Asian Forests Disappearing at Alarming Rate

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

April 4, 1995

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

The InterPress Service reports that Asian forests are disappearing

at an alarming rate. According to FAO's latest estimates, the

annual rate of deforestation in Asia increased during 1981-1990 to

3.9 million hectares -- about 1.3 percent of the total forest.

FAO experts now say their present forest resources assessment

exercise every 10 years may not be sufficient to monitor the

accelerated deforestation. This item is a month old. We had

wanted to circulate it earlier but it took awhile to get

permission. Note, this item is NOT for commercial use and must

not be reprinted without permission (at the end is how to do so).

This item was posted in IPS's ips.english econet conference.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

/* ---------- "ENVIRONMENT: Asian Forests Disappea" ---------- */

/* Written 2:14 PM Mar 3, 1995 by igc:newsdesk in ips.english

Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.

*** 28-Feb-95 ***

Title: ENVIRONMENT: Asian Forests Disappearing Faster and Faster

By Leah Makabenta

BANGKOK, Feb 28 (IPS) - The good news is that with new satellite

imagery, scientists can now find out exactly how much forest is

left in the world and of what kind.

The bad news is: they have found forests, especially in Asia,

are disappearing faster and faster.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) carries out

a study of tropical deforestation every 10 years. In 1980, the

estimated deforestation rate for the Asia-Pacific region was two

million hectares per year.

According to FAO's latest estimates, the annual rate of

deforestation in Asia increased during 1981-1990 to 3.9 million

hectares -- about 1.3 percent of the total forest.

This is 50 percent more than the loss rate for Latin America,

and Asia's forests are disappearing so fast that FAO now says it

may have to do its 10-year forestry survey more frequently.

''One percent may not look like a lot, but when you consider

that it has occurred over a period of 30 years, it is enormous,''

says Klaus Janz, a senior FAO forestry official.

FAO figures show the rate of deforestation is highest -- two

million hectares a year -- in insular South-east Asia (Brunei,

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea).

In continental South-east Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Burma,

Thailand, Vietnam), the rate is 1.4 million hectares a year while

in South Asia it is 1.7 million hectares.

Thanks to recent advances in science and technology, it is now

possible to track down the exact amount of forests that the world

loses each year as well as their causes and effects.

The state of forest lands can be determined by satellite

imagery. Remote sensing can monitor and assess land use patterns.

Data can be digitised and analysed using geographical information

systems (GIS).

Having found a method of assessing the problem, however,

forestry experts from different regions often find it difficult

to arrive at a common understanding of their subject.

''When we want information on 'lowland dipterocarpus forests'

from a group of countries, we may receive data about 'tropical

moist forests', 'tropical rainforests', 'tropical broadleave

evergreen forests', and so on. But do they all encompass the same

things?'' asks FAO's regional representative for Asia-Pacific,

Obaidullah Khan.

International forestry experts are meeting in the Thai capital

this week to review the state of forest resources monitoring

systems in the Asia-Pacific region.

Deforestation is among the most serious of the environmental

problems facing the region, indiscriminate felling of forests

having occurred with particular severity during the last three

decades, according to the U.N. agency.

This uncontrolled dissipation of forest resources was at the

centre of concern at the 1992 U.N. Earth Summit in Brazil, said

Khan. The Agenda 21 blueprint for environmental action stressed

the importance of forest resources monitoring and assessment for

proper conservation and utilisation measures, he said.

The five-day Bangkok meeting, which ends Friday, will discuss

ways to standardise forest type classification systems, assess and

improve the accuracy of information, and enhance the capacities of

the various countries for carrying out this work.

Incompatibility of figures over forest types among countries is

only the first obstacle in collecting accurate forest resources

information in many developing countries in the region, said FAO

regional forest resources officer M. Kashio.

Countries have differing technological and institutional

levels, with some having fully utilised modern technologies such

as remote sensing information and GIS while many are still on the

development stage in these technologies.

The objectives of the forest assessment work itself may also

need to be reviewed to include not just volume and value of timber

but also other resources of the forest such as biodiversity, soil

and water conservation functions.

FAO experts now say their present forest resources assessment

exercise every 10 years may not be sufficient to monitor the

accelerated deforestation in developing countries.

Meeting participants include forestry officials from

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia,

Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Papua New

Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

They are joined by experts from Britain's Cambridge University,

the Bangkok-based Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and from

other U.N. agencies, the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP) which monitors the global environmental situation by

satellite and the Mekong Secretariat which recently launched a

forest resources assessment programme. (END/IPS/LM/LNH/KD/95)

Origin: Manila/ENVIRONMENT/

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