Forest Conservation Lab
The rainforest and the taiga both need protecting, but not in the same way. Learn how CITES, REDD and sustainable livelihoods guard the rainforest, while protected areas and careful forestry defend the taiga.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
Two forests, two plans
Forests around the world are worth protecting: they store carbon, hold huge biodiversity and support local people. But the hot tropical rainforest and the cold taiga face very different pressures, so each needs its own conservation plan.
Protecting the rainforest
The tropical rainforest is protected with named strategies:
Right plan, right forest
The two biomes are managed in different ways. Keep the strategies separate.
Name it
What does a REDD scheme do?
- Pays countries to keep their forests standing to store carbon
- Speeds up logging to earn money quickly
- Bans all visitors from the rainforest
- Encourages mining under the forest
Rainforest strategies
- CITES
- REDD
- Ecotourism
- Sustainable livelihoods
- Controls trade in endangered species
- Pays to keep forests standing for carbon
- Funds conservation through responsible tourism
- Lets local people earn without clearing forest
The taiga challenge
The taiga is huge, cold and remote, which makes it hard to police. It also holds valuable timber, oil, gas and minerals, so there is constant pressure to exploit it. Conservation means balancing jobs and energy against protecting wildlife and wilderness.
Conserving the taiga
Which THREE strategies are used to conserve the TAIGA?
- Creating protected areas and national parks
- Sustainable forestry with replanting
- Limiting oil, gas and mineral extraction
- CITES bans on tropical timber trade
- REDD payments to tropical countries
How REDD works
Put the steps of a REDD scheme in the right order.
- A richer country agrees to pay to protect the forest
- The forest is protected from being cleared
- The standing trees keep storing carbon
- Local communities receive the payments
- Deforestation falls as trees are worth more standing
Complete the plan
The rainforest is protected by _____, which controls trade in endangered species, and by _____ payments that reward countries for keeping forests standing. Local people can earn from _____ instead of clearing land. The taiga is harder to protect because it is vast and _____, so countries create protected _____ to limit logging and mining.
True or not?
Tap the TWO statements that are true about forest conservation.
- CITES helps protect endangered rainforest species from trade.
- The taiga is hard to protect because it is vast and remote.
- REDD carbon payments are used to manage the taiga.
- The taiga is easy to police because it is small and crowded.
- Conservation means clearing forests as fast as possible.
Taiga: who wants what?
- A logging company
- An energy firm
- Conservationists
- Indigenous communities
- To harvest timber for profit
- To extract oil and gas and build dams
- To protect wildlife and wilderness
- To keep their traditional homeland
Right response
Choose the best conservation response for each forest.
- Trade in an endangered rainforest hardwood is pushing it towards extinction. What helps most?
- Rainforest families clear trees because they need an income. What is the best sustainable response?
- A remote taiga wilderness is threatened by new oil drilling. What helps most?
Sustainable forestry
Put the steps of sustainable forestry in the right order.
- Survey the forest and mark mature trees
- Cut only the selected mature trees
- Leave younger trees and habitats standing
- Replant or allow the forest to regrow
- Harvest again only once the forest has recovered
Explain the plans
Explain how the rainforest and the taiga can each be conserved.
- Describe one way the rainforest is conserved
- Describe one way the taiga is conserved
- Explain why the two forests need different strategies
- Give one benefit of protecting forests