Blog for a Better World

Papua New Guinea’s forests are going fast. A new satellite analysis reveals that in 2001 accessible forests in the country were being cleared or degraded by 362,000 hectares a year.  A new report on The State of the Forests of Papua New Guinea from researchers at the University of Papua New Guinea Remote Sensing Centre and the Australian National University warns that by 2021, 83% of accessible forests and 53% of total forests will be gone or badly damaged.  The unfortunate reality is that forests in Papua New Guinea are being logged repeatedly and wastefully with little regard for the environmental consequences and with at least the passive complicity of government authorities.

The world is undergoing an acute food crisis with soaring prices for basic food.  Prices of rice and wheat were about double their levels a year earlier, and corn prices were over a third higher.  The crisis in food prices is the result of a combination of factors, among which the reduction of supplies due to farmers’ switch from growing crops for food to crops for agrofuels. Rich countries have promoted the production of agrofuels despite strong arguments warning about the ecological and social disaster they would imply on the world’s food security and on local peoples’ livelihoods and environments.  Agrofuels will indirectly destroy forests and lead to more costly food by increasing land pressures upon natural forests and agricultural crop lands

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has established an international fund to help protect the Amazon rainforests in the country.  Although not providing any money of its own, the President is seeking donations to the fund to the tune of $21 billion, including $1 billion in the first year.  Brazil would retain its control over the Amazon and the funds would be used to promote various forest protection programs. Norway has kicked in $100 million. The question is whether other nations will want to wait and see what comes of the climate negotiations at the UN, where negotiators from around the world are debating how to calculate deforestation emissions and create a system to fund conservation programs in tropical nations. 

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, an arm of the Brazilian government heads the list of the top 100 deforesters of the Brazilian Amazon.  At the very top is the Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform, in charged with overseeing land settlement.  Environment Minister Carlos Minc also released new evidence that deforestation rates continue to rise. Earlier this year, it was revealed that several years of progress in slowing deforestation has come to an abrupt halt which sparked an uproar, ultimately leading to the resignation of the previous Environment Minister Marina Silva.  Despite recent setbacks, the government is promising action, starting with a new initiative to halt deforestation by 2015. To help pay for all of this, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is requesting $21 billion from the international community. Earlier this month, Norway stepped up with $1 billion.

Environmental destruction processes usually lead to a series of causes, which can be classified as either direct or underlying causes.  An example of a direct cause would be the destruction of forests to convert into monoculture plantations such as soybeans (Brazil, Paraguay) or oil palm trees (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Colombia), among other types of plantations worldwide.  Almost all environmental destruction processes share a common underlying cause and that is excessive consumption.  For example, the paper industry in which worldwide consumption has already long surpassed the threshold of sustainability.  Despite this fact, the industry plans to increase this consumption even further by creating and maintaining the false notion that there is a huge need and demand for disposable paper products such as paper cups, tablecloths, and napkins among others.  This level of paper consumption requires a steady supply of vast quantities of abundant and cheap raw material.  Thus, the industry turned to the establishment of huge monoculture plantations of fast-growing trees (eucalyptus, acacia, pine), which resulted in the destruction of forests and grasslands.  These plantations, which continue to expand, are now becoming the main source of raw material for paper production.  To save the environment and their way of life, numerous local communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America are fighting back against the spread of monoculture tree plantations and pulp mills.  

Mangroves can be described as ‘rainforests by the sea’.  Large stretches of the sub-tropical and tropical coastlines of Asia, Africa, Oceania, the Americas and the Caribbean are fringed by mangroves, once estimated to cover an area of over 32 million hectares.  Now, less than 15 million hectares remain —less than half the original area.  The depletion of the world’s mangroves is due to excessive shrimp farms, tourist complexes and intense land development.  According to the latest study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the current rate of mangrove loss is around 1% per annum—or around 150,000 ha of new mangrove area loss per year.  Now, the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) is working with other organizations in the global South towards restoring degraded and cleared mangrove areas as a high priority.  MAP is especially interested in restoring some of the 250,000 ha of abandoned shrimp farms located in former coastal wetland areas, especially in Asia and Latin America. But, even more importantly, MAP is working to help conserve and protect existing mangrove wetlands around the world.

The deforestation rate in Brazil has taken on a whole new sense of emergency.  The Brazilian Parliament has just adopted a provision into law providing for an increase in the area of the Amazon that may be granted for rural use with no need to call for bids. The limit, previously set at 500 hectares, has been increased to 1,500 hectares, allowing deforestation of up to 20 percent of the area granted.  This law will allow an increase of soybean plantations and cattle ranches in their need to exploit more land for destruction.  Recently, a report by the National Space Research Institute showed that the Brazilian Amazon lost 1,096 square kilometers of forests during May.   

Deforestation is a problem that could lead to disastrous consequences for mankind as a whole. Rapid urbanization is one of the primary causes of deforestation. As cities and towns expand, forests in their surrounding vicinity are being mercilessly cut down in order to make way for suburban townships. The forest cover in many areas is also decreasing since the land is being occupied for farming purposes in many countries. Increased global consumption is another one of the major reasons behind the decreasing forest cover. From paper to wooden furniture, one can imagine an entire host of products that owe their creation to trees and plants. 

Many people focus on South America, and Brazil in particular, as the major culprits of deforestation. But Africa is losing forest land just as quickly and mainly due to the desperation of the poverty stricken population. Coal is lighter, cheaper and easier to produce than other forms of fuel. 80% of fuel is still coal based in Africa, which leads to a huge amount of legal and illegal logging to supply the demand for fuel. And people will continue to log the forests until the find an alternative cheap fuel and income.

When we talk about deforestation, must of us think about Brazil, and the Amazon rainforest? But there are other places in the world where the rapid deforestation is causing serious damage to wildlife and possibly the climate as well. Indonesia is a prime example, where the orang-utan, one of the most endangered animals in the world, is quickly losing its habitat to deforestation. We need to remember that the Amazon is not the only rainforest in the world that is being stripped for the sake of progress. But can we truly call it progress when damage our future for the sake of commercial or individual benefit?

I hear arguements about Chocolate lovers and Coffee Drinkers needing to stop deforestation because it is the forests, more specifically the rainforests that produce the chocolate we eat and the Coffee that people drink.  My question is, it seems that the Chocolate making companies and the Coffee Companies would have more to lose.  Why don’t they buy up big plantations and help save the rainforests?  If the rainforests are gone, yes we lose our Chocolate and coffee and possible cancer fighting drugs but they will lose the entire company.  So, it seems we all need to do something.  I just think that the companies have bigger pockets and more weight to throw around than us little guys.  Agree?