Deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

is the changes on the forested area in the island due to economy factors, such as

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

urban expansion Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

etc. In 1904–2015, Taiwan has a net annual forest area change rate of 34 km².

History

The changes in forest area of Taiwan is divided into several periods.

First period

The earliest documented period was the first period in 1904–1950, roughly coincided with the later stage of

Japanese rule in Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-J ...

. In 1926, 64% of Taiwan's land was covered in

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

. However, many new

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...

were created in western lowland of Taiwan.

Second period

The second period which in 1956–1993, which coincided with the early era of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

government, saw a sharp increase in built-up area where it consumed forest areas around major big cities and towns. In 1989, the government issued a ban on the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksafforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

made and forested land reached its peak at 67% in 2010. Most of the afforestation were made on former agricultural land. Since 2008, companies, individuals and government bodies have jointly planted more than 230 km² of trees. Following this period the primary challenge facing forests in Taiwan is illegal logging.

References

{{Taiwan topics

Environment of Taiwan Forestry in Taiwan

History

First period

Second period

See also

References