TROPICAL RAINFORESTS: Saving What Remains
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Looking up from the base of a kapok tree. (Photo by R. Butler)

LOGGING

OVERVIEW

In most tropical countries forests are government-owned and ownership by parties other than the state is often prohibited. Timber is often harvested under concession agreements awarded to private logging firms who, without securimg legal rights to the land, are reluctant to make investments in forest management. Thus it is no surprise that a recent study found that less than 0.1 percent of tropical forests are sustainably managed and less than 1 percent of the area used for logging is under any form of management. Nevertheless, tropical countries see timber as a major source of revenue and continue to grant huge concessions at below their market rates. Forestry is important to the world economy, contributing 2 percent to world GDP (4 percent of GDP in developing countries) and making up 3% of international trade; it is also vital to the local economies of many countries. For example, the logging of tropical timber provides work for 100,000 people in the Sarawak province of Malaysia and generates US$ 1.5 billion annually in exports. However, the resource management of tropical forests is grossly underfunded, causing numerous problems.

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)
Amazon to be logged sustainably says Brazil
United States and Indonesia to fight illegal logging
Selective logging can have low impact on Amazon rainforest says FAO
New tropical timber pact takes aims at illegal logging
Governments making progress in fight against illegal logging says FAO
Recent news: logging | sustainable forest management

Many countries have passed forestry laws, sometimes as a genuine effort, but more often as a nominal gesture to please international financing organizations. Where forestry laws exist they are often ignored or widely abused. In the absence of regulation, loggers often ignore the negative environmental impacts of their actions, since they derive little or no financial benefit from mitigating them. For example, Malaysia, one of the largest exporters of tropical wood, has good forestry laws that would almost guarantee sustainable use of its forests. However, the laws are not put into practice because of a lack of forestry officials and a lack of government interest. Many in government prefer the extra cash in their pockets from the intense lobbying by timber companies instead of actually enforcing forestry laws. Thus Malaysia's national parks and reserves continue to be exploited, and the recommended maximum felling quantities are exceeded. Typical management problems include: improperly conducted pre- and post-harvesting inventories, re-logging at more frequent intervals than required, cutting outside concession boundaries, and ineffective control and supervision by the forest ministry. Many governments around the world partake in such activities in an effort to raise quick cash. However these governments are selling themselves and their peoples short. Many are effectively selling their wood at below market prices while others are losing millions worldwide from illegal logging activities by not enforcing their forestry laws. Instead of collecting taxes and duties on all timber extracted from the forest, governments receive only partial revenue as illicit wood goes untaxed. The problem is especially bad in Indonesia where an estimated 500,000 hectares (42 percent of annual logged area) of forest are illegally logged each year at a loss as high as US$3.5 billion in revenues to the government. Worldwide, the World Bank estimates, 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.

What is desperately needed is a new type of forestry that departs from the older mentality where forests only exist to serve immediate human demands and are considered non-exhaustible resources. New forest management adds both rural development and conservation projects to traditional tree harvesting and aims to keep forests as functional ecological systems while providing multiple economic benefits. Among the innovations of the new forest management are a greater involvement of local communities, diversification of forest products to include NWFPs, and the development of plantation forests on degraded lands. Great strides have been made in recent years to develop more sustainable management policies, but traditional logging firms still have a long way to go.

Suggested reading
  • Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
  • Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
  • Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson
  • Biomimicry : Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus
  • The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits by C. K. Prahalad
  • Medicine Quest by Mark J. Plotkin
  • The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken

  • Review questions:

    • Why is illegal logging a problem for governments?

    [print version | spanish


    Other pages in this section:
    Solutions Introduction
    Sustainable Forest Products
    Large-scale Forest Products
    Medicinal Drugs
    Logging
    Logging (con't)
    Oil
    Conservation Priorities
    Reserve Size & Valuation
    Organization
    Intergovernmental Institutions
    Communication, Education
    Indigenous people
    - - - -
    References (1)
    References (2)
    References (3)
    References (4)
    References (5)
    Eco-tourism
    Foods & Genetic Diversity
    Medicinal Drugs & Pesticides
    Logging (con't)
    Cattle
    Increasing Productivity
    Types of Reserves
    Funding
    Developing nations
    NGOs
    International Organizations
    Conclusion

    - - - -
    Kids version of this section
    - How can we save rainforests?
    - Education
    - Rehabilitation
    - Sustainable development
    - Parks
    - Eco-friendly companies
    - Ecotourism
    - What you can do




    Recent news

    Indonesian government suspends license of logging company in controversial forest area
    (11/19/2009) The Indonesian government today temporarily suspended the license of Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL) for developing an area of forest and peatland in Sumatra pending a review of the company's permits, reports Greenpeace.


    Gibson Guitar under federal investigation for alleged use of illegal rainforest timber from Madagascar
    (11/19/2009) Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar's factory Tuesday afternoon, due to concerns that the company had been using illegally harvested wood from Madagascar, reports the Nashville Post.


    Pygmy hippo shot and killed in…Australia
    (11/17/2009) Hunters going after pigs in Australia's Northwest Territories got a big surprise when they shot an animal they mistook for a pig, only to find out it was a pygmy hippopotamus, reports the Northwest Territory News.


    Finnish paper company to sever ties with logging firm linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia
    (11/13/2009) Finnish paper company UPM-Kymmene will stop buying paper pulp from Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL) due to concerns over the company's poor environmental record, reports Greenpeace. UPM-Kymmene contact's represents 4 percent of APRIL's total pulp production, worth over US$55 million annually, according to the environmental group.


    "Responsible" palm oil producers pledge not to develop endangered Sumatra rainforest
    (11/13/2009) Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an initiative developing criteria to improve the environmental performance of palm oil, agreed to declare the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra a 'high conservation value area'. The decision, voted on by RSPO General Assembly members at the group's annual meeting earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur, effectively bans oil palm development of the endangered forest ecosystem by RSPO members.



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