The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official name of the country which consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is situated to the north-west of the continent of Europe on 5500 islands. The largest islands are Great Britain and Ireland. The area of the country is about 244,100 square kilometers. The United Kingdom is washed by the Atlantic Ocean on the north-west and the North Sea on the East. It is separated from Europe by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Straight of Dover (or Pas de Calais). No part of Great Britain lies more than one hundred miles from the coast. The main ports are London, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

Climate

Great Britain has a very good geographical position. The Gulf Stream gives Britain a temperate climate. It is mild and damp: summers are not very hot and winters are not very cold. All over the world Britain is famous for its fogs. In old times when people used to heat their houses with coal the smoke from their fire places mixed with fog and formed so-called smog. An unusually thick smog in London in 1962 caused the death of more than 4, 000 people.

Geography

 

Geographically the island of Great Britain is subdivided into 2 main regions: Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. There are no high mountains in Great Britain. The highest mountain – Ben Nevis – is in Scotland. It is 1343 meters high. There are many rivers in Great Britain but they are not very long. The longest river is the Severn, the deepest and the most important river is the Thames.

 

Political system of Great Britain

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. That means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of the State. Now it is the Queen Elizabeth II. Everything today is done in the Queen’s name: it is her government, her armed forces, her law courts, etc. She opens new annual sessions of the Parliament with a speech. But in practice the Queen reigns but does not rule. Her power is limited by the Parliament.

The Parliament consists of the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of

Parliament (called MPs for short). Each of them represents an area in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members. The party which wins the majority at general elections forms the Government. The Leader of this party becomes Prime Minister The party which wins the second largest number of seats becomes the official Opposition. The Prime Minister forms the Cabinet (a committee of leading Ministers). The members of the Cabinet belong to one party only.

The capital of the UK is London.

 

Forests

Forest can be found in all regions of the world. As a rule, forests dominated by deciduous or broadleaf forests are more species-rich than forests dominated by conifer or needleleaf forests. Forests sometimes contain many tree species within a small area (as in tropical rain and temperate deciduous forests), or relatively few species over large areas. Forests function as carbon dioxide sinks, animal habitats, hydrologic flow modulators and soil conservers. Trees provide food, medicine, shelter and warmth. They also support biodiversity.

According to FAO assessments carried out at approximately ten-year intervals since 1948, the total estimated global forest area in 2000 was nearly 4 billion hectares, of which 95 percent was natural forest and 5 percent was forest plantations.

About 47 percent of the world's forests occur in the tropical zone, 9 percent in the subtropics, 11 percent in the temperate zone and 33 percent in the boreal zone.

The world's natural forests continue to be lost or converted to other land uses at a very high rate. During the 1990s, the total loss of existing natural forests was 16 million hectares per year, of which 15 million hectares occurred in the tropics. This means that 4.2 percent of the natural forest area that existed in 1990 was lost by 2000. For the tropics, the loss of existing natural forest was 7.8 percent.

There are three major types of forests, classified according to latitude: tropical forests, temperate forests and boreal forests (taiga).

Tropical forests

Tropical forests are characterized by the greatest diversity of species. They occur near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S. One of the major characteristics of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and only two seasons are present (rainy and dry). The length of daylight is 12 hours and varies little. Temperature is on average 20-25° C and varies little throughout the year: the average temperatures of the three warmest and three coldest months do not differ by more than 5 degrees. Flora is highly diverse: one square kilometer may contain as many as 100 different tree species. Trees are 25-35 m tall, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves. Fauna includes numerous birds, bats, small mammals, and insects.

More than one half of tropical forests have already been destroyed.

Temperate forest

 

Temperate forests occur in eastern North America, north eastern Asia, and western and central Europe. Well-defined seasons with a distinct winter characterize these forests. Moderate climate and a growing season of 140-200 days during 4-6 frost-free months distinguish temperate forests.

Unlike tropical forests, temperate forests have two layers of vegetation. The tallest trees are 15-30 meters high and shrubs and smaller trees are 5-10 meters high. This is why the soil receives more light than in tropical forests and the undergrowth is rich: ferns, mosses and lichens, especially in very rainy areas.

The main trees living in temperate forests are beeches, sycamores, oaks, aspens, walnut trees, lime trees, chestnut trees, birches, elms and tulip trees in America.

 

Boreal forest (taiga)

Boreal forests, or taiga, represent the largest forest biome. Boreal forests occur between 50 and 60 degrees north latitudes and can be found in the broad belt of Eurasia and North America: two-thirds in Siberia with the rest in Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada. In Europe boreal forests can be found in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Seasons are divided into short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry winters. The length of the growing season in boreal forests is 130 days. The dominant tree species are coniferous trees: firs, spruces and pines. These tree species are better adapted to severe conditions than deciduous trees due to the following reasons:

1. needle like leaves reduce surface area through which water can be lost, especially in winter,

2. conical shape promotes shedding of snow and prevents loss of branches,

3. dark colour of needle like leaves helps the foliage absorb maximum heat from the sun and begin photosynthesis as early as possible.