Wood harvest in Indonesian New Guinea. (Photo by R. Butler)
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FUELWOOD HARVESTING AS A THREAT TO RAINFORESTS
By Rhett Butler | Last updated July 31, 2012
FAO estimates that 40 percent of the world (2.6 billion people) rely on fuelwood or charcoal as their primary source of energy for cooking and heating. Fuelwood consumption has increased 250 percent since 1960 (the world's population only increased by 90 percent since 1960).
The collection of fuelwood and building material from the rainforest remains an important cause of deforestation by settlers. For example, in the 1990s Honduras relied on the burning of fuelwood for 65 percent of its energy, while in some African nations the percentage is even higher. In the late 1990s the refugee camps, full of some 750,000 refugees, in eastern Congo depended on the collection of fuelwood from Virunga National Park, the mountain gorilla reserve. In just a few months over 20,000 acres of park were cleared for fuelwood and building material.
In many parts of the world, charcoal production is a major commercial enterprise. In the Amazon, iron smelters create substantial demand for rainforest wood.
Review questions:
- What is an important energy source for rural poor in the tropics?
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Recent news
Still hope for tropical biodiversity in human modified landscapes
(04/09/2013) As primary forests become increasingly rare and expensive to protect, many ecologists are looking to better management of Human Modified Landscapes (HMLs) to shepherd and shield biodiversity in the tropics. Secondary forests, selectively logged forests and lands devoted to sustainable agriculture already play an important role in conservation efforts. However, the idea that HMLs will serve as a "Noah's Ark" for biodiversity, is controversial.
Peruvian night monkey threatened by vanishing forests, lost corridors
(03/18/2013) The Peruvian night monkey (Aotus miconax) is one of the world's least known primates, having never been studied in the wild--until now. Found only in the cloud forests of northern Peru, a group of scientists with Neotropical Primate Conservation and the National University of Mayor San Marcos have spent 12 months following a single group of this enigmatic monkey species in a small forest patch. The results of their research, published in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science, shows that protecting forests, even small forest fragments, is vital to the species' survival.
New giant flying frog discovered near city of 9 million
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Rehabilitated orangutans in danger if industrial project proceeds in Borneo
(10/22/2012) The proposed extension of an industrial area in East Kalimantan, Indonesia will likely mean the end of a population of rehabilitated orangutans who reside there, according to the Indonesian environmental group Peduli Teluk Balikpapan. The Kariangau Industrial Area (KIK) will comprise 5,130 hectares of land currently covered by hardwood forests and mangroves when completed, including one third of orangutan habitat in Sungai Wain forest—a crucial portion that is not within the boundaries of the Sungai Wain Protection Forest and therefore not under any governmental protection.
Key mammals dying off in rainforest fragments
(08/15/2012) When the Portuguese first arrived on the shores of what is now Brazil, a massive forest waited for them. Not the Amazon, but the Atlantic Forest, stretching for over 1.2 million kilometers. Here jaguars, the continent's apex predator, stalked peccaries, while tapirs waded in rivers and giant anteaters unearthed termites mounds. Here, also, the Tupi people numbered around a million people. Now, almost all of this gone: 93 percent of the Atlantic Forest has been converted to agriculture, pasture, and cities, the bulk of it lost since the 1940s. The Tupi people are largely vanished due to slavery and disease, and, according to a new study in the open access journal PLoS ONE, so are many of the forest's megafauna, from jaguars to giant anteaters.
More news on fragmentation
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