Introduction
A general rise in incidences of climate change has got the world scheming and planning for various remedies. The world has become so much aware of its surrounding after the realization that future generations will still depend on the very earth they are using. Management practices and mitigation efforts have been headlined and put into various government policies to ensure that sustainability is attained.
Various intergovernmental and regional meetings have made it a habit to discuss and incorporate climatic issues into their various agendas. In as much as all this noble activities and efforts are aimed at ensuring a sustainable environment for the future generations, there still is a major gap between policy formulation and implementation. This is despite the fact that environmental factors that result in desertification have been discovered and researched in depth (Robbins, Alicia and Stevan Harrell, p.389).
The concept of climate change incorporates various aspects together - among them that of afforestation and deforestation. As attention shifts to the melting glaciers in the north and south poles, scholars and researchers realize that there is a direct and strong link between forests and climatic change. Greenhouse gasses have accumulated in the atmosphere resulting in a general rise in temperatures in the atmosphere; this is the basic description and explanation of climate change. This can be linked to forestry in the sense that more so trees aid in balancing gasses in the atmosphere. The general gaseous exchange in the atmosphere is maintained between biota and the atmosphere.
The trees reduce the harmful gasses in the atmosphere by absorbing and converting them into useful gasses; in the event, they purify the air and make it cleaner. The greenhouse gasses are thus reduced, and the greenhouse gas effects are reduced. This paper, therefore, analyzes the relationship that exists between human interaction and their environment and its effects. The issues and effects of decreasing forest area and cover around the world will also be discussed. A keener emphasis will be placed on the forest area decrease and the resultant sandstorms in Beijing.
Sand Storms in Beijing
Sandstorms are a common occurrence within the Asian sphere. Within the metrological departments of Asia, sand storms occur and are a common phenomenon. The dusts have been found to originate from the Mongolian deserts, Kazakhstan and northern China. Dry soil particles are made up into a cloud to form the dust storms; this is as a result of the high-speed winds at the surface. Ancient Chinese literature has elements of various written records. As early as 1150 BC, Chinese literature hints at existence of dust storms, and they believed it was as a result of angry gods.
The clouds of dust are then carried and transported eastward by winds to pass over Japan, China, North and South Korea. This means that the quality of air is significantly affected due to the other airborne particles that are carried along. Industrial pollutants have doubled in china and its environs in the last few decades. The pollutants have resulted in increased occurrences of sand storms. The intensity and time of occurrence have also been affected due to the increased industrial pollutants. The composition of the dust clouds and sand storms have been analyzed and found to contain various components. Silicon, iron, calcium, aluminum are some of the most abundant components in the sand storms. However, other toxic substances are also present within the clouds of dust ("Astro-Trees Will Inhibit Sand Storms," par.7).
With the spring season in China, the sand storms are usually expected. The reason being that the better part of the spring season is windy and dry; therefore, Beijing inhabitants are often faced with heavy sandstorms. During sand storms, air pollution levels shoot up to unimaginable levels. The air becomes a noxious compilation of dust and smog hindering transport and greatly affecting the quality of air being breathed in.
Health issues both in animals, and human beings have been discovered. Researchers have associated various respiratory and optical diseases with the sand storms. The air, road and rail transport becomes hampered the associated losses to the economy are huge (Yu, Dapao, et al., p.6). This explanation tries to put in perspective the effects of the sand storms, considering the fact that Beijing is the capital city.
Various mitigation strategies have been implemented to deal with the situation times without number. Some of them fail, and some succeed while the real solution continues to lie on mitigating climate change as a whole and not sand storms as an element. Significant progress has been made in the urban afforestation program of China. A number of cities have achieved improvements in line with tree and forest cover. Beijing has not been left out; it has grown significantly in terms of tree cover. An outstanding twenty-eight percent has been achieved compared to the 3.2 percent of the late forties (Liu, Xiuping, et al., p.7).
Forest Area in Beijing
Beijing is well placed in a region of deciduous and broad-leaved forests. However, years of cutting and deforestation have resulted in a significant decrease in the area under forest cover in China as a country. In 1949, the area under forest cover in Beijing was estimated to be at 3.2 percent. Most of the forest cover has been destroyed due to conflicts and various wars. The need for increased settlement area as the urban areas continues to creep into the rural areas result in reducing plant and forest cover. Concrete jungles are developing all over Beijing, with free land and forest cover ever reducing. Desertification continues to crop as the Chinese nation develops both in industry and urbanization.
Measures to remedy and mitigate depleting forest cover have been developed across China. Tree planting campaigns have been run and continue to be run to ensure that the forest cover does increase significantly. Roads, airports, buildings and office space are all part of the competitors of the for available land space. Stringent regulations and rules should be effected to ensure that zoning and planned development is prioritized. The governments should plan in consideration of the future and current needs for the population. The concept of afforestation has been embraced and continues to be practiced in Beijing and China at large (Liu, Xiuping, et al., p.7).
A number of researchers and scholars alike have suggested that what should be given an upper hand is the idea of increasing the vegetation cover and not necessarily the forest cover. It is the grasses and shrubs that will hold together the soil and prevent them from being detached and transported by wind action. The vegetation cover retains the soil particles within their position thus in a reduced wind action. The forests, on the other hand, allow for the checking of the speed of the wind and thus reducing the distance of sand storms. The world faces a climate change crisis, without a doubt; as a result, cohesive and synergetic energies should be employed to makes sure that these issues are dealt with accordingly.
Relationship between Forest Area and Sandstorms in Beijing
A vast amount of soil is blown away as wind sweeps across an area leading to sandstorms. There has been a direct link between forests, vegetation cover and the sandstorms in Beijing. Intensified denudation has been realized in the past with profits as the motivation.
However, current gains should not be achieved at the expense of future generations. Western regions of China lack vitality due to the continued excessive cutting of trees. In the sixties, over fifty-three hectares of land were covered with trees and forests; today, a mere one thousand three hundred is what remains. The forest areas provide a protective zone from the drifting sand. Continued forest depletion results in an ever reducing protective zone (Xiao, Suili, Liming, and Linlin, p. 339).
Therefore, as the forests are depleted due to human exploitation, the occurrence of sand storms continues to increase. Increasing industrial gasses are increasing in the atmosphere just causing an increase in temperatures around the world; in China, desertification continues to grow. The trees and forest cover allow for regulation of temperatures and checking the speed of the wind (Hou, Yilei, Yangcui, and Yali, 1224).
As the sand storms gather and rise in the air, they move large distances due to the fact that they face no obstacles along the way. Increasing desertification allows for an increasing area of wind action and sand storm formation. In entirety, the connection has been created that puts greater emphasis on reforestation. Numerous extrapolations have been made towards the future in anticipation of possible occurrences that may result from the never ending climate change.
Sand storms in Beijing, as discussed are not a current phenomenon; this means that mitigation and remediation measures are long overdue. The causes of and ways or curbing sand storms have been researched and analyzed yet lackluster action continues to be realized around the country. Vegetation cover is the single most recommended approach for the effective ending of the sand storms. Forests continue to provide various crucial services to man, yet he pays little attention to them. By increasing forest cover in various areas around the country, China has managed to realize a significant decrease in the intensity, occurrence and magnitude of the sand storms (Xiao, Suili, Liming, and Linlin, p. 339).
This goes to show the direct relationship that exists between the area under forest cover and the occurrence of sandstorms in Beijing, and china as a whole. Indirectly, one realizes that the atmospheric conditions do affect the climate at large. An influx in greenhouse gasses results in the formation of the greenhouse effect in the area thus increasing the temperatures of that area. This is the largest causal agent of climate change in the world.
The trees and forests come in handy by absorbing and utilizing some of the greenhouse gasses that are emitted. Increasing the forest cover of the area does mean that the rate of absorption is increased thus the air is purified. Forests therefore, are an integral part of the day to day living of man in the society. They have to be protected, cared for and nurtured just with the special care they deserve.
Conclusion
There is a strong connection between forest cover and sand storms. This is the reason behind the outcry of the diminishing forest cover not just in China but around the world. Mitigation practices that have been proposed in terms of policies and regulations have to be effected to ensure that the current and future generations do not face worse scenarios of sand storms. As seen already, the information gathered alludes to the fact that there is a great difference between the sand storms that were experienced a few years ago and the ones experienced currently.
The intensity, magnitude and frequency of occurrence have increased, and as explained above, researchers have found a direct link to reducing forest cover. The summits and climate change meetings are overdue, and the implementation process needs to be hastened. The truth of the matter is that it is a crisis that the entire world is currently facing as a whole. The sand storms of Beijing are just an example of some of the problems the world is facing in terms of climate change.
The final decision has to be made that will ensure a group effort is effected to deal with the climate change menace once and for all. The world does realize that climate change is a contemporary factor just like any other pandemic. Different issues and measures have been created and are working. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the future does hint at a possible availability of future probability curbing of the sandstorm menace. As the world continues to study the relationship that exists between human interaction and environment, better methods of mitigation may be developed in the process, resulting reduced climate change effects.
The issue, therefore, remains stopping and curbing sandstorms in China. Failure to take heed, means that, in the end, all the soil may be blown away thus resulting to the end of the sand storms that hit the capital. This, however, is tantamount to an end in Beijing, which might just be buried under the sand soils. The arguments pushed forward in this paper, prove beyond reasonable doubt that the forests are an important aspect of dealing with climate change.
Works cited
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Liu, Xiuping, et al. "Carbon Storages In Plantation Ecosystems In Sand Source Areas Of North Beijing, China." Plos ONE 8.12 (2013): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Robbins, Alicia S.T., and Stevan Harrell. "Paradoxes and Challenges For China's Forests In The Reform Era." China Quarterly 218. (2014): 381-403. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
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