Daria Dubovskaia – Micro-Activity #12

How did you get interested in your question?

The problem of deforestation caught my eye when I became aware of the egregious scale of deforestation in my native country due to bad international policy. Poor political decisions and short term perspective on top of lack of personal accountability are bringing one of the most valuable forest domains on the edge of disappearance. Russian’s neighbor China, with its monstrous economy engine, can burn and process enormous amounts of resources. Current Russian policy to be with China “on a short lace” is annihilating this hardly renewable resource. Then, I noticed that another emerging market (Brazil) is making the same mistake. I can not state with confidence whether those are the mistakes or not, but that is my position as a citizen of the world. 

Why are you interested?

From the beginning of ages, the forest has always been one of the most basic materials humans ever used. The national need for money can be solved with lumber production or export, and this is a normal state of affairs. 

But the colossal demand in modern economies can easily outshine the supply of any material. In the case of forests, this is even easier to do as forest reproduction has barely improved.

The problem starts to fluctuate when in addition to economic need, politically-driven decisions bring the forest industry out of balance and result in excessive production of lumber. 

What answers and information do you expect to find in response to your question?

I expect to find the following information:

1. What is the current situation in countries that are well-known for its international forest supply and its deforestation?
2. What is the spectrum of countermeasures (from none to something) the countries take to ease the issue?
3. Are there any international groups that are trying to adjust the self-devouring of countries through political influence and threatening about devastating environmental consequences?
4. The forecast on what is going to happen to flora and fauna, including us, when the amount of forest required for the normal state being will be approaching its critical mass.

What will you do if you find something that does not fit your hypothesis?

In my case, a negative result is a good result. If upon completion of my research, I prove that my initial assumptions were correct and support it with reliable resources, then there is a tremendous problem of deforestation. If the research results turn out to be negative, this will be a positive outcome thus research can be classified as the work that did not find sufficient evidence of deforestation.

Links from reputable sources:

The Nature Magazine:

Deforestation dynamic in Brazil 2001-2017:

The Greenpeace Organization on Russian forest:

AAAS on Russian forest not only a rain- but a windborne role:

Resource from CUNY Library:

TED Talk on Rainforest in Borneo: