Good News, Bad News in World Forestry Report
12/28/00
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
By Forests.org
A new report by the World Resources Institute highlights the importance of forest quality, and the steady diminishment in terms of quality of forest ecosystems worldwide. Forest decline and simplification may have similar consequences as outright deforestation. Old-growth forests and heavily managed secondary forests are not equal in terms of the ecosystem functionality and biodiversity. Natural primary and secondary growth forests continue to provide 80 percent of all wood fiber products - from logs to pulp
yet this fiber could be produced on plantations. The report can be found in full at
http://www.wri.org/wri/wr2000 .
g.b.
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Good News, Bad News in World Forestry Report
Copyright 2000 Environment News Service
December 28, 2000
WASHINGTON, DC, December 28, 2000 (ENS) - The authors of a landmark report released Wednesday say the world should be thinking of forest quality, not just forest quantity.
The report by the Washington based World Resources Institute is called "Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Forest Ecosystems." It is the first attempt to analyze the condition of forests worldwide, based on their ability to provide a wide range of goods and services.
"We are not running out of trees, especially in the developed countries," said lead author Emily Matthews. "We are, however, running through our old growth or primary forests."
The report found that forest areas in developed countries continue to increase slightly, while clearance for agriculture, development, and logging in developing countries are reducing forests by at least 140,000 square kilometers every year.
Three forms of human interference in forests are studied by the report: the spread of "transition zones" - agriculture practiced at the margins of intact forest, road construction, and the use of fire.
The report explains how roads, even in Central Africa where transportation systems are less developed than in the West, have fragmented dense forest into smaller pieces.
Worldwide, fires started by humans now account for more than 90 percent of all wildland fires in forests and savannas.
As well as detailing the changes in forest area, the report reveals striking changes under way within many of the world's forests. Demands for timber, fuel, mineral resources, and food production are altering the distribution, density and size of trees, and radically affecting many other species that depend on forests.
These goods and services also include medicines, environmental services like water purification, carbon storage, and rich habitat for biodiversity.
The report stresses that typically, forests are assessed too narrowly, with only their size and capacity to produce commercially valuable fiber taken into account.
On the positive side, production of all wood fiber products - from logs to pulp - is keeping up with demand. But the bad news is that nearly 80 percent of it comes from primary or secondary growth forests.
This means, "irreplaceable ancient forests continue to be felled for fiber that could, in principle, be produced from plantations," said the report.
Much of the wood production in developed countries takes place in secondary growth, or managed forests, noted the report. The authors highlighted an encouraging trend toward more environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices.
Nature conservation and amenity value are increasingly important in forestry management decisions, said the report. But the report warned that increased production from plantations will not necessarily decrease harvest rates in natural forests.
The authors recommend that governments encourage production from plantations and intensive forest management in selected areas, while discouraging old growth harvesting.
"Currently, many governments subsidize logging but not tree plantations," said Matthews.
Here are broad findings from the report, which can be found in full at http://www.wri.org/wri/wr2000
Forests cover about one quarter of the world's land surface, excluding Greenland and Antarctica. Just over half are found in developing countries.
Global forest cover has been reduced by at least 20 percent since pre-agricultural times, possibly by 50 percent.
Forest area has increased slightly since 1980 in industrial countries, but has declined by at least 10 percent in developing countries.
Tropical deforestation rates are uncertain, but probably exceed 130,000 square kilometers per year.
About 40 percent of forests are relatively undisturbed by human activity, though nearly half of these are likely to be developed soon.