***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
WWF
1995 Year End Survey of Threats to Forests Worldwide
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
December
31, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Following
is a brief Associated Press article which details the
decline
of forest ecoystems across the planet.
While some
progress
has been made in addressing other pressing environmental
issues;
no country has yet to stabilize their forest loss in order
to not
have present forest use lead to continued biological
diminishment,
both in prospects for future timber harvest,
and
biological diversity. Remember that
this piece is
copyrighted
and you have just received a copy for personal
campaign
use. Happy New Year!
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Organization:
Copyright 1995 by The Associated Press
A
survey of threats to forests, according to a World Wildlife
Fund
report on international forests and the impact of timber
trade:
EUROPE:
Forests of the Mediterranean region threatened by fire,
development,
tourism, some forestry. Lowland conifer and broadleaf
forests
of Scandinavia highly endangered from industrial forestry.
Uplands
forests of Britain at risk from sheep, deer grazing,
tourism,
changes in land use. Old-growth forests in the Czech
Republic,
Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, former
Yugoslavia
rapidly being felled for timber trade.
AFRICA:
West African tropical rain forests rapidly being
depleted
by logging and clearance for agriculture. Subtropical dry
forests
in East Africa rapidly disappearing through agriculture,
fuel
gathering, over-grazing, war refugees. Relic temperate
forests
in South Africa threatened with encroachment, climate
change.
Forests in Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
under
threat from grazing, logging.
NORTH
AMERICA: Pacific Northwest coast forest being logged out
in United
States, Canada. Increased logging for pulp in Canadian
boreal
regions. Alaskan rain forest logged by U.S., Japanese
timber
companies. Key forest fragments in central Canada, southern
United
States at risk of further losses. Subtropical forests in
Florida
threatened by development, resulting changes in water
table.
LATIN
AMERICA: Central American forests probably being cleared
faster
than almost anywhere else, especially in Costa Rica, El
Salvador,
Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua. Losses continuing in
Amazon
basin, where area the size of Europe already stripped from
ranching,
logging, settlement. Temperate beech forests of Chile,
Argentina
logged, replaced with pine plantations.
OCEANIA:
Eucalyptus forests of mainland Australia, especially in
southwest,
and in Tasmania, being destroyed, replaced by
plantations.
Rain forests in Queensland threatened by development.
Tropical
forests in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands logged,
including
illegal operations.
ASIA:
Himalayan region of Nepal, India, Bhutan logged, degraded
for
fuel, fodder. Lowland forest of India, Nepal rapidly, often
illegally,
logged. Forests of China badly depleted, losses
continuing,
especially in Tibet. Rain forests, mangroves in
Philippines
reduced to fragments, still being illegally degraded.
Forests
in Malaysia, Indonesia rapidly being cleared by farmers,
loggers,
for pulp plantations. Forests already reduced to
fragments
over much of Thailand. Logging in Thailand ban
increasing
pressure on neighboring countries Burma, Cambodia,
Laos.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
THIS IS
A PHOTOCOPY, not to be used commercially without permission.
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
campaign
use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and
forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely
pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Archives
at URL= http://gaia1.ies.wisc.edu/research/pngfores/
Networked
by:
Ecological
Enterprises || Fax->(608) 233-2194 ||
Email->
gbarry@forests.org