FORESTS A PRECIOUS HERITAGE TO DEFEND

1. ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO LEONE CAETANI CISTERNA DI LATINA FORESTS A PRECIOUS HERITAGE TO DEFEND

2. Portugal 2,5% Austria 2,9% United Kingdom 1,8% Greece 4,8% Spain 19,1% Germany 7,5% Italy 8% Sweden22,5% France 12,5% Luxembourg 0,1% Finland 16,7% Netherlands 0,2% Belgium 0,5% Ireland 0,4% Denmark 0,4% The world total forest area is just over four billion hectares, that is to say 31% of the total land area, corresponding to approximately 0.6 hectares per capita.

3. THEY ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE - They are the habitat of 80% of terrestrial plant and animal species (biodiversity conservation) and hold important functions to allow life on our planet: - They are essential for the protection of water and soil; - They provide timber and other products; - They avoid the danger of avalanches; - They contrast desertification; - They protect coastal areas; - They work also as a reservoir of carbon sinks mitigating the effects of climate changes.. THEN DEGRADING FORESTS, BREAKING DOWN THEM OR NOT TO ALLOW THEM TO GROW AGAIN, PRODUCES SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE EFFECTS EVEN AT LARGE DISTANCES

4. BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION Losing forests means losing species. The rate of extinctions of plants and animals has multiplied a thousand times compared to rhythm before the appearance of man on earth. The scientific community predicts that by 2050 it will be ten thousand times more .

5. A forest in good health, under conditions of heavy rainfall, is able to prevent the surface flow of water and the washing away of the soil. The roots of the trees hold the soil preventing in fact landslides, avalanches and soil erosion. A forest destroyed or immature is more subject to fires and other natural disasters, for this reason it should be facilitated. 

6. THE PRESENT RHYTHM OF FOREST DESTRUCTION INCREASES BY APPROXIMATELY 15% CARBON EMISSIONS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. Forests also play a key role in the dynamics of the climate on a global level, making a significant contribution in mitigating climate as carbon sinks. In fact, when they are destroyed release large amounts of carbon that reaches the atmosphere contributing massively to THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

7. Deforestation consists in breaking the trees for commercial purposes or to use the land for cultivation. Since ancient times man deforests to get firewood for domestic heating or as a building material to obtain new land for agriculture and urban expansion . TODAY THE MAIN CAUSE IS THE BAD LAND MANAGEMENT

8. DEFORESTATION The causes of deforestation: • Natural causes such as hurricanes, fires, pests and flooding • Human activities such as expansion of agriculture, livestock, timber harvesting, mining and oil drilling, construction of dams and infrastructure development. • Policy actions wrong inadequate investment of public • Act as a political and socio-economic demographic, military conflict and climate change • Replacement of forest with crops and livestock • Extraction of timber • Collection of firewood • Construction of roads and infrastructure In the last 8,000 years about 45% of the original forest area of the Earth was lost, especially in the last century. Every two seconds an area of ​​forest is destroyed as big as a football field. Between 1990 and 2000, about 5% of the forest area of the planet was lost, at a rate of about 14 million hectares per year . 100% CRIME

9. DEFORESTATION = CLIMATE CHANGE DESTRUCTION OF THE "FORESTRY CARBON SINK ". Systems which retain CO2 in a quantity greater than that release: the forests and then the plants are a typical example of this, since in certain phases of their life cycle absorb carbon while in other phases release CO2, becoming "carbon source" . Therefore the share of CO2 sequestered doesn’t help in holding the solar radiation reflected by the Earth, avoiding radiative increases and NATURAL GREENHOUSE EFFECT. When forests are destroyed, they release large quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, which contributes to GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE Irregular weather patterns and increasingly difficult to predict. Increase in droughts, storms, floods. Reduction of glaciers . In the last 200 years a warming of about 1 ° C has been experienced, the warming seems to increase to reach 2.5 degrees or more at the end of 2100 .

10. The graphic shows the relationship between the levels of CO2 and  globaltemperature

11. DESERTIFICATION AND DEFORESTATION INVOLVE A DRASTIC CHANGE OF MICROCLIMATES. The graphic shows the temperature anomalies on an annual basis from 1880 to 2011 detected and estimated by four different research centers: the U.S. GISS and NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, the UK Met Office Hadley Centre and the Japan Meteorological Agency. ’ Greenhouse gases are playing a predominant role have the ability to cause large increases in temperature at a global level’

12. THE ITALIAN FORESTS The Italian forests are very varied: from the alpine forests of conifers, similar to those of Central and Northern Europe, to the mixed deciduous forests, up to the Mediterranean scrub. The regions with the forest area are South Tyrol, Trentino, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Calabria and Sardinia. The most protected regions are Abruzzo, Campania and Calabria, while the least protected are Sardinia and Molise .

13. The Italian forest area is equal to one third of the national territory. This surface represents 5 per cent of the European total forest area and the European Union gives Italy the sixth place among the European countries with the largest forest extension

14. DEFORESTATION IN ITALY is linked : to the realization of infrastructure; to the timber withdrawals; SIGNIFICANT PRACTICE OF FIRE . hectares AREA IN HECTARES NUMBER OF FIRES HECTARES PATHS HECTARES OF FORESTS HECTARES NOT FORESTS When you cause forest fires, the thick black smoke that comes out (especially from the combustion of resinous plants of tall trees, conifers, eucalyptus and Mediterranean) has large amounts of carbon that is released into the atmosphere increasing more and more man-made Global Warming (l 'carbon dioxide which absorbs and retains the shaft in the trunk, via combustion, is released).

15. Examples of Deforestation in the Agri Basin, Italy The Agri Basin river is one of the largest river basins in the Basilicata region in the southern Italy. The main cause of deforestation and degradation of forests in the Agri Basin are fires. To provide some data on the frequency of fires in the Agri Basin over the period 1990-1995, 1,327 hectares of forest, especially deciduous, were hit by 304 fires, about 3.88% of the total forest in the valley, the 13.41% of the fires recorded in the region.

16. CLIMATE CHANGE IN ITALY The winters of the Mediterranean are increasingly dried.Increase of atmospheric temperature and water Washout rain compromises the stability and nutrients in the soil, extending the phenomenon of desertification If the mountains heat, trees slow growth Reduction of "forestry carbon sink”.

17. ITALY RATIFIED THE KYOTO PROTOCOL THROUGH THE LAW OF RATIFICATION OF JUNE 1, 2002, NO. 120, WHICH EXPLAINS ITS NATIONAL PLAN FOR THE REDUCTION OF EMISSIONS OF GREENHOUSE FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Deforestation: Italy seems to be in contrast with 1/3 of its territory covered by forests. From what emerges from the "National Inventory of Forests and forest carbon reservoirs" in terms of forests and deforestation, drawn up by the State Forestry Corps, in consultation with the Agriculture Research Centre , in Italy, in the last 20 years, the Italian forest has increased to 1.7 million hectares Thanks to the sharp drop in deforestation, Italy is getting closer to achieving the maximum threshold for the production of CO2.

18. Many organizations such as Greenpeace and WWF are launching campaigns against deforestation to induce the populations geographically far from the problem to realize what they might lose ..

19. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

22. GENERAL QUESTIONS ON THE ENVIROMENTAL AWARENES results expressed in% Parents Teachers Students Group 1°(1,2,3,4,5,6,12,13,14,15,16,17)) The results bring out a suitable level of general sensitivity about environmental problem. The differences in the answers concerning the removal and recycling and the knowledge of European organisms responsable of the assessment of damage caused by refuses of any kind..

23. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ON THE ENVIROMENTAL AWARENES GAS RESERVAISES MICRO POLLUTIONING MACRO POLLUTIONING Global Warming OGM The analysis results of the second questionnaire bring out a poor knowledge level of specific concepts such as greenhouse effect, polluting elements and OGM, so highlithing the necessity to stimulate and strengthen these concepts. Group 2°=  (7,8,9,10,11,18,19,20)

24. Project’s Name: “ NATURE AND ITS MAGIC SOUNDS” Evaluation Meeting – Questionnaire for Teachers 1st meeting in Spain ( 18th -24th November 2012) Please evaluate the following statements: 1= Fully disagree 4= Fully agree PROJECT

25. organisation accomodation

26. Project name :” NATURE AND ITS MAGIC SOUNDS” EV : Evaluation MEETING – questionnaire for STUDENTS School: .................................................................................... Attended meeting: 1st meeting in Spain ( 18th -24th November 2012) Please evaluate the following statements: 1= Fully disagree 4= Fully agree PROJECT organisation Suggestions:

27. ACCOMMODATION Suggestions:

28. Families 1st Project meeting in Spain ( 18th -24th November 2012) Addressed to parents whose children attended meetings abroad Where was the meeting held? _______________________________ When?____________________ 1-Generally speaking, were you satisfied with the participation of your child in the Comenius meeting? 2-Were you satisfied with the method used by your school to choose the students who attended the meeting? 3-Has the exchange contributed to raise your child’s interest toward the English language? 4-Has the exchange contributed to raise your child’s interest toward the new technologies (Internet, email, etc.)? 5-Has the exchange contributed to raise your child’s interest toward the European Union? 6-Has the exchange contributed to increase your child’s interest toward the school activities? 7-Has your child’s experience contributed to improve your knowledge of the host country? 8-Were you satisfied with the information received from your school before the meeting? 9-Were you satisfied with the work carried out by the teachers during the meeting?

29. 1st Project meeting in Spain ( 18th -24th November 2012) Addressed to families who hosted a student Where was your guest student from?____________________________ When did you host?_________________________________ 1-Generally speaking, were you satisfied with the participation of your child in the project meeting? 2-Were you satisfied with the method used by your school to choose the host families? 3-Were you satisfied with the experience of hosting a student at home? 4-Has hosting a student contributed to improve your knowledge of his/her country? 5-Were you satisfied with the information and support offered by your school during the meeting? 6-Has the experience contributed to raise your child’s interest toward the English language? 7-Has the experience contributed to raise your child’s interest toward the new technologies (Internet, email, etc.)? 8-Has the experience contributed to increase your child’s interest toward the European Union? 9-Has the experience contributed to increase your child’s interest toward the school?

30. Project name :” NATURE AND ITS MAGIC SOUNDS” EVALUATION MEETING: 1st meeting in Spain (18th -24th November 2012) The project was wery interesting for the students, they have learned More about life and school in Spain and they like to engage take part in this project. Families were satisfied with the partecipation of their children in the Comenius meeting. The project has contributed both to improve with the language and computer skills and the interest towards the European Union. The project motivate teachers to better language and skill in the area of cultural education.