DON'T BE FOOLED BY TIMBER INDUSTRY MYTHOLOGY
LOGGING DESTROYS TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
As concerned citizens around the world are rallying in the defense
of earth's diminishing tropical forests, the timber industry is
desperately trying to defend its practices which are a major cause
of destruction of these invaluable ecosystems. There is a pressing
need for the public and decision makers to understand the truth
about rainforest destruction to deflect the self-serving fiction
being offered up by companies profiting from rainforest
destruction.
The International Hardwood Products Association (IHPA) is the
laragest industry group representing US tropical timber importers.
It is cynically trying to convince the public that by harvesting
large amounts of tropical timber, the industry is actually helping
to preserve the forests by giving them economic value. The IHPA
has formed a Committee called CURE - Conservation, Utilization,
Reforestation, and Education to tell the industry side of the
story. Given the myths which CURE literature is trying to pass off
as fact, however, we believe this committee should be called Cover-
Up for Rainforest Exploitation. We'd like to comment on some
points raised in the new CURE brochure "Good News for the Tropical
Forests."
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
CURE SAYS: "Sustainable forestry requires the protection of
wildlife, water, timber resources, and soil, all in perpetuity.
Selective cutting is often an important consideration-two to ten
trees per hectare may be extracted for commercial use with the
large majority of forest left undisturbed."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: The International Tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO) states that less than one percent of logging in the tropics
is being carried out on a sustainable basis. Even though loggers
may only cut down a few prime trees from an area, many non-target
trees are damaged or killed by felling and up to half of the forest
canopy may be destroyed by tree extraction and road building.
REFORESTATION
CURE SAYS: "Reforestation - planting or creating the conditions,
through seeding and/or site preparation, for new trees to
regenerate in an area that has been partially or completely cleared
of its forest cover."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: Reforestation following logging operations in
the tropics is rare. When it does happen, it usually involves
planting species which are not native to an area. These exotic
species are often planted for future pulp and paper production so
the operation does not involve any investment in planning for the
next timber harvest years later. Many tree plantations created in
the tropics are created by bulldozing diverse natural forests to
the ground and putting in a monoculture of one such exotic species.
DEFORESTATION, ITS CAUSES, AND THE ROLE OF THE TIMBER INDUSTRY
CURE SAYS: "Primary cause for deforestation as stated in an FAO
(Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N.) report is shifting
agriculture and other population pressures."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: According to FAO figures from 1980, at least
25% of tropical forest degradation was due to commercial logging.
Due to an inequitable distribution of land in many tropical
countries, poor farmers are forced to enter the forest in search of
a livelihood. Logging is a major catalyst to further deforestation
since logging roads give these farmers a way to enter previously
inaccessible forest areas and complete the destructive process.
CURE SAYS: Concerned members of the international timber industry
are promoting that even the low percentage of deforestation
attributable to timber export is unsatisfactory and are seeking to
reduce this percentage to zero!"
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: The industry has paid more attention to
generating rhetoric than action. For example, the rate of logging
in the Malaysian state of Sarawak rose from 14 million to 18
million cubic meters of wood between 1989 and 1990 even though the
ITTO recommended a 30 - 60 % reduction in the level of cut because
the forests were being so severely overexploited. IHPA members
have remained silent on this issue and continue to import timber
from Sarawak in spite of this grave situation.
ACTIONS TO PROTECT TROPICAL FORESTS
CURE SAYS: "Proper harvesting provides employment for the
inhabitants while encouraging them to nurture and protect the
forests."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: This grotesquely patronizing statement
ignores the fact that the destruction of tropical forests by the
timber trade is being protested around the world by people who live
in and depend on healthy natural forests for their survival.
Members of the Penan and other tribal groups are desperately trying
to stop logging in Sarawak, Malaysia before it obliterates their
ancestral homelands. The export of teak from Burma is keeping that
bloody regime in power and fueling its war against ethnic groups
who have been dependent on these forests for generations. The IHPA
opposed legislation which would have banned US timber imports from
Burma because of that country's oppression of human rights.
CURE SAYS: "If forests have no economic value, they are likely to
be destroyed for their land."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: Since logging is currently a major destroyer
of tropical forests, it is ludicrous to assert that logging is
positively affecting forest conservation by giving the forests
economic value. At best, there a few examples in the world which
may show in the future that community based logging operations can
operate in an ecologically sustainable and economically viable way.
Beyond timber, there are a host of other forest products (nuts,
oils, resins, medicinal plants) which are or could be harvested to
meet the subsistence and economic needs of forest peoples. Another
economic incentive for preserving forests is to maintain their
watershed protective value. Ultimately forests need to be
protected not just because of their economic values, but because
people and all living ecosystems depend on forests for survival.
NORTH AMERICAN TIMBER INDUSTRY ACTION TO PROTECT TROPICAL FORESTS
CURE SAYS: "The industry in North America has developed and
endorsed a position statement that will ultimately require that all
tropical forest products imported into North America come from
properly managed forests."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: While the above statement offers some ray of
hope, the reality is that the industry has not taken one concrete
step toward limiting its imports of non-sustainably produced timber
(which constitute more than 99% of all imports). In fact the IHPA
has vigorously opposed any initiative which has come up inside the
IHPA, any group of policy makers, or the US Congress which would
move the trade in the direction of sustainability or even allow
consumers to make an informed choice about which type of wood they
buy. CURE has so far concentrated on the production of literature
which seeks to obscure the deforestation issue and hide the major
responsibility of the timber trade in this crisis.
CURE SAYS: "...IHPA initiated the Tropical Forest Foundation which
is solely dedicated to distributing accurate educational
information regarding sustainable forest management and the
importance of these valuable natural resources."
WHAT THEY DON'T SAY: While the Foundation has a few good scientists
associated with it, the Foundation's staff and directors are
stacked with current or former IHPA officials and timber traders.
The vast majority of foundation funding comes from corporations
which are major tropical timber importers or sell heavy equipment
used in logging operations. Given this background and CURE's
initial attempts at "telling the truth" about tropical
deforestation, we hope TFF's future pronouncements will not
resemble a slanted collection of Tropical Forest Fiction.
If you would like more information on tropical forests and what you
can do to help stop their loss, contact:
GREENPEACE FORESTS CAMPAIGN, 1436 "U" Street NW, Washington, DC
20009. Telephone: 202-462-1177.