The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released a report
last December which shows that the international timber trade is
now the major cause of global forest destruction . The main
findings of the report, entitled "Bad Harvest"
include:
- an estimated 500,000 hectares of forest are cleared or degraded
each week,
- half of the world's 233 most important sites for plant
diversity are threatened by commercial logging,
- most commercial logging takes place in forests that are the
richest in biodiversity.
"The research carried out by WWF reveals that the international timber trade is now the primary cause of loss in those forests that contain the highest levels of biodiversity."
This conclusion is based on a number of important findings
resulting from:
- correlating logging sites with species-rich forests;
- looking at forest quality as well as quantity;
- extending the assessment to all forests, rather than just
rainforests;
- including an assessment of illegal logging. Half of the most
important sites for plant diversity are threatened by commercial
logging.
For many years, the timber trade has claimed that it plays a negligible role in forest loss, and that most deforestation is caused by agricultural clearance or fuelwood collection. Population growth, rather than industrial exploitation has been blamed as the underlying problem. Research by WWF leads us to the opposite conclusion. Taking the survival of biodiversity as a major criterion, WWF concludes that the timber trade is currently the most important cause of loss and forest degradation in the world.
This judgment is based on several factors as examined below. There is no accident in the overlap between biologically rich forests and forests with large-scale timber operations. Areas of high biodiversity tend to to contain the oldest, and thus in many cases the largest and most commercially valuable, trees. Natural forests are often virtually unclaimed, under the stewardship of politically weak indigenous groups, or nominally under state control. Forests with high biodiversity are, by their very nature, likely to draw the attention of the global timber trade and are easily exploited.
The timber industry is also responsible for a major reduction in the quality of many forests. From the perspective of biodiversity, there is often little to choose between replacing a natural forest with a tree plantation or losing it altogether. In either case, the vast majority of the original native wildlife species do not survive. Even if the total number of species remains constant, the rarer natural species are often replaced by exotics and weed species.
Loss of forest quality has already occurred over most of Europe, North America and Australasia. It is becoming significant in several Southern countries as well. Analysis of the timber trade's impact should consider more than just the loss of area under trees. It should also consider the biological quality of the forest that remains. "Analysis should consider more than just the loss of area under trees. It should also consider the biological quality of the forest that remains"
Following centuries of degradation, most forest ecosystems are
severely threatened. Surviving areas of natural or semi-natural
habitat are of primary importance in maintaining biodiversity.
The Earth currently contains large areas of recently cleared
forest, young regenerating forest and middle-aged forest. Far
less common, particularly in the North but increasingly in the
South, are old-growth forests. These generally have a specialised
flora and fauna that can survive only in forests that have been
relatively undisturbed for hundreds of years. In many of these
areas, the timber trade remains, or has become, the primary agent
of change.
Including all forests in Assessments Previous emphasis on
problems in tropical rainforests has obscured issues in other
forests. When the WWF study looked at all forests, the role of
the timber trade immediately grew in significance. Unlike
tropical rainforests, where there have been endless arguments
about cause and effect in forest loss, in almost all temperate
and boreal countries still possessing substantial old-growth
forests, the timber trade is now undoubtedly the primary cause of
natural forest loss.
"Previous emphasis on problems in tropical rainforests has obscured issues in other forests."
Asssessments from the industry tend to draw on official studies
of the legal timber trade. In fact, in some countries undergoing
severe deforestation, the timber recorded by the Ministry of
Forests is only a small proportion of the actual fellings and/or
exports. Much illegal timber enters the international trade, with
or without the knowledge of importers. Often, illegality is
tacitly accepted by the buyer. Countries where illegal logging is
having an important and largely unquantified impact on natural
forests include (not an exhaustive list): Kenya, Zaire, Thailand,
the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil,
Bolivia, Ecuador and the Russian Federation. Until recently, 50%
of the mahogany leaving Brazil was exported illegally.
Time has also increased the relative impact of the timber trade.
Natural forest has now been reduced to fragments in many
countries. As the amount of high quality, natural forest declines
and is increasingly confined to areas which are inhospitable to
human settlement, the proportion of this remnant that is damaged
by the timber trade continues to grow. The actions of the
national and international timber trade are now critical to the
survival of most of the world's biologically richest forest
ecosystems and therefore to the majority of species.
The next two or three decades will decide whether or not we enter
the future with a full range of rich and diverse forest
ecosystems. The future actions of the timber trade will play a
vital role in this implicit decision. Although the situation is
serious, the report claimed there are some optimistic signs. A
substantial and growing section of the timber trade is prepared
to take environmental issues seriously and is making real efforts
to change its practices. According to the report, developments
such as the establishment of the Forest Stewardship Council and
efforts to promote certification in countries such as Belgium,
Sweden and the UK provide a framework for changes in forest
management that will have important benefits for wildlife. On the
other hand, some sections of the timber trade are responding to
the perceived "threat" of environmentalism by resisting
change and fighting back, pressuring governments and aid
agencies, funding front groups to discredit the environmental
lobby, cutting fast to beat planned controls, moving into areas
where environmental controls are lax, and delaying reforms. These
timber traders will come under increasing pressure in the future.
WWF supports the use of wood from well-managed, environmentally
and socially sustainable forests. The needs of the timber trade
and the environmental movement are not as far apart as people
often assume. Clearcutting an area and moving on might benefit a
handful of people at the top of a timber company, but it
certainly does not benefit the workers on the ground any more
than it does wildlife, the environment and local people. Recent
abandonment of worked out concessions in countries as far apart
as Cote d'Ivoire, the USA and Indonesia all bear witness to the
human costs of bad forestry.
WWF has responded to the problems posed by forest degradation by
setting the world two important and challenging targets: 1.
Establishing an ecologically representative network of protected
areas covering at least 10 per cent of the world's forests by the
year 2000, demonstating a range of socially and environmentally
appropriate models. 2. Ensuring the independent certification,
under the auspices of the Forest Stewardship Council, of 10
million hectares of sustainably managed forest by 1998. The Bad
Harvest? report, released by WWF United Kingdom in London, is
part of a world-wide forest conservation effort. Commenting on
the release of the report, WWF Australia Chief Executive Officer,
David Butcher, said that "this report has immediate
relevance to the forest controversy raging in Australia and
demonstrates the international importance of achieving an
ecologically sustainable forest management system in
Australia." "There are two prerequisites essential to
restore confidence in Australia's forest management - a
comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system, and a
credible, independently certified forest management system."
Mr Butcher concluded. The actions of the national and
international timber trade are now critical to the survival of
most of the world's biologically rich forest ecosystems and
therefore to the majority of species.
Source: WWF Australia