A Dream for a Better World

Agriculture, which is the main source of cereals, industrial materials, job opportunities and foreign exchanges, plays an important role in Southeast countries. They have made great achievement in agriculture but large areas of forest have been destroyed. In order to enlarge the area of crops, nearly all southeast countries hew down trees and destroy forest.
Since the Second World War, arable land in all Southeast countries has increased. Though the population has become lager, arable land per capita doesn’t decrease and it even increases in some countries. From the year 1980 to 1996, population in Cambodia increased from 6.4 million to 10.27 million and arable land per capita was up to 0.37 ha from 0.3 ha. The arable land per capita increased to 0.09 ha from 0.07 ha in Malaysia when the population increased from 13.76 million to 21.17 million. Philippine mainly developed agriculture by destroying forest before 1970s and in 1950s, arable land increased by 3.45% on average. In 1960s, the increase was 1.3%. Even Philippine tried to develop agriculture by destroying forest; they still couldn’t get great success because of the low productivity. Thailand also had the same mistake. Arable land increased from 41.4 million ha to 93.245 ha from the year 1950 to 1982 with the rate of 12.3% of national land to 29%. In 1990, arable land increased by 47.4%. Meanwhile, forest area decreased by 37.2% from the year 1951 to 1995.
Forest is a kind of renewable resource but the growth cycle needs some decades or even more than a hundred years. So the speed of growth is far behind that of human destroying. In fact, those countries have been punished by the results of deforestation. Soil has been washed away because of lack of protection from forest. Sediment deposition imposed bad effects on transportation and hydropower so people often can not get enough and stable electricity. Deforestation results in flood, drought and other natural disasters. Cambodia, located in the lower reaches of Mekong River, often suffers from flood if the rainfall is too much. At the end of 2000, terrible flood occurred in the country with 400 people lost and more than 1 billion dollars loss. In 2001, more than 108 people in Vietnam died from flood and the number of homeless people was more than 60,000. Forest decrease has reduced land fertility. In 1980s, 18 million ha land suffered from salinization in northeast part of Thailand and 260 ha land in south part suffered from salinization or acidification. Such phenomenon can be found in other Asian countries. Deforestation, at the same time, has destroyed biodiversity. Tropical rain forest, mangroves, wetlands and animals are on the brink of annihilation. In 1997, endangered birds take 11% in Indonesia, 24% in Philippine, 10% in Vietnam and 9% in Malaysia and Thailand.
In recent years, deforestation has decreased compared with that of before because most countries have realized the terrible result caused by deforestation. In addition, technology development also provides ways to improve productivity. However, deforestation still exists in the world and we have more work to do.

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.  

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. 

It is a well documented fact that large scale deforestation has had a devastating impact on our planet. Environmental pollution is a direct result of man’s greed to abuse earth’s natural resources. Growing urbanization is a bane of the modern times. It has resulted in rampant cutting down of forests since cities are bursting at their seams, all over the world. Forests which are vital for the well being of our ecosystem are vanishing at a rapid pace and resulting in global warming. It would require a combined effort on the part of humanity to stop deforestation and preserve precious natural resources.

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?