FOREST CONSERVATION

1. FOREST CONSERVATION Can we make a fire without wood?

2. Do you know this? • Where are forests found? • Why are forests important to us? • What is the main fuel used to cook food in villages or deep rural areas ? • How do the villagers obtain their fuel? • What kind of life will man experience if forests are destroyed? • What is sawdust? • How can the use of sawdust help preserve our forests?

3. Where are forests found?

4. Why are forests important to us? • Provide many valuable products like rubber, fruits and • nuts, meat, medicinal herbs, lumber, firewood etc. • Used by local people for hunting and fishing. • Provides income and jobs for people who work in • industries. • Forests are home for tribal hunter-gatherers. • More than 2.5 million people rely on forests for fuelwood. • Forests replenish the air by using up carbon-dioxide and • giving off oxygen.

5. Why are trees cut down? • For agricultural purposes. • For providing timber or pulp (used to make furniture, paper etc.) • For use as firewood. • To create more space to live in

6. SOUTH AFRICA - Reasons why forests are destroyed rapidly

7. What is sawdust? Sawdust is produced as a waste product during the processing of lumber. It comes from wood that has been cut and processed to make things like furniture.

8. From where do we get heat to cook our food? • Wood • Kerosine • Paraffin • Gas • Electricity • Sun • Coal

9. Wood vs Sawdust • Our group conducted an experiment to compare the burning efficiency of sawdust and wood. • Equal weight of sawdust and wood were taken and used to heat one litre of water respectively. • Sawdust was packed into a sawdust stove and the wood was placed in a pile on the ground. • In each case, recordings were taken on the time it took to bring the water to boil, colour of the flame, amount of smoke given out and the time it took for the entire fuel to burn out. • Our recordings showed that…. • that sawdust took less time than wood to catch fire • Sawdust stove produced very little smoke when compared to the burning of wood during the initial stage. • Later there was no smoke produced by the sawdust stove, while the burning wood still produced a lot of smoke. • The wood fire burned out very quickly – in 2 hours while it took 5 ½ hours for the sawdust to complete burning. • The underside of the pot over the sawdust stove contained very little soot while there was a lot of soot on the pot over the wood fire. • From our observations we feel that sawdust can be a good substitute for wood as a fuel

10. Wood vs Sawdust….cont

11. Using a sawdust stove • A sawdust stove can be made from a simple empty tin with a hole cut out at the bottom. • Sawdust is packed tightly into the tin leaving two canals which provides a smooth circulation of air. • A small dry twig is used to start the fire in the stove. • Though it takes some time for the sawdust to light up, once it has lit up, it burns steadily for about 6 hours until all the sawdust is used up. • No smoke is produced. • No more wood is needed…the sawdust burns by itself and because it is tightly packed, will take a long time to burn out. • There is enough heat produced to cook a complete meal. • There is no soot produced. Air canal Tin Air canal Tightly Packed sawdust

12. Why use sawdust as a fuel? • It is considered to be a waste product. Therefore it can be obtained cheaply. • Wood comes from a renewable source - the trees. Trees can be replanted. • Less trees need to be cut down. • Burning sawdust in a sawdust stove produces very little smoke and helps to reduce air pollution.

13. Conclusion • If sawdust is used as a cooking fuel, it will help to reduce the rate at which forests are being cut down. • This in turn will act towards the prevention of extinction of animals that depend on forests. • Global warming and air pollution is also reduced.