Forest resources rightfully belong to the most important elements of the geographical environment, one of the permanent and necessary conditions of the material life of civil society.
High physical and chemical properties of wood, valuable chemical composition, relative cheapness, and ease of processing have provided it extremely wide application in various sectors of the national economy.
The forest plays a major role as a factor influencing the microclimate: it contributes to an increase in precipitation and air humidity, a decrease in evaporation and wind strength, snow retention, and more uniform snow melting, as well as a more correct regime of plain and especially mountain rivers.
The forest also affects the level of groundwater, the mechanical and chemical composition of soils, the amount of precipitation, etc. The forest prevents soil erosion, washing away the fertile cover. The forest is also of significant importance as a habitat for many useful plants and valuable game animals and birds.
The national economic significance of the forest is enhanced by the fact that clear-cut forest stands, under certain conditions, can be renewed indefinitely; moreover, forests can be artificially grown in places where they have never been before.
The significance of the forest in the historical development of society is very great; at the same time, it varies at different stages of social development. The material conditions for the existence of primitive people were associated exclusively with the forest. Their subsistence depended on wild fruits, and their labor activity was mostly limited to hunting and gathering fruits and nuts.
Society's transition to farming marks the beginning of the decline of forests.
The forest hindered the farmer in spreading agriculture wide.
The development of large-scale machinery, metalworking, glassmaking, sawmilling, pulp and paper, and metallurgy led to further depredation of forests.