Destruction of Global Forests is Security Issue
10/16/97
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Destruction of Global Forests is Security Issue
Source: The Earth Times News Service
Date: 10/16/97
Copyright 1997: The Earth Times All rights reserved.
Author: Tom Wicker
Far-distant solar storms that may cause rising
temperatures here on earth--a destructive hurricane
blowing over Baja California into the Gulf of Mexico--drought
in North Korea--the Pacific Ocean's mysterious "El Nino"
wreaking havoc across the continents--the frequency of
earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, tidal waves:
sometimes it seems as if history is primarily a record of
man's long stand-off struggle against nature.
The worst current disaster, however, is man-made--the great
Indonesian forest fires that are sending a wide, dangerous
swath of choking smoke and haze across much of Southeast
Asia. These fires have been illegally set by more than a
hundred big, commercial agricultural companies clearing land
the cheaper way--by arson. A number of individual farmers are
believed to be using the same destructive tactics as they
seek room to expand their agricultural operations.
Even these calculated assaults on the environment, however,
are being made worse by the unaccountable workings of nature.
El Nino, making this year one of its most consequential 20th
Century appearances, not only caused early drought in
Southeast Asia, thus helping man-set fires to burn more
fiercely. Now it has delayed the usual seasonal arrival of
monsoon rains, which ordinarily would be an effective
fire-fighter.
Like those oil-well fires in Kuwait that followed the Gulf
War, the Indonesian conflagrations affect areas far beyond
that island nation- indeed could even have worldwide
consequences. And these fires are even worse than those that
consumed so may acres of the Amazon rainforest because
they're having severe effect on urban populations,
too--closing schools, slowing or stopping auto and air
travel, endangering shipping, causing discomfort to millions,
and increasing or creating health hazards.
In some areas of Indonesia and Malaysia, whole populations
may have to be evacuated and people already are being forced
to stay indoors and wear protective masks and clothing. One
Indonesian television report likened the problem to smoking
80 cigarettes--four packs-- a day.
What damages--particularly to crops--ultimately may result
from the sun across huge areas, accompanied by high levels of
air pollution, is as yet unknown. Nor can anyone even
estimate the toll of human lives that might result from
inhalations of smoke mixed with industrial emissions. And
whatever the consequences, nature's winds will see to it that
they aren't confined to Indonesia, or perhaps even to
Southeast Asia.
Can't anything be done to stop this man-made disaster, which
reports say is getting worse annually? Well, Indonesia
adopted in 1994 a law banning forest burning. But anywhere,
let alone in a huge jungle country like Indonesia, sprawling
across numerous islands and thousands of square miles, that
would be a hard law to enforce. Like U.S. laws against
drunken driving, moreover, the forest-burning ban, even if
toughly enforced, can neither totally prevent commission of
the crime, nor recoup the damage that might be done by those
who defy the law. A fire once set is hard to stop or
extinguish, particularly in a drought area, and acres once
burned over cannot for years be restored as forest land.
So long as there's profit to be obtained from clearing land
for agriculture by burning forest and jungle, predatory
businesses and individuals probably will do it. And
Indonesia's government will be able to do little more than
President Soeharto already has done -- mobilize thousand of
fire-fighters and offer "most sincere apologies" to affected
neighboring nations like Thailand, singapore, Vietnam and the
Philippines.
On a broader scale of concern, however, mankind can continue
its sometimes losing struggle against nature -- more, for
example, is being learned about El Nino and its effects every
year -- and people everywhere can support efforts to preserve
the natural environment against ill advised "development" and
other destructive human schemes.
The people of Seward County, Kansas for example, have just
taken what may well be one small step for mankind. They voted
by more than 2 to 1 not to allow the construction and
operation of big corporate hog farms in Seward. A major
agricultural company had hoped to produce more than 400,000
hogs a year in the county. But operations of that king can be
huge sources of waste, pollution and noxious odors. Eighteen
of 20 Kansas counties that have voted on the hog-farm issue
have opted to ban them.
Tom Wicker, commentator and best-selling author, wrote the
"In the Nation" column for The New York Times for many years.