Sections of rain forest cut for slash-and-burn agriculture. (Photo by R. Butler)
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DESTRUCTION OF RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Deforestation can rob a country of potential renewable revenues while replacing valuable productive lands with
virtually useless scrub and grassland. Tropical forests provide important renewable resources that can significantly
contribute to national economic growth on a continuing basis.
In theory, logging can be a sustainable activity, generating an ongoing source of revenue without diminishing the resource base—especially in secondary forests and plantations. However, most rainforest logging is not sustainable in practice, diminishing the potential revenue for tropical countries in the long term. Timber is now a decreasingly important industry in many former wood-exporting countries in Southeast Asia and West Africa due to overexploitation. While several countries have moved to restrict logging, some face difficulties from illegal operations. The World Bank estimates that governments lose about US$5 billion in revenues annually as a result of illegal logging while overall losses to the national economies of timber-producing countries add up to an additional US$10 billion per year.
After logging, one of the largest "renewable resources" provided by tropical rainforests is ecotourism. The booming
market brings tens of billions of dollars annually to tropical countries around the world. Ecotourism suffers with
deforestation—few tourists, let alone ecotourists, want to travel in order to see polluted rivers, stumps of
former forests, barren wasteland, gorilla carcasses, and relics of recently assimilated forest dwellers. Recently,
the smog or haze created by the Indonesian forest fires caused tourist arrivals in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia
to drop significantly.
Forest products play a crucial role in the economy of developing countries. In 1994, exports of primary forest
products were US$114 billion, of which at least 10 percent were secondary, non-wood forest products. These figures do
not include the value of these products to local consumers, who use timber to build houses and collect nuts and
fruits from the forest for food. Short-term economic exploitation through deforestation is devastating to the long-term
economy of developing countries not only by annihilating vital ecosystems that afford important services, but also
by destroying potential forest products. Already, revenue from tropical hardwood exports is down 25 percent from 1980
levels and is expected to drop below 75 percent of 1980 levels by the turn of the century. As these countries develop
their economies, they will continue to deplete their forest stocks, and may, in the foreseeable future, have to
import wood from temperate regions like the former Soviet Union, Canada, and the United States. Malaysia has seen
a 60 percent decline in log exports, while the Philippines (a major exporter of logs during the early 1980s) has seen
a virtual cessation in log exports. In both cases, the declines are due to dwindling harvestable forest resources.
By 2000, only 10 of the 33 tropical countries that export timber will still be able to export. The new tropical
log exporters, at least until their reserves are exhausted, are Latin America, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands,
Cambodia, and parts of Africa including Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, and Congo.
Besides timber products, tropical countries lose potential earnings from renewable forest products like the nuts
from Brazil nut trees, durian fruit from Southeast Asia, and iguana farming from Belize. In 1996, the value of
non-wood forest products, accounting for the domestic consumption value and the international trade value, was
estimated at US$90 billion. Many rainforest products cannot exist without a fully functioning rainforest system.
Thus by deforestation, developing countries are jeopardizing their renewable forest resources and an important
part of their economic future.
NATURAL CONFLICTS WITH WILDLIFE
As their habitat dwindles, many animals are forced to forage outside their traditional forest range and move into
areas populated by humans. Fatal encounters with wild animals like elephants, venomous snakes, and big cats occur in and around degraded forest areas. Forest elephants have made news over the past few years with their deadly conflicts
(deadly for both humans and elephants) in Asia. Several countries have embarked on innovative plans to keep elephants
away from crops, while providing for their safety, though many farmers believe it easier to simply kill the offending
animals.
Review questions:
- Why are seconday forest products important?
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Continued: Climatic Role of Forests
This article was written by Rhett A. Butler [bibliographic citation for this page] and was last updated on the most recent date listed in the column on the right side.
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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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