Different Forests, Different Populations, Different Dynamics Comparing the recent histories of the w

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Different Forests, Different Populations,
Different DynamicsComparing the recent histories
of the woodlands of Yemen and the forests of New
EnglandHytham Nadeem Ashuraey
Introduction Deforestation is one of the main en
vironmental concerns in the world today. The
rate and extent of deforestation has varied in
different parts of the world for different
reasons and with different results. In this
poster I am looking at two very different areas
and their deforestation/reforestation patterns,
focusing on the social and demographic causes of
this ecological change, and will try to see what,
if any, lessons can be drawn from which the other
may benefit.
Forest History in New England
For centuries, Native Americans in what is now
the Pierce Farm, and more broadly Massachusetts
and New England, lived with the land in a
sustainable way. They did not produce large
scale changes in the amount of forested vs.
deforested area. Native American populations
were never large enough to produce such changes
and forests were not cut down to the point that
they were unable to replenish themselves.
The arrival of European immigrants caused a
dramatic change in this relationship with the
land. Europeans created population centers but
also spread out, creating individual farmsteads
and clearing tracts of land for agriculture and
pasturing. Beginning in the mid-1600s,
intensifying in the late 18th century and
continuing through to the middle of the 19th
century there was heavy clearing of the land, in
a period that was characterized by commercial
agriculture and local industry. This was working
out well for the new residents of the land and
from the continued clearing of the land, it was
clear that they planned to continue with this
economic activity and relationship to the land.
However, factors unrelated to the regional
situation of New England caused a dramatic
change. For a variety of reasons, people began
abandoning their plots of land. The "opening of
the West following the Louisiana Purchase,
improved transportation from the Midwestern
farmlands to the East and abroad, industrial
development, and the discovery of gold on the
West Coast" (Foster, 2004) were probably the main
factors which resulted in New England's
wide-spread out-migration. By the time people
started leaving in the mid-1800s, 50-75 of New
England was open land and greater than 90 of
individual townships were open land.
By the early 1900s reforestation was essentially
complete but the forests continued to mature.
Beginning in the 1950's, with suburbanization,
the percent of land covered by forest decreased
somewhat. Despite this, between 60 and up to
greater than 90 of the uplands of Massachusetts
are covered by trees. The forest had returned.
Woodland History in Yemen "When we were herders
in our youth, we couldn't see the sheep for the
trees. Now our land looks like the surface of
the moon. -An old woman in Sada For mil
lennia, the Yemeni people were able to strike a
delicate balance in their ecosystem, which is a
virtual oasis in the southwestern corner of the
harsh deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen
had always been a rural agricultural society with
very small urban populations. While there were
no forests (characterized by a high and dense
canopy cover) in Yemen, there were many woodlands
(less dense canopy cover, shorter trees, and more
widely distributed trees). A complicated
unwritten social system had preserved the
woodlands (and other resources, such as water) in
this tribal society, in which harvesting was not
so excessive that they were unable to replenish
themselves. Following the revolution against the
king (Imam) of Yemen, who had kept the country
insulated from the rest of the world, in 1962,
there were widespread social, political,
economic, and environmental changes. The
country's population has boomed with widespread
migration to urban centers. While the population
remains predominantly rural, the social system
that had characterized it 40 years ago has been
heavily altered due to new economic and political
realities. The country's greater demand for
resources have resulted in intensive
deforestation, which was made much easier with
the building of roads and modern methods of tree
harvesting. For example, the destruction of an
entire woodland area in the Sufyan/Sa'da region
of northern Yemen was the direct result of a road
being built through it, allowing easier access.
However, it is ultimately a high demand for wood
resources and the expansion of villages and
cities, resulting from the more than doubling of
the population which is the main reason for the
loss of nearly every woodland in the country.
Demographic Factors Clearly, the size of popul
ations has a direct influence on deforestation,
in that greater populations demand greater
resources from the forests. However, the extent
to which forests are affected depends on a
variety of other demographic factors.
For example, in New England deforestation and
reforestation were so dramatic not solely because
of the population in the region, but because of
population activities and distribution. Until
the mid-1800s, the population of New England was
spread out over most of the land and engaging
mainly in agriculture, and on a fast track to
completely deforest all of New England. The
dramatic shift to urban centers and the West and
the abandonment of the rural, agricultural areas
is what saved New England's forests. Even though
the population of New England grew during this
entire period, it was the activities and location
which first deforested the region and then
allowed the forests to return.
This contrasts with the case of Yemen, where
deforestation was more directly the result of
overpopulation. Even though there was heavy
urbanization, the rural areas, where the
woodlands are found, also experienced a
population boom which spread settlement and
increased the demand for resources. Because of
this rural population boom, the migration to the
cities did not decrease this demand. In Yemen,
the population remained largely where it was, but
grew beyond the threshold of what the delicate
ecosystem could manage. This makes the prospect
of a reforestation pattern similar to that of New
England bleak, as the likelihood of a dramatic
demographic shift is not high.
What used to be a small town, in the background,
is now a large city and buildings are popping up
everywhere
Sensitive Ecosystems The degree to which forest
s and woodlands can be destroyed and their
potential for replenishment depends heavily on
the ecosystem which they are a part of. In this
regard, the forest of New England and the
woodlands of Yemen are vastly different. New
England's forests are part of a very large
ecosystem which is quite humid relative to that
of Yemen, with plentiful water resources.
Yemen's woodlands are a part of an extremely
delicate ecosystem which is much more prone to
complete devastation. This is largely because of
the small size of this green fertile ecosystem,
and its hostile surroundings. When trees are cut
down in Yemen, there is less humidity in the air,
which results in less much needed rain. The
service of the roots of the trees, which holds
the thin layer of topsoil, is lost. Erosion from
wind and floods quickly takes away the topsoil,
exposing the bedrock and making it impossible for
new trees to grow. Yemen has seen this cycle and
many areas of Yemen which used to have woodlands
and diverse vegetation within living memory, are
now barren with little hope of renewal.
Acknowledgements Thanks to Professor Noreen Turos
s for offering this highly useful and informative
class and giving us ten days out in the lovely
forest, to Josh Wright and Cheryl Makarewicz for
their advice and encouragement, and special
thanks David Diaz for helping me organize my
thoughts and this poster.
Conclusion Despite the glaring differences be
tween the woodlands of Yemen and the forests of
New England, there is one major insight we can
draw. Any forest, and whatever larger ecosystem
it is a part of, can easily be destroyed,
sometimes irreversibly, with irresponsible human
behavior. What saved the New England forests
were the outside factors that influenced the
demography. The New England forests would have
undoubtedly been completely cut down had the same
behavior continued for another 50 years.
If the diminishing woodlands of Yemen are going
to be replenished, it will not be for the same
reasons that they did in New England. The human
impact has been so devastating in this short
period of time that only a deliberate human
effort to return the woodlands will succeed. Too
many of the necessary factors for the
replenishment of the woodlands soil, other
trees, and water have been altered too greatly.
It is necessary to quickly work to reverse the
effect of the last 40 years in order to win what
has been until now a losing battle against
deforestation and overall damage to the
environment. Perhaps by taking the right steps,
the story of Yemen's woodlands can reach the same
point that the story of New England's forests
have, replenishment and the return of the
forests.
Swift River, MA, 1880
Swift River, MA, 1990
References Foster, David R. and Aber, John D. 200
4. Forests in Time The Environmental
Consequences of 1,000 Years of Change in New
England. Yale University, New Haven.
Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture, Republic
of Yemen, UNDP, FAO, UNCCD. National Action Plan
to Combat Desertification, 2000.
One of the last remaining woodlands of Yemen
What a former woodland can look like today
A stand of beeches in New England
A tree in the central highlands of Yemen