|
|
|
|
  |
 |
 |
 |
|  |
Monitoring The UN > The UN and Sustainable Development Combatting Deforestation
"Every burning season, airports in many Amazonian cities are forced to close, as smoke from tens of thousands of forest fires - many of them set to clear land - create a dense fog, sometimes as vast as the Amazon Basin itself." Beneath this fog lies the priceless genetic inheritance of the Brazilian rainforests, a treasure that, once lost, cannot be regained. Though somewhat more than the tip of the proverbial iceberg, the Brazilian rainforests are only one element of a much larger tragedy. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in the late 1980s the world’s rainforests were being depleted at a rate "equivalent to about 21.5 hectares a minute." This situation has not improved, in spite of the good intentions expressed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Rather than abating, says Sipi Jaakkola, Senior Scientific Officer of UNEP, the "threat to Earth’s forests has never been more serious." The problem rests with a continued global failure to reconcile economic and environmental agendas, to arrive at development models that promote prosperity without destroying the ecological resource base necessary for long-term development sustainability. Where is the loss greatest? The greatest loss of forest has occurred in the South (the developing world). In the North (the developed world), there has actually been a net increase in the last century as a result of reforestation efforts and natural reversion. Not much of the mixed-species, old-wood stands remain, but at least the trend of loss has been arrested. One exception to this is the Russian Federation, where aggressive timber exploitation is causing concern. North America still possesses a great deal of forest and conservation measures are being encouraged, especially for old-growth areas. This is not to say that dangers are not lurking over Northern forests. They are; acid rain and other pollution, fires and disease are all damaging trees and calling for rehabilitative responses. In the South, UNEP claims, "forest areas have been halved in this century." Tropical forests are being reduced by 11 million hectares per year. Africa has only 30% of its rainforests left. The Asian and Pacific countries are losing up to 4% of theirs per year, with losses being particularly acute in Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines. "At the current rate of harvesting," it has been noted, "the remaining timber reserves in Asia may not last for more than 40 years." Latin America and the Caribbean are also exhibiting potentially catastrophic losses. What happens in this region is especially important because "[a]t the end of 1990, some 28 per cent of the world’s total forested area, and 52 per cent of its tropical forests were in Latin America and the Caribbean." The destruction of rainforests, where half of existing plant and animal species live, means the destruction of the world’s "genetic storehouse." What is causing the harm to the world’s forests? The causes of forest loss and degradation vary from place to place, but in broad terms the damage in the developed world arises from fires, climate change, air and soil pollution, insects and disease. In the developing world, poverty, population growth, government development policies, including road-building and population transfers, forest fires (often the result of deliberately set fires for land or vegetation clearing), and urban, industrial and agricultural expansion have all contributed to massive losses of forestlands. These factors occur against a background of on-going social, political and economic problems and inequalities. Overall, agricultural expansion in the developing countries contributes most, and most immediately, to extensive deforestation. Forests recede as agriculture advances (spatially, not in terms of increased efficiency, which would go a long way to solving the problem). As the frontiers of agriculture enlarge, unsustainable exploitation follows on both small and large scale. Logging interests, though less directly culpable in forest loss than agriculture, contribute in the sense that the building of roads for the support of logging (or other commercial purposes like mining) make the forests accessible in a way they were not before. UNEP suggests that "as much as 55 percent of the forest that is logged over eventually becomes deforested," primarily because settlers follow the loggers into the forest, clearing land for farming. Large-scale businesses involved in activities like livestock ranching are often not far behind. Individuals or groups pushed into marginal areas by economic or political forces all too frequently pursue unsustainable practices that exhaust and degrade the deforested soil, soon rendering these environments incapable of supporting further human activity. People must then move on to yet more ecologically sensitive land. Reforestation, or even sufficient fallow periods, would allow the forest and the soil to regenerate itself, but perceived economic imperatives make such long-term sustainablilty measures seem undesirable. Equally serious is the impact of a never-ending search for cooking and heating fuel. In the developing world this almost always means wood. Fuelwood is sought primarily from "open" forests (without continuous canopy cover), as opposed to rainforests, but it still fells more tree than logging. "In some countries," says Mostafa Tolba in his book, Saving the Planet: "...wood is the main source of energy, providing more than 80 per cent of energy use in such nations as the Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Ethiopia, Mali, Nepal, Tanzania and Burkina Faso...Because of the increasing demand for fuelwood and rapid depletion of resources, in 1980 about 100 million people in developing countries could not get sufficient fuelwood to meet their minimum energy needs, and close to 1300 million consumed fuelwood resources faster than they were being replenished. Without remedial action, it is estimated that 2400 million people will be either unable to obtain their minimum energy requirements or will be forced to consume wood faster than it is being grown by the year 2000." What are the consequences of deforestation for the world? The pressure on forest resources in the interest of short-term expediency produces long term and wide-ranging impacts. For many millions of the world’s poor, the products (wood and non-wood) of forestlands are an essential lifeline, providing food (plants and animals), building materials, energy sources, medicinal products, and income opportunities (the forests provide a great variety of materials that can be gathered or crafted for sale). The survival of these people is compromised by the destruction of the trees and the habitat they house. At best their poverty is magnified; at worst, they are forced to join the growing number of environmental refugees. Already, says Adam Rogers in Taking Action, "millions have been forced to leave their homes in Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia - including more than a million in Java alone." Forests also represent an important element of the larger national economy, providing: "...pulp for paper, sawnwood, plywood, gums, oils, resins, pharmaceutical plants and many other badly-needed materials. In many countries, these are important exports. Poor or exploitive forest management inevitably reduces options, leading first to dwindling exports and then the need to pay for more and more imports. Although 33 developing countries are currently net exporters of forest products, only 10 are expected to be so by the year 2000" Beyond products for human use, these forests fulfil a vital role in the balance and regulation of the local environment. The loss of tree roots and the humus soil built up from forest vegetation reduces the soil’s ability to retain water, leading to altered or vanished watercourses and run-off that produces flooding in low-lying areas. The effect of excessive run-off on occupants of valleys and river basins has been seen in the catastrophic floods that have occurred in such countries as Bangladesh in recent decades. Tree loss also leads to soil erosion as soil once held in place by forest growth is swept away by wind or water, leaving deforested land uncultivable and rivers, streams, reservoirs and dams clogged with silt. Deforestation in arid and semi-arid regions can lead to desertification when loss of all wooded vegetation leaves the soil to dry out and lose its ability to hold water. At the global level, deforestation in the developing world has potentially catastrophic implications. Forests contribute to climate regulation through the capacity of trees to trap greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, preventing their dispersion into the Earth’s atmosphere. "Tropical deforestation," explains Cheri Sugal in Vital Signs 1997, "releases approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year - about 19% of total carbon emissions worldwide." The loss of rainforest biodiversity, too, has potentially disastrous consequences. Sugal notes that: "More than half of all prescriptions filled worldwide contain active ingredients originating from wild species - particularly tropical plants. An estimated 80 percent of people living in developing countries rely on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs, and 85 percent of traditional medicines use plant extracts. Yet at current rates of deforestation, 20-75 plant and animal species are lost every day; by 2015, some 6-14 percent of all species are expected to be extinct." Sustainable management is the only hope for saving the world’s forests and the benefits that accrue from them. So far, this goal has been impeded by the failure of many groups to take account of the "real economic value of standing forest." The true cost of exploitation - potential soil erosion, loss of biological diversity and destruction of local livelihoods, to name the most immediate - have not been given sufficient weight. "Neither the grim calculus of survival for the very poor nor the number-crunching of the very rich," says Marc Dourojeanni in the United Nations Development Programme’s magazine Choices, "figure environmental services into their calculations." Poverty, marginalization, antiquated and inequitable land tenure systems, and crippling national debt perpetuate the unsustainable use of forests, while governments "seek progress through an expansion of frontiers rather than through contained sustainable development." What is the United Nations doing to meet the challenge to the world’s forests? The United Nations Environment Programme has been concerned about the state of the world’s forests for some time, and has actively promoted the concept of international cooperation in their management. The first concrete step in that direction came in 1983 with the UNCTAD-sponsored International Tropical Timber Agreement, providing for cooperation between producers and consumers to bring about "sustainable forest management." Next came the Tropical Forest Action Plan under the auspices of the FAO, another international effort to promote forest management, this one through coordinated approaches by United Nations agencies. When the Action Plan ran up against conflicting national interests and outlooks, the FAO urged "a legally binding international forest convention" to form the basis for future policy. This proposal was taken up in the preparations for UNCED, where the search continued for a consensus that would provide long-term protection to forests. UNCED and Agenda 21 In Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the issue of global deforestation was presented in Chapter 11 of Agenda 21. There it is noted in considerable understatement that: "There are major weaknesses in the policies, methods and mechanisms adopted to support and develop the multiple ecological, economic, social and cultural roles of trees, forests and forest lands." To rectify this situation, it is recommended that a "rational and holistic approach to the sustainable and environmentally sound development of forests," be adopted that involves all levels of society and government. The central objective is to be conservation and rehabilitation through a strengthening of national forest-related institutions, the encouragement of education, the promotion of research, data collection, and environmental impact assessments, and the improvement of administration. Internationally, cooperation and coordination is to be advanced, including information sharing and monitoring of the state of the world’s forests. It is hoped that through all these efforts the process of deforestation can be reversed and the protection of forests from unsustainable human interference enhanced. Always, though, there is to be a recognition of the "underlying social and ecological causes" of the ‘shifting agriculture’ that is responsible for so much of the damage to marginal lands. This activity, it is hoped, will eventually be eliminated. Agenda 21 calls on states to calculate the costs and benefits of forests and forest exploitation: "To improve recognition of the social, economic and ecological values of trees, forests and forest lands, including the consequences of the damage caused by the lack of forests; [and to] promote methodologies with a view to incorporating social, economic and ecological values of trees, forests and forest lands into the national economic accounting systems..." These "social, economic and ecological values" are to be reflected in "the market-based pricing structure of wood and non-wood based products..." The Forest Principles UNCED did not produce a convention on forests; it produced the "Forest Principles," a non-binding international agreement acknowledging that the concepts of "management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests" need to be integrated into the environment and development equation and into sustainable development efforts at the national and international levels. These 15 Forest Principles call for a "greening of the world" while affirming the right of states to exploit their forest resources as they think appropriate, provided that exploitation does not negatively affect other states and provided "sustainable use" is an overriding goal. There is a recognition that the developed and developing worlds face different challenges in the realm of forest sustainability and it is stipulated that the cost of incorporating and implementing sustainable management practices is to "be equitably shared by the international community," a concession to the reality that financial obstacles make the balancing of ecology with economy difficult for developing countries. Like Chapter 11 of Agenda 21, the Principles call for the protection, perpetuation, and even renewal (through active reforestation) of the diverse resources of the world’s forests. The strengthening of national and international institutions and the participation of all levels of society, including, and perhaps especially, indigenous people and women, is also sought. The pressing need for fuel sources in developing countries is not overlooked. In this context, the document suggests that "the potential contribution of plantations of both indigenous and introduced species for the provision of both fuel and industrial wood should be recognized." The Principles call for assistance and support for developing countries in the form of forest-oriented financial aid, technological expertise, technology transfers, fair market access for forest product exports, and measures for debt alleviation. A fair trading environment is considered particularly important as a facilitating factor in the battle against deforestation. It is therefore directed that there be a: "Reduction or removal of tariff barriers and impediments to the provision of better market access and better prices for higher value-added forest products and their local processing should be encouraged to enable producer countries to better conserve and manage their renewable forest resources." After Rio At the 1995 meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, it was decided to set up an Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) to provide for on-going international discussion and assessment of forest issues. In 1997, a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly established the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests to replace the IPF. This Forum was another attempt to promote an international consensus and to work toward a forests convention. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Forests that had operated under the old IPF was continued. Its task was to consider the following topics as part of the search for solutions to global forest loss:
The continued search for consensus In spite of United Nations efforts to promote conservation and protect forest environments, and notwithstanding the 1992 Forest Principles - touted as "a first consensus on forests" - real consensus has still not been achieved, a fact best illustrated by the continued absence of a legally binding international convention on forest management. The "politically loaded debate" goes on, laments Mr. Jaakkola of UNEP, centred around the question of reconciling economic and environmental agendas. The answer to that question will only come when an agreed formula is found that will permit exploitation while ensuring the requisite global density of forest lands and the biodiversity they harbour. UNEP in action on Forests As the leading United Nations actor on environmental issues, UNEP is actively involved in providing assistance to member states in forest matters. In recent years, it has been called upon to respond to catastrophic forest fires in Brazil, the Russian Federation and Indonesia, where organizational action and international relief was needed to meet an environmental emergency. In Brazil in 1997 and 1998, dry climate conditions and the burning on agricultural land sparked uncontrolled fires that destroyed 33,000 square kilometres of forest. In 1998, dry conditions and human encroachment were believed to be responsible for "massive uncontrolled forest fires" in eastern Russia. "At one point," reports UNEP, "the authorities were trying to deal with 94 fires simultaneously." In all, there were 1028 separate fires to be quelled. The loss was 20,000 square kilometres of forest and "enormous damage to the environment and various sectors of the Russian economy." The Russian fires were considered "internationally significant" because of their "possible effects on global climate, potential transboundary air pollution...and large-scale destruction of biodiversity (including many endangered species of international significance)." In 1997 and 1998 Indonesia, too, faced horrendous forest fires due to dry weather and land clearing. Over 9,000 square kilometres of forest were burned, and "the haze affected 70 million people in six countries. Factories, schools and offices were closed, while tourism suffered a sharp decline in affected areas; and an estimated 20 million people did not see their shadows for up to three weeks." Not surprisingly, all three of these countries were unable to cope with the magnitude of the fires. Assistance was provided through a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team (UNDAC), which worked with the national governments to assess the best means of meeting the emergency. For Indonesia, the entire United Nations system was "mobilized," and international aid and relief was obtained for the region. Over US $10 million was collected from the international community, and practical fire-fighting equipment was delivered. In terms of a long-term response, the United Nations proposed the establishment of an "early warning and monitoring system in South East Asia" and the promotion of public awareness "regarding the best as well as alternative land clearing practices available," as well as efforts "to disseminate lessons learned" from the Indonesian experience. Link to issues of Desertification and Biodiversity on this site. Link to UNEP site. This has recent material on forest-related activities. It does not, however, provide material that would offer a valuable or easily accessible overview or understanding of the nature and causes of the problem. Link to CSD site. See "Forest News" regarding forests and the latest CSD meeting: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csdup54/page4.htm. Link to Natural Resources Canada site. This will provide information on Canada’s forests and the efforts of this country to promote conservation and sustainable management. Start at home page, click on Natural Resources, then click on Forests. This will display a National Forest Strategy 1998-2003 entitled "Sustainable Forests." See http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/cfs/nfs/strateg/control_e.html for explanation of how Canada is managing its forests. |
