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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Report Indicates Poor Farmers Could Destroy Half of Tropical Forests

(with Logging Threatening the Rest)

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

8/5/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

A widely reported study by the Consultative Group on International

Agricultural Research states that half of the world's remaining tropical

forests are threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture. In a familiar

display of chauvinism, this threat gets the headline, while the fact that

the rest of the forest (which would also be half) is threatened by logging.

Despite the fact that it is easier to blame poor people than logging

corporations for tropical deforestation, the fact remains that unfragmented

tropical forests landscapes may cease to exist from the combined threats.

The study lists better agricultural extension, more agro-forestry and

development of sustainable forestry as potential policies to address the

crisis. Add to this an immediate halt of industrial forestry practices in

ancient rainforests, and immediate transfers of financial resources and

appropriate technology to developing countries where rainforests exist, and

we may have a fighting chance. Following is a photocopy of an Associated

Press article on the report.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Study: Poor farmers could destroy half of tropical forests

August 4, 1996

Copyright 1996 Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly half of the world's remaining tropical forests

could be lost, mostly because of poor farmers who are forced to use

slash-and-burn agriculture to feed their families, a new study warns.

The rest of the 5-billion-acre forest cover is endangered by logging, said

a study by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural

Research. The group is sponsored by the World Bank, the United Nations

Development Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the United

Nations Environment Program.

The study said that despite rising global awareness, increased aid for

tropical forestry and a decade of international efforts to shape

coherent global strategies for saving the forests, 38.1 million acres are

lost annually -- 72 acres a minute.

The study said that the slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by poor

farmers to grow crops results in the loss or degradation of about 25

million acres of land per year.

Ismail Serageldin, the group's chairman, said that while not every acre of

tropical forest could be protected, the loss of the forest cover could be

diminished through a combination of new agricultural practices and

government policies.

"There is no magic bullet to saving the world's tropical forests," said

Serageldin, who is also a World Bank official. "What is needed is a

comprehensive effort on a solid scientific basis to attack the root causes

of deforestation - - poverty, rising population, bad natural resource

management and distorted forest policies."

Among the initiatives suggested by the study:

* Assisting farmers in raising their output on their present land,

improving farmers' access to markets and removing bureaucratic obstacles

that hinder small-scale farmers.

* Integration of trees into farming practices, which would provide farmers

with a convenient source of food, fuel and timber for construction and

fences.

* Developing environmentally sustainable logging practices that would not

damage the forest.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

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Email (best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org