No denying the fact that the forest cover of the whole world has drastically depleted over a period of time owing to the human needs and activities. One contributing factor towards this is the paper industry.
I’m putting forward some of the facts regarding paper:
Worldwide more than 300 million metric tons of paper and paperboard is produced every year.
Of the total global wood harvest for industrial use. 42 per cent goes into paper making and it is expected to reach 50 per cent in the next fifty years.
In our country we have about 600 paper mills producing different varieties of paper.
On an average each one of us uses 700 pounds of paper products every year.
For the production of paper special kind of tree plantations are made called as the managed timberlands.
These managed timberlands comprises of the special kind of trees, which are required for the pulp and paper manufacturing like the softwood tress (pine, fir etc). It means the diverse natural forests have been replaced by these managed plantations (like fast growing conifers), which has a direct impact on the biodiversity of the whole forest.
Designing of the managed timberlands for pulp generation means the loss of valuable wildlife habitats, poor soil quality and ecosystem. They have 90 per cent fewer species than the natural forests.
The managed timberlands often use chemical herbicides and pesticides in order to ensure fast production rates, causing acute environmental pollution.
Paper can be made from a variety of other materials like cotton, hemp, grass and even elephant dung but unfortunately in most parts of the world it is made by sacrificing the trees only.