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Deforestation and Reforestation

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Book cover The Geography of Georgia

Part of the book series: World Regional Geography Book Series ((WRGBS))

Abstract

The intensive transformation of the natural environment in Georgia, such as the development of steep and unstable slopes under construction, reconstruction of highways, mass replacement of the wooden houses of heavy construction, and destructive logging, has been hasty and unproductive.

There has been a sharp decline in the upper forest boundary, on average, at 320–450 m throughout the South Caucasus. It is believed that in a mountainous watershed, the basic forest cover on the relief should not be reduced below 50 % of the total area. When the forest cover goes below 45 %, the demolition of soil by erosion increases five times. In the Caucasus, after clear cutting, soil erosion reaches 1100 m ha, and after the selective cutting it reduces to 570 m ha. Vegetation of the South Caucasus is extremely diverse and consists of a variety of individual species. The whole area of the rainforest is characterized by the predominance of sclerophyllous plants. With the support of both international and regional organizations such as WWF, long-term prospects for the conservation of biological diversity in the Caucasus-Pontes space have been identified. From 6500 species of vascular plants found in the Caucasus, 1600 are endemic. This is the highest level of endemism in the temperate zone in the northern hemisphere. About 400 species of trees and shrubs grow here; 61 species are endemic to Georgia, and 43 to Caucasus. This chapter discusses afforestation and deforestation and their consequences.

…Who plants trees, he acquires the right to ascend to the sky. (Confucius, pp. 551–479 a.c.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vakhushti Institute of Geography, Iv.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Igor V. Bondyrev

  2. Department of International Relations, Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Zurab V. Davitashvili

  3. Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering and Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A and M University, College Station, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

Authors
  1. Igor V. Bondyrev
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  2. Zurab V. Davitashvili
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  3. Vijay P. Singh
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Correspondence to Igor V. Bondyrev .

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Bondyrev, I., Davitashvili, Z., Singh, V. (2015). Deforestation and Reforestation. In: The Geography of Georgia. World Regional Geography Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05413-1_11

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