number of very rapidly growing single species of trees of the same age that are sawn to occupy considerable land areas, with very high consumption of soil nutrients and water.

Would a tree plantation or natural forest be most sustainable?

Planting trees is no substitute for natural forests

• Now is a good time to prioritise the protection and recovery of primary ecosystems before planting trees.
• Mature forests can adapt to changing conditions and store more carbon than young, degraded or plantation forests.

Why are plantations needed?

Plantations also offer important environmental benefits. Plantations, strategically placed in the landscape, are recognised for their importance for sustainable production and improved soil, water quality and salinity mitigation, carbon and biodiversity benefits.

What are the main problems with tree plantations?

With tree plantations, corporations gain access and control of forest land and resources, often depriving communities of their means of subsistence. Usually, they negatively impact the cultural and biological diversity of the area.

What name is given to a forest that has never been cut?

virgin forest – an area of old-growth trees that never has been harvested by humans.

Where are plantation forest located?

Examples of this are found in Brazil and Thailand. There are cases where plantations have replaced habitats rich in biodiversity. In Indonesia for example, where pulp production has more than quadrupled in the last decade, more than 1.4 million hectares of natural forest have been replaced by plantations.

Is tree monoculture sustainable?

Recent studies have shown that monoculture tree plantations have a twofold impact globally: loss of biodiversity and net emitters of carbon. A review released this week may confirm that: according to researchers, primary forest converted to oil palm plantations caused an 83 percent loss in biodiversity.

What are the characteristics of a plantation forest?

Plantation forests, typically consisting of one or a few tree species, are grown as even-aged monocultures, intensively managed and harvested on relatively short rotations. These characteristics raise concerns that plantation forests may negatively impact forest biodiversity 9.

What’s the percentage of plantations in the UK?

In some countries, plantations account for a large proportion of forest area. For example, 12% of the land cover in the UK consists of forest, with 68% of the forest area being plantation, while in Japan, 68% of the land area is covered by forest, with 42% of that being plantation 8.

What are dics for natural and plantation forests?

The deviance information criteria (DICs) were lowest for the models incorporating the area of natural and plantation forests at 1500-m and 2000-m scales, respectively ( Table 1 ). The model with the area of natural forest set at a 1000–1500-m scale and that with the plantation forest area set at a 1000–2500-m scale were well supported.

How does replacing natural forest with plantation affect biodiversity?

Thus, replacing natural forest with plantation might have adverse effects on biodiversity conservation and restoration 9, 35. Possible approaches to forest management in a plantation-dominated landscape may include natural regeneration and retention of original native trees 10.