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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Chile's Native Forests Increasingly Threatened

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

6/17/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

Following are two excellent pieces documenting the severe forest

management crisis facing Chile put out by a local environmental

organization, Defensores del Bosque Chileno. They are networked here

on the request of the group. Their primary mission is preserving

Chile's remaining primary old-growth forests which, as elsewhere, are

being voraciously threatened by excessive forest harvest. This is

particularly important because Chile is a biogeographical island with

more than 90 percent of animal and plant life being endemic. Clearly

temperate forests are as threatened, if not more so, than tropical

rainforests; thus this lists emphasis upon the forest crisis. The

first item is a short introduction to Chile's forest situation;

followed by a longer, more detailed document.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

ITEM #1

Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 14:59:38 -0700

X-Sender: bosquech@entelchile.net

To: gbarry@forests.org

From: Defensores del Bosque Chileno <bosquech@polux.entelchile.net>

Subject: Chile's native forests

DEFENSORES DEL BOSQUE CHILENO

Antonia Lopez del Bello 024

Providencia

Santiago, Chile

tel. (56-2) 737-4280, fax 777-5065

email: bosquech@entelchile.net

May 20, 1997

Dear Friend,

We would like to introduce ourselves and ask for your

participation.

Defensores del Bosque Chileno (Defenders of the Chilean

Forests, DBCh), founded in 1993, is a non-governmental organization

working to preserve Chile's remaining primary old-growth forests, and

to catalyze national forest policies that conserve and restore our

secondary forests.

Chile's native forests are one of the world's natural

treasures. They include one of the world's last two extensive

temperate rainforests. Because Chile is a biogeographical island, more

than 90 percent of animal and plant life in Chile's forests are

endemic. Chile's forests also contain the highest species diversity

among the world's temperate forests. Vast tracts of pristine ancient

forest remain, some including the native alerce - a giant tree, and

the second-oldest living species on Earth ranging up to 4,000 years

old.

The native forest patrimony of Chile though is rapidly

disappearing. According to a Central Bank of Chile report in late

1995, with current methods of exploitation all of Chile's native

forests will be deforested in twenty years. One of the main causes of

native deforestation is the export of wood chips to almost entirely

Japan's paper and pulp industry. Chile has become the only country in

the world that makes low value wood chips its primary product from

native forests. The other principal causes of deforestation are

intensive use of firewood and the conversion of native forests into

exotic-species tree plantations. Tree plantations receive exorbitant

government subsidies while no incentives exist for native

reforestation and sustainable forestry. Instead the government of

Chile is attempting to weaken national forest law, while also entering

international trade agreements to expand exports which are 90 percent

based on Chile's shrinking natural resources.

Through education, research and activism, Defensores del

Bosque Chileno has established itself as the leading advocate for

Chile's forests. Our media campaign has received fantastic attention

in the print and broadcast media. We raised funds to create the Alto

Huemul Nature Sanctuary, a rare 35,000 hectare roble forest in central

Chile. We have a legal team researching and lobbying for a new native

forest law. Our "Voice of the Forest" seasonal newspaper is

distributed to more than 5,000 members and decision-makers. Last year

we began our BOSQUEDUCA education program with the support of the Fund

of the Americas in seven communities of southern Chile and it was

judged a complete success by the Ministry of Education.

In Chile, we regularly collaborate on our campaigns with other

groups through the Alliance for the Forests, a Chilean federation of

more than 30 organizations. Defensores del Bosque has also developed

a network of Native Forest Action Groups in all 12 regions of Chile.

However we believe with the lengthy and continous gridlock among

Chile's political leaders concerning forest protection policies

coupled with the exponential growth in deforestation, it is past time

for an S.O.F. (Save Our Forests) to the global community. In addition

to trying to create ecologically-sustainable forest policies and

institutions in Chile, our international campaign has two main

projects.

1) End Export of Wood Chips to Japan

Wood chips are the primary product from Chilean native

forests, and a principal cause of our native forest destruction.

Japan's paper and pulp industry is essentially the only buyer of

Chile's wood chips. They are also the leading destroyer of native

forests globally.

An international effort is needed to help them switch to

alternative sources for their paper products, such as increasing the

use of waste paper, eucalyptus plantations, or kenaf. We would like

to ask for your help with our campaign in Chile to start moving them

in this direction. We are currently discussing with Japanese

environmentalists the formation of a public education project for both

Chile and Japan. In a few weeks we will send out an action alert to

generate letters to Chile's government. We are calling for forest

policies that end wood chips as the primary product, and that instead

support sustainable management and incentives for value-added

products.

2) Southern Hemisphere Gondwana Forest Sanctuary

We have begun working with the Rainforest Information Centre

of Australia, Project Lemu of Argentina, Native Forest Action of New

Zealand, and the Native Forest Network of the United States, on a

unique effort in international conservation.

We are proposing that by inter-governmental treaty, the

temperate rainforests 40 degrees south in Tasmania, New Zealand, Chile

and Argentina be protected through a "Southern Hemisphere Gonwana

Forests Reserve System." Gondwana comes from the name of the ancient

supercontinent that originally joined these forested territories

during the Eocene era millions of years ago. Even today the forests

of these territories are very similar.

The proposed Gondwana Reserve would preserve all the primary

forests and permit only sustainable uses of secondary forests. It

would join the international whale sanctuary set up in this same

region by inter-governmental treaty some years ago. It would be

similar in its practical application to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

System.

At the moment we need endorsement of this proposal from you

and your organization or institution. We will also need your help

with publicity and with generating letters of support. Look for more

details on that later.

We would like to stay in touch with you, preferably through

the cost-effective and efficient email, and periodically send you

alerts and updates about our work to save Chile's native forests. We

also want to invite your collaboration in our international projects

and perhaps in any ideas that you may suggest for us.

Attached is an information request sheet, and a brief fact

sheet about Chile's native forest crisis. We appreciate your help.

For the Forests,

Adriana Hoffmann

National Coordinator

Defensores del Bosque Chileno

---------------------------------------------

DBCh International Network Info-Request Sheet

If you agree with our goals, please give us the following information

so we can keep you involved in our international campaign.

Name or contact person

Organization

Address

Phone, fax and email

Can we list your organization as a supporter of Defensores del Bosque

Chileno? Of the Southern Hemisphere Gondwana Forests Sanctuary

proposal?

Any suggestions on sources of funds?

----------------------------------------------

CHILE'S NATIVE FOREST CRISIS FACTS

* A report from the Central Bank of Chile states that all native

forests will be gone in 20 years with current conditions of

exploitation

* This same report estimates that 120 thousand hectares are destroyed

each year, of which 60 to 90 thousand hectares are replaced with tree

plantations

* Chile has one of the world's last two extensive temperate

rainforests

* Chile's alerce tree is the world's second-oldest living species,

ranging from 3 to 4 thousand years old

* 90 percent of the species in native forests are endemic to Chile

* Chile's National Wildlands System protects only 1.4 million hectares

of native forest, the rest, estimated at 6.3 million hectares, is

entirely on private land

* 88.2 percent of Chile's exports are based on the production of four

natural resources - mining, forestry, fishing and agriculture

* Forest products are Chile's third-largest export and have grown at a

rate of 22 percent a year in the last decade

* Tree plantations now supply more than 90 percent of all wood

exported, yet only less than one-third of their potential capacity is

being used

* Currently there are two million hectares of exotic-species tree

plantations, this is projected to double in size in 20 years

* The native forest sector is only .056 percent of Chile's Gross

Domestic Product, while the forestry sector is just 3 percent

* The forestry sector is just 2.05 percent of national employment,

while the native forest sector is 0.1 percent

* The average rate of profit after costs over the last ten years by

the forestry sector is 58.02 percent

* Japan is responsible for 70 percent of the global demand for wood

chips and buys almost all of the wood chips exported from Chile

* Chile is the only country in the world that produces wood chips as

the primary product of its native forests, and is the world's third-

largest producer of wood chips after Canada and the United States

* Wood chips are 17 percent of Chile's forest exports, almost all from

native forests, the leading cause of native forest destruction in

Chile

ITEM #2

Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 17:55:47 -0700

X-Sender: bosquech@entelchile.net

To: gbarry@forests.org

From: Defensores del Bosque Chileno <bosquech@entelchile.net>

Subject: Chile's native forest report

"GOING, GOING, GONE: CHILE's NATIVE FOREST CRISIS:

AN URGENT GLOBAL CALL FOR ACTION FROM DEFENSORES DEL BOSQUE CHILENO"

By Jimmy Langman, May 1996

In the new global economy, Chile is a model for Latin America and a

new "tiger" of world trade. However, Chile's native forests are being

unnecessarily decimated in a rush for short-term economic gain.

In late 1995, the Central Bank of Chile released a report which

shows the pace of destruction of native forests doubled from 1984 to

1994, with nearly 700,000 hectares destroyed over the period. This is

more than 11 percent of Chile's official estimate that 6.3 million

hectares of "commercially-productive" native forest remain in a

country with a total land area of 75.7 million hectares. The report

projects that with the current methods and rate of deforestation, the

optimistic scenario is Chile's unprotected native forests will be

almost entirely degraded in twenty years, and the pessimistic, they

will be gone.

Losing a Global Treasure

To understand the global value of Chile's native forests one

needs only to look at a globe. While the proportion of temperate

forests increases with latitude in the northern hemisphere, the

reverse occurs in the southern hemisphere because of less land mass.

Hence only five percent of the world's temperate forests are in the

south, found in Chile and adjacent areas of Argentina, New Zealand and

Tasmania. Each of these is a biogeographical island; Chile's native

forests isolated from other forested areas by the Atacama desert in

the north and the Andes mountains which run the length of the country.

This isolation is reflected in the numerous species of life that

evolved for millions of years only in these areas of the world. An

estimated 90 percent of the species in Chile's forests are endemic.

Temperate rainforests are even more rare, originally covering

just 0.2 percent of the Earth's land area. Chile's Valdivian, North

Patagonia, and Magellanic rainforests begin north of the Bio Bio river

and extend nearly 800 miles to the southern tip of the continent. Vast

tracts of pristine forest remain in what is one of the world's last

two extensive temperate rainforests. Scientists say Chile's temperate

rainforests are richer in plant species than its counterparts in North

America and have one of the world's largest concentrations of biomass.

The diverse native flora provides habitat for numerous species of

indigenous birds and 35 native species of mammals, from puma and other

wildcats to endangered deer such as the huemul and South America's

smallest deer, the pudu.

Much of Chile's temperate forests qualify as "cathedral forest."

These ancient forests include trees hundreds even thousands of years

old. Chile's alerce tree (Fitzroya cupressoides), for example, ranges

from three to four thousand years old and is the second-oldest living

species on Earth (only California's bristlecone pine is older). The

alerce is a giant, comparable to the redwoods and sequoias of the

western United States. Unfortunately, it has been overcut and is now

found only in mountain valleys at elevations of up to four thousand

feet or inaccessible lowland stretches. Despite listing by the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and

protection as a national monument, illegal logging of the alerce

occurs as Chile's forest service (CONAF) lacks adequate enforcement

capability.

Another national monument and also illegally logged, araucaria

trees (Araucaria araucaria) live up to 1500 years and are found in

national parks near the coast and high in the Andes. Chile's

rainforests also include many beautiful hardwood species, such as the

immense coigue and roble (Nothofagus), ulmo (Eucryphlia), laurel

(Laurelia) and others.

A Forest Export Boom

In 1974, General Pinochet's government privatized the entire

forest industry. They gave back to original owners much of the

millions of hectares of forests expropriated under agrarian reform,

and sold off at below-cost prices all the rest, along with almost all

publicly-owned forest lands and processing facilities. In addition,

they introduced a series of tax credits encouraging exports of forest

products, and through Decree 701, offered a reimbursement for up to 75

percent of the costs of tree plantations.

The new forest policies created an environment for getting

rich quick. A new group of large timber conglomerates was created.

They found a global market with a high demand for low cost, raw

materials such as logs, pulp and wood chips. Forest exports rose

rapidly: growing at a rate of 22 percent a year in the last decade and

now Chile's third largest export industry. The total value of all

forest exports went from a then record high US$1.5 billion in 1994 to

US$2.2 billion in 1995. This is five years ahead of CONAF's 1994

projection that exports would exceed US$1.8 billion by the year 2000

and almost US$3 billion by the year 2010.

Because Chile's domestic market is small, Chile must gear its

products toward the global market to raise more wealth at home. The

global market needs raw wood. However, the engine of economic growth

has no limits unless they are imposed by society or a degraded natural

resource base. Tree plantations supply more than 90 percent of Chile's

wood products, but the big money made in wood chips and tree

plantations also creates an incentive to cut in the remaining native

forests. In the words of CORMA (Chile's Forest Products Association)

President Eladio Susaeta, "It is silly to leave all of them there

without them doing a damn thing. They are not all contributing to

biodiversity, some are not contributing to anything."

Native Wood Chips

Each year, according to the Central Bank report, 120 thousand

hectares of native forests are destroyed. Forest fires occasionally

exact a toll. Native forests are cleared and burned for agriculture

and grazing, but this is headed for a sharp decrease as most native

forests left are on unsuitable terrain. It is estimated that seven

million cubic meters of wood are extracted each year for firewood, but

this only thins the native forests, not destroy them.

Currently, two million hectares of tree plantations cut a

swath down the middle of central and south-central Chile. These

plantations of almost entirely fast growing, exotic species such as

monterrey pine and eucalyptus supply virtually all the timber for

Chile's forest industry. And they are using less than one-third of the

potential production capacity from tree plantations, while CORMA

projects that in twenty years the land area of tree plantations will

double. There is not a shortage of wood.

Here is the crux of Chile's native forest crisis: "Fly-by-night"

operations are hired to cut in the native forests by mostly small or

medium landowners. Then the logs are taken directly to wood chip mills

with little or no control from CONAF. With the fast money in hand

from the wood chip suppliers, the native forest owners then ask the

government to subsidize tree plantations in their now "degraded"

forest. Chilean forest law allows clearcutting only in degraded

forests. Or through a legal loophole they request a permit to

clearcut for cattle raising or agriculture, and afterwards request a

modification of the permit for a tree plantation.

A 1995 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report on forest

products says the international demand for wood chips has doubled in

the last ten years. Seventy percent of this global demand and

essentially all of the demand for Chile's chips comes from Japan's

paper industry; they want the short fibre from Chile's native

hardwoods to make high quality paper. More than 70 percent of native

forests cut goes to wood chips. Chile is the world's third largest

producer of wood chips: from 76 thousand cubic meters in 1986 to 2.5

million cubic meters in 1995.

Each year 60 to 90 thousand hectares of native forest are

converted to plantations; the profitable sale of hardwoods for wood

chipping is the main catalyst. The drive for more profit though also

compels the large timber companies to continue to expand their

capacity. Small landowners are coming under more and more pressure to

sell to Big Timber and the resulting substitutions with plantations

has caused the displacement of entire communities. Foreign investment

is sky-rocketing in Chile. One United States timber executive

comments, "It's like Saudi Arabia when the oil started flowing over

there, you couldn't even get a hotel room for all the American

businessmen."

The Trillium company of the United States has been planning,

despite objections of many Chilean environmental groups and

scientists, to selectively cut the rare lenga tree. Trillium's Rio

Condor Project, covers 370,000 hectares of pristine temperate

rainforest in both Chilean and Argentinean Tierra del Fuego. While

Trillium has adopted sustainable forestry principles, there are

serious doubts from some ecologists about the ability of the lenga to

regenerate in this fragile ecosystem. And there is concern that

Trillium may sell ownership of the project and thus relieve themselves

of their voluntary environmental commitments.

Chile's native forests are an attractive investment, the

forests can be bought cheap, they provide high quality wood and then

fertile soil for conversion to tree plantations. However, this

conversion can decrease dramatically. There are more than three

million hectares of deforested land available in southern Chile for

planting. Timber companies could choose these areas because their

primary concern is location and access to port facilities. The native

forest owners with the "unproductive land" and those involved in wood

chipping are a different story. They must be put in a new direction

with some help.

S.O.F. - Save Our Forests

The real worth of the native forests is obscured by government

forest policies which encourage cutting for the industry bottom line:

the weight of the wood. Before Chile loses for all time its native

forest heritage, it ought to turn around and examine the value of

healthy native forests to its economy and society. Defensores del

Bosque Chileno's "S.O.F." campaign urges a temporary freeze on logging

in Chile's native forests until the following five steps are taken.

1) Complete Inventory of Native Forests. Only with a complete

inventory of native forests can a substantive and sensible discussion

on the future of Chile's native forests be possible. We don't have

reliable information on what and how much is left of Chile's native

forests. The data that does exist are based on inventories taken in

the 1960s or from commercial production figures heavily biased in

favor of expanding logging activities. CONAF and the University of

Austral of Valdivia are currently doing a World Bank-funded vegetation

survey, but this will not give detailed information on species or

logging in native forests.

2) Natural Resource Policy for Chile. Chile needs a natural

resource policy firmly linked to ecological conservation and

restoration. According to 1994 government statistics, 88.2 percent of

Chile's exports are based on the production of four natural resources

- minerals, forestry, agriculture and fisheries. The emphasis on

boosting large-scale exports of raw natural resources is causing

unsustainable rates of depletion and severe ecological impacts. For

example, U.S. pesticide manufacturers continue to export chemicals

banned in the U.S. for use on Chilean crops, which poisons Chile and

then other countries through exports. A US Agency for International

Development study reports that a sustainable fish harvest for Chile

needs to be half of current levels. And another study says it will

take US$900 million to control the air pollution and water

contamination of current mining operations.

Chile's natural resources are exhausted by an economic system

with three main flaws: 1) natural resources are not included in the

current economic definition of "capital," 2) there is no account of

the impact of the depletion of natural resources on future stocks, and

3) the externalities of production, environmental and public health

impacts, are not reflected in the costs. The UN recommends that all

three aforementioned flaws need to be corrected in the economic

accounting of all nations. Chile needs to help lead the way.

3) Legislation and Protection of Native Forests. Chile's

Congress is debating a new native forest law right now, but after more

than three and a half years of discussion it has been severely

weakened by government economists and industry foresters. In its

present form it will actually weaken existing law. Decree 701

subsidies for tree plantations legally expired last year, but a new

15-year version of this law is successfully sailing through the

Congress. Current native forest legislation should be scrapped until a

native forest inventory has been completed, then with a knowledgeable

foundation should a national discussion be re-started.

The government needs to be given real instruments to regulate in

forests. A central stumbling block is that essentially all of the

native forests are on private land. Many Chilean politicians argue it

is unconstitutional to regulate activity on private property. While

it is not possible to regulate by administrative authority, the

constitution does indeed allow regulation by law. Any new legislation

will have to overcome the hurdle raised by private property rights

advocates.

A major aspect of a new native forest law needs to include the

authorization of funds for the preservation of native forests. It is

urgent that Chile identify extensive areas for preservation, including

all remaining primary forests and representation of all ecosystems.

One reliable CONAF source estimates that only 500,000 hectares of

primary or original growth native forest may remain. The National

System of Protected Wildlands (SNASPE), all national parks, reserves

and national monuments, has a goal of representing each ecosystem and

vegetation community found in Chile. But of the 83 ecosystems

identified, 35 percent are currently not included in the system.

Sustainable management of secondary growth native forests must be

implemented through a variety of incentives and programs, in addition

to effective regulatory enforcement. Legal certification standards

similar to existing private eco-labelling programs ought to be

required of all logging operations. Private landowners should receive

financial and technical assistance for sustainable management on par

with what is given for plantations. Subsidies and tax incentives

should be used to jumpstart the value-added wood products industry.

There is also a need for programs focused on restoring native forest

cover and rehabilitating degraded agricultural land. More than 33

million hectares of land are now affected by desertification and two-

thirds of all productive soils are eroded.

While extraction of firewood from native forest doesn't have

the same serious impacts as wood chipping, it does exert tremendous

pressure and deserves attention. Sixty percent of the industry and

public service sectors, primarily in southern Chile, use firewood for

energy. One-third of all Chilean households use firewood for heating

and cooking in both urban and rural areas. Chile has an abundant

supply of energy, they even sell excess energy to Argentina. Through

programs directed at encouraging and assisting the use of clean,

energy-efficient technologies, the government could help businesses

and people save both money and energy. And through a program aimed at

employing and training people in nearby communities to sustainably

manage forests, and by utilizing tree plantations to supply firewood,

the use of dendro energy from native forests would drop dramatically.

Finally, a new forest law needs to reflect Chile's commitments to

international treaties such as CITES, the Montreal Process: Criteria

and Indicators for Sustainable Use of Temperate Rainforests, and the

Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the

Western Hemisphere. And the UNCED agreements, Agenda 21 and the

Convention on Biodiversity, which were ratified and then largely

ignored.

4) New Institutions. CONAF's budget is 35 million dollars. In

relation to the growth of Chile's forest industry, their budget has

declined drastically since the 1960s, when it represented slightly

less than half of total forest export earnings: today it is only 1.5

percent of exports. Without adequate resources to enforce forest laws,

compounded by lack of political will for enforcement, they are a

crippled institution. Fines levied for violations are almost always

reduced to low levels in regional courts, and according to a CODEFF

study from a few years ago, only seven percent of all fines are paid.

Finally, when it comes down to a choice, CONAF sides typically with

industry. For example, in national reserves meant for experimentation

and research, eucalyptus and other exotic trees have been planted in

many areas.

Defensores del Bosque Chileno believes all conservation functions

and the stewardship of the national wildlands should be removed from

CONAF and become an independent department under the Ministry of

Public Lands. CONAF's responsibilities should be restricted to the

technical and economic aspects of forestry in plantations and

implementing sustainable forest policy in secondary growth forests.

5) Research on Native Forests Silviculture. Sustainable

forestry practices are needed in secondary growth forests aimed to

supply wood for value-added products. However, native forests

silviculture needs further research before it is applied in Chile.

The Bottom Line: Native Forests More Valuable Than Wood Chips

When the Central Bank released their report on native forests in

1995, the government moved quickly to silence discussion: canceling a

government-sponsored conference on native forests, joining the timber

industry in discrediting the report, and firing the head of the study

from his job at the Central Bank. Their disregard of the report's

findings was further punctuated by the launch of a new and worse draft

native forest law in Chile's Congress.

The current exploitation of native forests has no importance

to Chile's economy. Check the following numbers from the Central Bank

of Chile.

* more than 13 percent of total exports originate in the forestry

sector, 17 percent of this from native forests

* yet the native forest sector is only .056 percent of Gross Domestic

Product, while the forestry sector just 3 percent

* the native forest sector accounts for .1 percent of national

employment, the forestry sector 2.05 percent

* more than 70 percent of native forests cut goes to wood chips

* the average profit after costs over the last ten years by the

forestry sector is 58.02 percent

The value of native forests to the economy is clearly

overestimated. And the profits of industrial forestry are not

trickling down to the benefit of the whole country, and the jobs that

do exist are low in pay, benefits and security. The economic benefits

of native forest protection can compete favorably with the limited

benefits from more substitution of native forests with plantations and

the grinding out of more native wood chips.

The preservation of wild forests would help boost tourism, the

world's largest and fastest growing industry. Chile's tourism depends

to a large extent on its natural landscape, and tourism has increased

in Chile by a factor of five in the last ten years. According to

Chile's national tourism office, in 1993 foreign tourists spent US$824

million of which US$380 million was spent in the regions of the south

with forests. By comparison, in 1995, US$136.3 million was made in the

export of wood chips from these same forests.

However, of Chile's 1.4 million hectares of forests in its

National Wildlands System, more than 85 percent are inaccessible

regions of Chilean Patagonia. Southern Chile's Lake District, the most

popular region for tourism, and the region holding the richest

diversity of species and ecosystems of Chile's forests, is the region

most vulnerable to logging and is poorly protected. While tourism does

bring a whole set of potential problems that must be addressed, it is

a powerful tool for saving the Earth's last great wild places. With

Chile fast joining countries like Nepal as a major global destination

for outdoor adventures and ecotourism, there is tremendous economic

potential.

Chile should purchase the private lands necessary to complete

the National Wildlands System. In relation to past subsidies of

plantations or to Chile's overall GNP, alloting funds for forest

preservation is reasonable and the benefits will undoubtedly more than

pay back the investment. Financial resources for forest preservation

could be re-directed from existing government sources or from taxes on

the use of natural resources. International financing needs to be

pursued, such as the U.S. Initiative On Joint Implementation, which

brings together the public and private sectors to assist environment

projects abroad.

To complement any government assistance that may be forthcoming,

it is necessary to continue the efforts of individuals and

organizations to buy native forests to counter the massive investment

of the timber industry. There have been notable successes already,

such as Chilean Foundation Lahuen and Ancient Forest International,

which bought more than 1200 acres of araucaria forest to form the

"Cani Sanctuary" near Pucon, Chile. And environmentalist Douglas

Tompkins has bought more than 700,000 acres of primary temperate

rainforest in the southern province of Palena, called "Pumalin," the

world's largest private park. Defensores del Bosque is helping raise

$3 million to buy "Alto-Huemul" - 3,000 hectares of old-growth

"roble" forest on a 35,000 hectare property in central Chile

surrounded by grand mountains and noble rivers.

Chile is the only country in the world which makes wood chips its

primary product from native forests - the lowest-value wood product

possible from their highest quality wood. Instead Chile should use

scrap wood, branches or tree stumps for any domestic need for wood

chips, ban all exports of wood chips, and make only value-added wood

products from native forests. This would provide an alternative

economic product for private forest owners, and long-term jobs and

greater revenue for local communities. To give value-added wood

products a boost, international markets need to be found for the

manufacture of products such as furniture, boards, or the construction

of pre-fabricated houses, and foreign expertise to develop specialized

products that are competitive in the global market.

Finally, what is the cost of environmental restoration? No cost

can be assigned to restoring a cathedral forest, they are priceless

and irreplaceable. The application of ecological restoration when we

do try, and we must, is proving much harder and more costlier than

taking care of the forests from the start. However, there are many

jobs in restoration. Timber workers could find new jobs restoring

forests, instead of destroying them. Young and old people and the

armed forces, perhaps through a Chilean Conservation Corps, could also

contribute to restoration and be trained to sustainably manage

secondary growth forests. Thousands of kilometers of rivers and other

water sources need to be restored and hundreds of kilometers of

logging roads need to be returned to their natural state.

Economic studies and demonstration projects showing the

potential alternative products and employment from native forests are

needed to light a fire under Chile's politicians. More tree

plantations in place of native forests will surely produce a

corresponding drop in tourism and the quality of life, and more

deterioration of the natural environment.

International Action Needed

A world convention on forests needs attention on the global

political agenda, but such an effort needs to be safeguarded from the

influence that the global timber lobby will surely try to exert.

Further, temperate rainforests should be given the same resources and

protection efforts accorded the world's tropical rainforests.

An international sanctuary for whales south of parallel 40

degrees was a pie-in-the-sky dream to some when it was first proposed

by a few activists in the early 1960s, today it exists by governmental

treaty. Defensores del Bosque joins Argentina's Project Lemu in

proposing an "International Sanctuary for Temperate Rainforests 40

Degrees South."

In the United States, many politicians and citizen

organizations are fighting a proposed North American Free Trade

Agreement with Chile until it includes strong, enforceable labor and

environmental agreements as part of the core agreement, instead of on

the side. The rapid mining of Chile's natural resources could lead to

disastrous effects in the future to economies that are married to

Chile. Efforts to block NAFTA membership may provide the impetus for

a natural resource policy in Chile, and a more visionary economic

policy that seeks to diversify the products from its native forest

resources.

Japan's paper and pulp industries are the world's largest

destroyer of native forests. International cooperation, perhaps an

international boycott, is needed to persuade them to stop using wood

chips from native forests and instead switch to alternative sources,

such as the increased use of waste paper, eucalyptus plantations, or

alternative fibres such as kenaf, which can be used on a large-scale

and grows faster than wood plantations.

Defensores del Bosque Chileno in concert with the Alliance for

Native Forests, a Chilean coalition of groups, is building popular

awareness of the value of Chile's forests. International collaboration

with non-governmental and governmental organizations is one of their

biggest needs. And an international show of support for Defensores del

Bosque's proposals for the protection of Chile's native forests is

essential to their overall success. Considering the rapid expansion of

Chile's forest industry projected for the rest of the decade, there is

not a lot of time. We ask for your help on behalf of Chile's unique

and beautiful natural patrimony.

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