Only 20% of World's Virgin Forests Remain

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

3/4/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has undertaken a major Geographic

Information System based attempt to identify the last virgin forests

of the Earth, which they term "frontier forests." These last large

tracts of natural forests, 20% of the world's natural forests prior to

human industrial impact, still provide significant ecosystem

functionality while being large enough to harbor healthy populations

of native biodiversity. Following are two items, the first a

photocopy of a Reuter's article and the second WRI's press release

concerning their report (with information on how to order.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Twenty percent of virgin forests left, study says

3/4/97

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Only 20 percent of the world's major virgin

forests remain, almost all of them in the far north of Russia and

Canada and in Brazil's Amazon region, the World Resources Institute

said Tuesday.

Most of the world's forests in other areas are unhealthy, threatened

by logging and development, or too small and fragmented to sustain

full biological systems, the environmental organization said.

Russia, Canada and Brazil contain most of the world's frontier forests

that are large enough to provide havens for indigenous species and to

survive indefinitely without human intervention if protections are put

in place now, a study prepared by the group said.

The WRI compiled the study by distributing satellite imagery to

thousands of forest experts around the world, who assessed forests'

health and threatening conditions, WRI president Jonathon Lash said at

a briefing.

The study also used climate data and other information to gauge the

extent of forest cover 8,000 years ago, before human activity started

to degrade forest lands.

"It is an 8,000-year time-lapse snapshot of the human impact on

forests," Lash said.

The snapshot showed only three percent of frontier forests remain in

the world's temperate regions, making those the most threatened kinds

of forests, he said.

All of North Africa and the Middle East and nearly all countries in

Europe have lost all of their frontier forests, the study said.

The continental United States has about 1 percent of its original

forest cover, mainly in three combined park and wilderness areas in

the northern Rockies and a block of the northern Cascades in

Washington.

"The question this report begs of society is when is enough enough?

Humankind has so far destroyed about four-fifths of the world's

natural forests. How much more can we afford to lose?" Nigel Sizer, a

WRI associate, said at the briefing.

Lash and Sizer said the study shows there still is time to save

remaining forests, and cooperation is needed from a relatively small

number of countries.

"The critical point is that the countries whose forests are in good

condition -- Canada, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana,

Suriname, and French Guiana -- offer a tremendous opportunity for

responsible forest management," Sizer said.

ITEM #2

World Resources Institute

NEWS RELEASE: March 4, 1997

First Scientific Assessment of Condition of World's Forests Shows Much

More Than Tropical Forests At Risk

Contact: Shirley Geer at 202/662-2542

The first scientific assessment of the world's large, intact natural

forests -- what the World Resources Institute calls "frontier

forests" -- reveals that it's not just tropical forests that are in

trouble. The world's most endangered frontier forests are in the

temperate zone which includes the United States and Europe.

Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge, a new

World Resources Institute study and global mapping project,

graphically depicts the extent of human impacts on global forests.

This is the first time that historic forest loss over the past 8,000

years has been documented. The study and state of the art Geographic

Information System (GIS) maps spotlight Earth's "frontier forests" --

the last major tracts of undisturbed forests large enough to provide a

safe haven for all their indigenous species and likely to survive

indefinitely without human intervention and forest management if key

decisions are made now to allow that to happen.

Consider these startling findings:

* Only one-fifth of the world's original forests still qualify as

frontier forest.

* Three countries -- Russia, Canada, and Brazil -- house more than 70

percent of the world's remaining frontier forest, and half of this

forest lies in the far north where resource-extraction costs are high.

* Outside of the largely inhospitable northern boreal forests, 75

percent of the remaining frontier forest is threatened, and may well

be significantly degraded in the next 5 to 10 years.

* Logging, including that by multinational corporations, is the most

serious threat to the remaining large tracts of frontier forest.

Agriculture and land clearing endanger 20 percent of threatened

frontier forests.

* The most threatened acreage includes all of Europe's frontier

forests, 87 percent of those in Central America, and three-quarters of

the pristine stands in Africa and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and

Papua-New Guinea).

The WRI analysis, which draws on the expertise of 90 of the world's

top forest specialists, is the opening salvo of a new five-year Forest

Frontiers Initiative to promote stewardship in and around the world's

last major forest frontiers. The multi-year WRI effort will target

government and private decision-makers responsible for deciding the

fate of the last intact frontier forests in Canada and Russia,

Northern Amazonia and the Guyana Shield area of South America, and

Africa's Congo Basin.

WRI senior associate Nigel Sizer, a forest policy expert with

extensive experience working in Latin America, the Caribbean,

and Africa, said: "With the right information, action can be taken by

policy-makers, private-sector loggers, forest product manufacturers,

and consumers to manage all the world's forests responsibly and meet

everyone's needs." He called for new and balanced management

strategies, tailored to each region, that protect forests'

biodiversity and other assets while also providing raw materials and

ecosystem services.

The Frontier Forest Index

WRI developed a Frontier Forest Index to rank nations according to the

percentage of the frontier forest they have lost and the proportion of

remaining frontier forest that is highly threatened.

All of North Africa and the Middle East and nearly all countries in

Europe -- 76 nations in all -- have lost it all. Another 11 nations

are classified as on the edge, with only 5 percent or less of their

frontier forest surviving and all of it threatened. In 28 countries,

time to protect remaining frontiers is running out, while eight

countries have great opportunities to sustain large areas of frontier

forest if they follow stewardship principles. In the continental

forty-eight United States, frontiers account for about 1 percent of

original forest cover, primarily contained in three combined park and

wilderness areas in the northern Rockies and one block in the North

Cascades of Washington state. All legally protected, they are

nonetheless threatened because they are too isolated to support their

traditional populations of some large mammal species over time.

"The critical point is that the countries whose forests are in good

condition -- Canada, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana,

Suriname, and French Guiana -- offer a tremendous opportunity for

responsible forest management," Sizer emphasized. "With a turnaround

in policy, these countries have a real chance to keep most of their

original frontier forests."

Threats to Frontier Forests

Logging turned out to be the predominate threat in all six regions

assessed, affecting more than 70 percent of the threatened frontiers.

Recent years have seen logging's impacts intensified as private

foreign investors look to such forest-rich countries as Brazil,

Suriname, Guyana, Bolivia, Gabon, Cameroon, Cambodia, and Burma to

satisfy demands for timber. Profits from large-scale logging often

subsidize road-building, which opens forests to fuelwood gathering and

clearing for agriculture. Energy development with its attendant dams,

pollution, and new infrastructure also brings new roads and

settlements, affecting close to 40 percent of frontiers under moderate

or high threat.

Clearing for agriculture, affecting one-fifth of threatened forest

frontiers, is worst in Asia, Central and South America. This danger

can only grow as population increases, and it is much worse in

fragmented secondary-growth forest areas. Removing too much vegetation

-- whether through overgrazing or over-collecting firewood and

building materials -- can denude an ecosystem, causing erosion and

clogging of waterways.

Commercial hunting in forests can upset natural processes that shape

forests, for example, by altering the ways that seeds are distributed

and herbivores kept in check. A third of Africa's threatened forest

frontier is at risk because of runaway poaching to meet urban demand

for bush-meat. Other threats include suppression of natural fires,

pollution from faraway sources, introduced animal species that have no

local predators, and replacement of natural forest by tree

plantations.

Behind these threats, however, is a network of root causes of

deforestation that include:

* Growing economies with growing demand for paper and wood products;

* Population growth, poverty, and landlessness that drive the poor to

clear pristine forest;

* Mistaken economic policies that ignore or undervalue frontier forest

preservation;

* Short-sighted political decision-making that appeases special

interest groups or influential families or that defuses acute

political emergencies by offering land, access, roads, etc.

* Corruption among government officials or illegal trade in drugs

produced from plants grown in isolated growing areas.

Why Save Frontier Forests?

The WRI report cites six critical reasons:

1. Frontier forests are home to many of the world's last indigenous

cultures; about 50 million traditional people depend on tropical

forests alone for their livelihood.

2. They are refuges for global biodiversity. For example, between 65-

75% of all plant species found within high-biodiversity countries like

Brazil, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are estimated to be found

within the frontier forests of those countries.

3. They maintain complex biological communities and ecosystem

processes and provide both unique habitats and baseline information on

how natural forests work.

4. They store tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide -- at least 433

billion metric tons -- that might otherwise become greenhouse gases;

they help maintain regional water cycles, the global climate, and soil

integrity.

5. They have the potential to contribute to long-term economic growth

through careful stewardship.

6. They provide opportunities for recreation and ecotourism that can

be economic resources for nearby populations as well as spiritual and

esthetic resources for others.

What Needs to be Done?

The WRI report recommends policy changes to promote economic

development without destroying forest resources and environmental

services. It offers models of stewardship involving protected areas or

combinations of sustainable forest use practices and forest preserves.

It also calls on national and international donors, business, and the

private sector, private citizens and frontier peoples, and

nongovernmental organizations and advocacy groups to take responsible

actions.

Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge was

written by WRI Associate Dirk Bryant, WRI GIS Analyst Daniel Nielsen

and consultant Laura Tangley. Data collaborators include the World

Conservation Monitoring Centre, the World Wildlife Fund, and more than

90 top forest experts from around the world.

The World Resources Institute is a Washington, DC-based center for

policy research that provides objective information and practical

proposals for policy change that will foster environmentally sound

development. WRI works with institutions in more than 50 countries to

bring the insights of scientific research, economic analysis, and

practical experience to political, business, and non-governmental

organization leaders around the world.

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Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge

is available through WRI's website at

"http://www.wri.org/wri/ffi/." Copies can be purchased for

$14.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling from WRI

Publications, P.O. Box 4852, Hampden Station, Baltimore, MD

21211, 1-800-822-0504 or 410-516-6963. Complimentary copies

are available for journalists -- call 202-662-2542.

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