afforestation

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin afforestātiō, from afforestāt-, past participial stem of afforestō (“to convert into a forest”) (from Latin ad- + Late Latin forestis (“forest”) + -ō (suffix forming verbs)), + Latin -iō (suffix forming action nouns). By surface analysis, afforest +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

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Noun

afforestation (countable and uncountable, plural afforestations)

1. The act or process of creating a new forest where none had existed before, or reforestation of areas long deforested.
   • 1899, John H. Barber, “Camping in a government reservation”, in Overland Monthly, volume 33, page 454:

     Much might be said of the condition of the timber in the reserves, as typified in this locality, of possible means for its conservation and regulated use, and of the problems of afforestation, and of sylviculture generally, which are involved in the proper management of the reserves.

   • 1901 May 10, G. H. Davies, “Forest in War”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎^[1], volume 4, number 5, page 142:

     While, however, the military critic from Britain might concur in this, he might tell us that the afforestation of such a wilderness as is Natal, for instance, is too large an undertaking for practical consideration.

   • 1920 March, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine‎^[2], page 265:

     At first the Japanese, too, were careless in this respect, for the supply of camphor trees seemed practically limitless, but the great increase in the demand for the product in late years has made scientific afforestation necessary.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Andri Gunnar Hauksson, “Iceland vs. Greenland - What's the Difference Between the Countries?”, in Guide to Iceland:

     There are very few native trees in Iceland, primarily downy birch and rowan, but afforestation efforts are underway.

Antonyms

• deforestation

Derived terms

• reafforestation

Related terms

• afforest
• deforest, deforestation
• disafforestation
• reforest, reforestation

Translations

creating a forest

• Bulgarian: залесяване (zalesjavane)
• Esperanto: arbarigo
• French: boisement (fr) m
• Georgian: გატყიანება (gaṭq̇ianeba)
• German: Aufforstung (de) f
• Indonesian: aforestasi
• Irish: foraoisiú m, coillteoireacht f
• Malay: penghutanan
• Polish: zalesianie (pl) n, zalesienie n
• Portuguese: aflorestamento m, florestamento m
• Romanian: împădurire (ro) f
• Russian: лесонасаждение (ru) (lesonasaždenije), лесоразведение (ru) (lesorazvedenije)
• Swedish: förskogning c
• Ukrainian: залі́сення n (zalísennja), лісонасадження n (lisonasadžennja), насадження лісу n (nasadžennja lisu)