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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Illegal
Loggers of the World, the U.S. is Out to Get You
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
1/9/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
The
Yankees are coming! Targeting illegal
logging is identified as
one of
several manners that the United States could be more
supportive
of Worldwide efforts to protect and conserve forests.
Properly
resourcing and giving high-level political support to forest
conservation
issues will be critical to achieving global forest
sustainability. If the U.S. lives up to its rhetoric, not
only
internationally,
but also conserving and preserving its own not
insignificant
forests, it could be an important step.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Illegal Loggers of the World, the U.S. is
Out to Get You
Source: Environment News Service,
http://www.ens.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: January 7, 2000
WASHINGTON,
DC, January 7, 2000 (ENS) - An area of forest roughly
equal
to the state of Georgia is being stripped from the Earth every
year,
and we are losing the equivalent of two football fields of
tropical
forest every second, a top level U.S. official said Thursday.
Action
against illegal logging and increased use of satellite imagery
are
among several ways the United States plans to help protect and
conserve
the world's forests, said David Sandalow, assistant secretary
of
state for oceans, environment and science, in a speech at the
National
Press Club.
Sandalow
was speaking at a meeting on future directions for leadership
on
international forest issues organized by the World Resources
Institute
and The Nature Conservancy.
The
meeting was held in advance of the fourth session of the
Intergovernmental
Forum on Forests taking place in New York from
January
31 to February 11 under the auspices of the United Nations
Commission
on Sustainable Development.
The
world has been losing an average of 38 million acres (15 million
hectares)
of forest each year. Some countries have lost more than 90
percent
of their forest cover in the past few decades, he said.
Forests
cover 40 percent of the Earth's land surface and are home to
more
than 70 percent of land living plants and animals. An estimated
10 to
30 million species are found in tropical forests alone.
"There
is no one-size-fits-all solution to protecting the world's
forests,"
Sandalow said. In particular, he warned against using scarce
resources
to negotiate an international convention on forests.
Although
Sandalow did not say so, the forest industries of all nations
including
the United States would be limited in their activities by
such an
international agreement.
"When
the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests meets next month, it
should
take the next step, which is to focus on implementation of what
has
already been agreed," said Sandalow. Governments have identified
more
than 135 proposals for action since international talks on forest
policy
began in 1992.
"We
should move forward to shape a transparent, practical, results-
oriented
forum - one focused not on talk but action," Sandalow urged.
"This
forum should bring together key international players from
around
the world to address specific, focused agendas. Environmental
NGOs,
industry and other stakeholders should be actively involved. We
don't
need to spend years negotiating a treaty; we need to make a
difference
for forests today."
Instead,
Sandalow suggested a dozen initiatives that he said "would
make a
difference on the ground."
The
Clinton administration will soon begin implementing the Tropical
Forest
Conservation Act, which authorizes the reduction of official
debt
owed to the United States by countries with significant tropical
forests
in exchange for conservation measures, Sandalow announced.
Alec
Watson, vice president for international conservation of The
Nature
Conservancy reacted to this policy move with approval. "We are
particularly
excited about the positive potential of the Tropical
Forest
Conservation Act and the bipartisan effort that went into its
creation.
We believe this Act, if funded appropriately, can result in
enormous
progress for efforts to protect critical forests," he said.
Sandalow
announced that the U.S. government will work to fight illegal
logging
and trade in illegally-harvested wood. Both activities are
destroying
forest ecosystems.
This
year, he said, the United States will host an international
conference
on illegal logging in Southeast Asia's Mekong watershed to
"shine
a spotlight" on the global problem and find new ways to stop
it.
"While we are starting with one region willing to tackle the
issue,
we hope other regions will follow the example of openly
discussing
illegal activities, with a view to identifying and
implementing
practical corrective measures."
Sandalow
said the United States will actively pursue an initiative it
proposed
at the G-8 meeting last year to use remote sensing as a tool
in managing
forests and responding to forest fires around the globe.
He said
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
launched
two environmental satellites in December that should allow
routine
production of accurate forest maps. The LANDSAT 7 and EOS
TERRA
satellites should allow routine production of accurate forest
maps,
providing a valuable new tool for natural resource managers and
scientists
that can be made available on the Internet.
"Efforts
to monitor what is happening to and in forests have so far
been
rather crude, but are certainly indicative of the scale of
change,"
said World Resources Institute (WRI) president Jonathan Lash.
Next
month, WRI and its partners will launch the Global Forest Watch -
a major
new network and tracking system that uses satellite imagery
and
ground level observations to improve global knowledge about the
state
of forests.
The
U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International
Development
will prepare a joint strategic plan for "targeted forest
diplomacy,"
Sandalow said, focusing resources on those countries that
wish to
work together in this area.
Experts
predict that world population will grow by more than 50
percent
during the next 50 years. That number of people cannot be fed
on
current arable land with current agricultural practices and will
cut
down forests to create new farms. "To slow or prevent the
conversion
of forests to farmland around the globe, we must find new
and
innovative ways to improve agricultural yields, especially for
tropical
crops," Sandalow said.
"The
consumer who cares can help make a difference," Sandalow
stressed.
The marketplace can be a powerful tool for protecting and
conserving
forests with certification and labeling programs that
identify
wood products from sustainably managed forests.
Another
important tool for valuing forests is carbon trading. "Forests
play a
central role in the global carbon cycle; we must find new and
innovative
ways to value the carbon-absorbing services that forests
provide,"
Sandalow said.
Other
suggestions included more training of forest managers;
encouraging
governments to use funds provided by their export credit
and
investment agencies to promote sound forest practices; getting
local
communities involved in forest protection, and addressing
government
subsidies that promote over-logging and distort trade.
The
World Resources Institute (WRI) welcomed the proposals made by
Sandalow
for new international initiatives to protect the world's
forests.
"International
forest policy is one issue for which a global vision is
sorely
needed," said Lash, WRI president. "The fate of the world's
remaining
frontier forests hang in the balance," he emphasized.
"I
cannot think of an important environmental issue that has been the
subject
of greater inter-governmental stagnation, lack of accord, or
failure
of resolve," Lash said.
Watson
of The Nature Conservancy warned that "the extinction crisis
that is
currently sweeping our planet is largely the result of the
rapid
reduction in the extent of tropical forests in the world." In
addition
to the biological catastrophe, the economic and social
consequences
of forest devastation are enormous," he said.
The Nature
Conservancy is working with private industry, international
non-profit
partners, and developing country governments to develop
climate
action projects that stop deforestation of critical areas with
funding
from companies that are interested in slowing the build-up of
carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. Watson said, "In a short time, we
have
raised over $20 million for tropical rainforest conservation and
we
believe that this mechanism has the potential to fundamentally
alter
the way in which the world values standing forests."
As
examples of how these two environmental groups work towards forest
preservation,
in 1997, the government of Bolivia, The Nature
Conservancy
and American Electric Power sponsored a carbon
sequestration
project in the ecologically rich Noel Kempff National
Park,
providing more than $11 million to expand the park and retire
adjacent
timber concessions. The project is expected to reduce carbon
dioxide
emissions by an amount equal to the lifetime emissions of
500,000
cars. Carbon dioxide is the heat trapping greenhouse gas held
most to
blame for global warming.
In
1997, the government of the South American nation of Suriname, the
Inter-American
Development Bank, the World Resources Institute,
Conservation
International and others worked together to protect four
million
acres of primary tropical rainforest in Suriname.
Roughly
75 percent of the world's forests are found in just 16
countries:
Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, China,
Indonesia,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, India, Mexico,
Colombia,
Bolivia, Venezuela, Sudan, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.
About
half of the world's forests are found in Russia, Brazil, Canada,
and the
United States.
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