Illegal Logging Threatens Costa Rica's Primary Forests
3/18/99
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Title: Illegal Logging Threatens Costa Rica's Primary Forests
Source: InterPress Service, Inc.
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: March 18, 1999
Byline: Nefer Munoz
SAN JOSE, Mar 18 (IPS) - The peninsula of Osa, a strip of land in the
southeast of Costa Rica and home to some of the most unique flora and
fauna in the country, is in danger due to illegal logging.
For years, the territory has been the victim of a systematic attack
by loggers and their power saws - the main enemy of ecosystems there,
which is growing stronger.
The present situation in Osa contradicts claims that Costa Rica has
achieved a near balance between the rate of deforestation and
reforestation, officials concede..
According to a study undertaken in 1997, Costa Rica has two million
hectares of forest cover, equal to 40.4 percent of its national
territory, which is distributed among forests, deciduous trees, mango
groves and moors.
The deputy minister of the Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel
Rodriguez, says that Costa Rica is living a huge paradox: while there
are more trees in the country today then there were 15 years ago,
there is also less diversity.
''That there are fewer species of flora and fauna is not because we
are cutting down more trees, rather because we are cutting down the
best trees, those which most favour the environment,'' he told IPS.
Statistics from 1997 indicate that, in the last decade, deforestation
rates were 16,400 hectares per year, but the rate of recuperation
fell to 12,600 hectares.
The problem is rooted in the fact that primary forest is being
targeted for logging, while reforestation takes place in commercial
or secondary forests, which do not replace lost biodiversity. This is
what happened in the rich peninsula of Osa.
In its territory, barely 25 kilometers wide and 57 km. long, grow the
last forests of the entire Pacific coast of Central America.
''Those woods are comparable - in structural complexity and
biological diversity - with those of Amazonia and other tropical
forests of the world, in Africa and in Asia,'' says a report by the
environmental organization Fundacion Neotropica.
For Rodriguez, the illegal logging in Osa is ''only a reflection of
what is happening in the rest of the country.''
Although the logging is low-intensity and continues to be prohibited,
as much in Osa as in the rest of the country, the government is
granting permits for controlled cutting called ''plans of
operation,'' which once approved must undergo a government
investigation.
''The problem is that we do not have the human capacity to exercise
this control,'' says Rodriguez, who adds that in all of the
peninsula, his ministry scarcely has four forest engineers and
reduced personnel who are unable to cope with their duties.
The last straw has been the recent approval of laws which give the
ministry more functions but not more economic resources, he
emphasizes.
In Osa, there are two national parks (Corcovado and Piedras Blancas)
where the felling of trees is totally prohibited, but there are also
two areas denominated as forest reserves, Golfo Dulce and Manglares
de Sierpe-Terraba, whose expanses are in private hands.
Ecological groups - like the National Front for the Forests - have
denounced abuse of logging permits and, in some cases, clandestine
logging in these areas.
They argue that what is at stake is the survival of the species
of the region. In Corcovado alone, scientists have documented 124
species of mammals and 375 species of birds.
In the entire peninsula, there are more than 1,513 species of plants,
of which a large number are unique to the area. There also are about
500 species of trees. Among the most desirable to the woodcutters are
the species of cristobal, mahogany and nazareno (whose wood has a
yellow hue), although espavel and cedar are also found here.
''Parallel to the forest problem in Osa exists a greater problem: the
social conditions of the peasants of the zone,'' indicates Alvaro
Leon, a member of the Costa Rican Ecological Association (AECO).
The 6,000 inhabitants of Osa for years have suffered the problems of
unemployment and this has pushed many small business owners into
accepting the proposals of the woodcutters.
The sawmill owners offer the peasants money if they let them present
''plans of operation'' for the exploitation of wood on their
property.
''The reality that we, the government officials of Osa, are living is
that we have to work with very few resources and it has made it very
hard for us to carry effective patrols,'' comments Carlos Mendez,
director of the Conservation Area of Osa.
''Today, we are paying for years and years of negligence in the
adoption of adequate controls,'' he observes.
In an attempt to end the abuses, the Minister of the Environment is
coordinating the support of groups of volunteers, the national police
and other state institutions to allow more patrols of the zone.
''Those we find logging illegally in Osa are going to be put in
jail,'' said Elizabeth Odio, vice president and minister of the
Environment.
The Forest Law of Costa Rica does not prohibit logging, with the
exception of zones like national parks, which are untouchable. The
owners of the wooded lands, if they comply with the technical
procedures for detailing their operating plans, may fell trees on
their properties.