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FOREST
CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY
Saving
Forests Is Top Priority in Amazon - Time to Certify All Logging
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.
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Conservation Links
06/07/01
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by Forests.org
A new
poll indicates that saving forests is the top priority for
those
living in Brazil's portion of the Amazon.
Granted, "saving
forests"
means different things to different people.
Clearly there
is a
desire in the Amazon to use forests for human economic
betterment
- but there exists a remarkably strong sentiment that this
should
be done in a sustainable fashion. This
is a significant
finding
that shatters the myth - propagated by predatory loggers and
their
client governments - that people living in rainforests are not
concerned
with their conservation. There is an
increasing
environmental
ethic developing amongst the citizenry of not yet over-
developed
countries. Many, if not most, people
living in the tropics
have a
first hand knowledge of how quickly and permanently land can
become
barren if poorly managed. The segment of
society that
benefits
from over-exploitative harvest of ancient rainforest
ecosystems
is not large, while the vast majority is left to bear the
costs.
The
entire Amazonian timber harvest must be brought under certified
forest
management as an urgent global, national and local imperative.
Without
drastically increasing the existing scale of logging, any
timber
harvested should be done in a manner that meets or exceeds
timber
management standards established by the Forest Stewardship
Council
(FSC). The Brazilian government and
donors would be well
advised
to support policy and fund the total certification of all
Amazonian
logging. While the time has come to
demand such a policy,
this
would not be without some risk to Amazonian rainforests.
To
ensure certification does not escalate logging of remaining
rainforest
wildernesses, FSC must be strongly encouraged to further
develop
their "precautionary principle".
FSC's standards must be
strengthened
to include clear criteria for determination of when no
logging
of large, intact and contiguous forest wildernesses is the
best
forest management alternative. Failure
to link certified forest
management
with strict protection of adjacent large wildlands brings
the
environmental rigorousness and desirability of FSC certification
into
question. The battle is on for the
heart and soul of what
"certified
forestry" means - and it must not be allowed to legitimize
logging
of most remaining rainforests.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Poll: Saving Forest Is Top Priority in
Amazon
Source: Copyright 2001 Reuters
Date: June 6, 2001
Byline: Axel Bugge
BRASILIA,
Brazil (Reuters) - Preserving the rain forest ranks as the
top
priority for the 20 million people living in Brazil's Amazon, the
first
such study polling the region's population showed on Wednesday.
Saving
the rain forest was listed as the No. 1 priority by 34 percent
of
respondents to the survey, intended to help identify ways to
develop
the impoverished area without destroying the environment.
Garo
Batmanian, secretary-general of the Brazil branch of the World
Wildlife
Fund, which conducted the survey, said the study showed
people
living in the Amazon wanted development of the world's largest
tropical
forest without destroying it.
``The
big message (from the poll) is that the Amazon wants
sustainable
development, without more deforestation,'' said
Batmanian.
The
poll also found that a majority of opinion-makers in the region
considered
the forests as the Amazon's most important economic
resource.
But
development was also high on the list of priorities.
Construction
of roads was the top priority For 27.8 percent, while
17.7
percent considered the main priority to be developing
agriculture
-- activities associated with destruction of the forests.
The
survey of 2,049 people was carried out between August and October
2000
across three Amazon states -- Acre, Rondonia and Para. No
margins
of error were given.
The
study's results came after the release of figures last month
showing
that destruction of the Amazon jumped to its highest levels
in five
years in 2000.
Development
of the Amazon -- which is larger than all Western Europe
and
home to 30 percent of the world's animal and plant life -- has
long
angered environmentalists who warn that economic activity could
lead to
its disappearance.
The
impenetrable forests of the Amazon make up more than half of
Brazil's
landmass, yet only a small number of its 170 million people
live
there.
The WWF
also polled 90 opinion-makers and leaders, including
businessmen,
scientists, lawmakers, journalists and the army.
One of
the recommendations made by the opinion-makers was changing a
government
economic development plan for Brazil. A study published
this
year said the plan could destroy up to 42 percent of the Amazon
if it
went ahead.
Among
the opinion-makers polled, only the army thought that forests
were
not the main economic resource of the Amazon. It gave more
importance
to minerals and the potential for hydroelectric power
generation
in the area.
The
army, worried about Brazil's extensive and isolated Amazon jungle
borders
with seven countries, has long championed large-scale
development
of the Amazon with the construction of towns along the
borders.
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