Breaking The Cycle Of Tropical Deforestation
By Bill Foerderer
Drought, flood, famine and the threat of global warming are among the calamities which in 1988 emerged as crises, and tropical deforestation is the shared cause. Sandra Postel, Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, estimates that 28 million acres of tropical forest are destroyed each year for crops, livestock and fuelwood, and at least another 12.5 million acres are destroyed by commercial logging. The sum, Postel states, is larger than the area covered by both New York and Vermont. We in the U.S. are both directly affected by tropical deforestation and, even if we are not carrying the chainsaws, we are responsible for its occurrence.
THINK GLOBALLY
As trees are cleared from the tropical rainforests, changes are caused in the earth's climate. According to James Hansen, a climatologist at the Goddard Institute for Space, the drought sustained in the U.S. breadbasket this past summer may partially be traced to tropical deforestation. Rainforests recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen, water and other byproducts. Cutting the rainforests, Hansen states, contributed to global warming - the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which reflects and traps heat around the earth. As a result, 1988 was the "warmest" year on record.
Preserving the rain forests offers the greatest hope for a return to climatic stability . At a November rainforest conference in Seattle, rainforest action groups launched a campaign to address tropical deforestation. The campaign will target tropical wood used for construction and industry by the U.S., Japan and Western Europe. According to François Nectoux, a research fellow at Earth Resources Research Ltd., and a speaker at the conference, the problem is not necessarily that trees are being cut. The problem lies in who is doing the cutting and who is reaping the profits.
The dollar value of world timber trade has swelled in the past decade and in 1987 hit $8 billion, according to Nectoux. Though this trade represents only 4% by volume of all tropical hardwood removed from the forest, the effects are concentrated heavily in key areas. Historically, the bulk of tropical timber exports (70%) has originated in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and has flowed to Japan. Western Europe purchases wood from both Southeast Asia and Africa, and the U.S. has relied principally on Latin America for its unfinished wood products. In the U.S., tropical hardwoods are also imported largely as plywood or paneling and origínate in Japan, Korea or Taiwan which import unfinished "round" wood.
According to Jenny Stout of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Southeast Asia and Africa have been virtually logged out. However, demand for tropical hardwood continues to swell, particularly in Japan. As the price of Asian and African timber rises, three events are expected to occur: rarer species will be exploited, previously unprofitable areas will be logged, and a new global supplier will emerge, probably Central and South America. Currently, according to the World Bank, only 8% of Latin America's harvested hardwood is exported. But Robert Buschbacher of the World Wildlife Fund believes that by the turn of the century large-scale industrial plantations in Latin America will become the dominant source of tropical timber on the international market.
ACT LOCALLY
Countless species of trees grow in the rainforest, approximately 80 of which are commercially valuable and are traded as logs or sawn wood. Some of the more common tropical woods that we see in the U.S. are mahogany, teak, rosewood, purpleheart, cocobola, padouk, and zebra-wood. These woods, many of which are very beautiful, are used to make everything from business card cases, jewelry boxes and salad bowls, to chairs and tables. Less visible uses of tropical woods are found in the U.S. construction industry. Wood like lauan, which for years has been marketed as Philippine mahogany, shows up in hollow core doors and plywood. Meranti and ramin both are used for the interior parts of furniture, for molding and again, for plywood.
Among these woods, some are to be avoided at any cost. Mahogany for instance grows naturally throughout most of Central and South America. But, it grows in isolated stands of one or two trees. Mahogany is susceptible to infestation from a shootborer which attacks and kills the young trees as they grow. The opportunity for the borer to succeed in killing mahogany is small if the trees are widely dispersed through a forest, but when they are clumped together in a plantation, the entire crop can easily be wiped out. Consequently, mainland mahogany has not succceded. However, mahogany is plantation grown on Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic which as islands are isolated and are not prone to borer infestation. Unless the mahogany product you wish to purchase is explicitly labeled for production in one of these three places, quite simply, you should not buy it. If you do, you are causing deforestation.
Decision rules for the other woods are not so clear cut. According to U-M Professor of Biology John Vandermeer, many tropical hardwoods like rosewood and teak, which are imported into the U.S., are cut from secondary forests. The immediate effects of cutting secondary growth timber may not be as environmentally disruptive as cutting primary growth species like purpleheart. However, as demand for any tropical wood increases, there is pressure to cut more wood from virgin forests, or to cut more virgin forest to establish plantations. Either way, rainforests are destroyed.
After identifying where the wood was grown, as a secondary condition of purchase, identify where the finished product was made. Many tropical woods are imported into the U.S. in log form from Central and South America, and in finished form from East Asia. Unless the finished product was made in the country of origin, not only is the nation which produced the wood stripped of its resources, it is also denied the lion's share of the profits which accrue from the finishing processes. In an effort to capture these profits, some tropical nations like Costa Rica and Nicaragua have taken bold steps to stop the flow of unfinished wood across their borders. Unfinished wood can no longer be exported from either country and now only finished products reach the north. The message regarding finished wood products is simple - don't buy them unless they were produced in the country of origin.
Prevent tropical rainforest destruction by being aware of what you purchase, and by supporting local organizations like the Rainforest Action Movement (RAM). In 1989 RAM and rainforest groups worldwide are launching a "Tropical Wood" campaign. We want to identify the kinds, quantities and sources of tropical woods used in the U.S. This includes not only the wood that we see in artwork and kitchen items, but the wood used by construction and industry as well. Make a game of finding out how far back you can trace the wood - to the retailer, the distributor, the importer, the producer? The further back that the product can be traced the better we can protect the forests.
RAM is a non-profit organization working within the Ann Arbor community to educate people about rainforests and rainforest issues. Internationally, RAM is affiliated with organizations such as the Tambopata Wildlife Reserve in Peru, the Japan Tropical Action Network (JATAN), Friends of the Earth - Malaysia, and other non-governmental organizations. RAM presents speakers, slide shows and films. Call 764-2147 for the winter and spring program calendar.