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The following information sheet draws on the text of Bad Harvest, by Nigel Dudley with Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud and Francis Sullivan, Earthscan, London in association with WWF.

The Timber Trade and Global Forest Loss


Research carried out for WWF suggests that the international timber trade is now the primary cause of forest degradation and loss in those forests that contain the highest levels of biodiversity. This conclusion is based on a number of important findings.

  • correlating logging sites with species-rich forests

  • looking at forest quality as well as quantity

  • extending the assessment to all forests, rather than just rainforests

  • including an assessment of illegal logging

    Background

    For many years, the timber trade has claimed that it plays a negligible role in forest loss, and that most deforestation is caused by agricultural clearance or fuelwood collection. Population growth, rather than industrial exploitation, has been blamed as the underlying problem. Research by WWF leads to the opposite conclusion. Taking the survival of biodiversity as a major criterion, WWF concludes that the timber trade is currently the most important cause of loss and forest degradation around the world. This judgment is based on several factors as examined below.

    The timber trade and forests rich in wildlife

    Following centuries of degradation, most forest ecosystems are severely threatened. Surviving areas of natural or semi-natural habitat are of primary importance in maintaining biodiversity. The Earth currently contains large areas of recently cleared forest, young regenerating forest and middle-age forest. Far less common, particularly in the North but increasingly also in the South, are old-growth forests. These generally have a specialised flora and fauna that can only survive in forests that have been relatively undisturbed for hundreds of years. In many of these areas, the timber trade remains, or has become, the primary agent of change. Some examples are given in Table 1.

    There is no accident in the overlap between biologically-rich forests and forests with large timber operations. Areas of high biodiversity tend to contain the oldest, and thus in many cases the most commercially valuable, trees. Natural forests are often virtually unclaimed, under the stewardship of politically weak indigenous groups, or nominally under state control. Forests with high biodiversity are, by their very nature, likely to draw the attention of the global timber trade.

    Quality and quantity

    The timber trade is also responsible for a major reduction in the quality of many forests. From the perspective of biodiversity, there is often little to choose between replacing a natural forest with a tree plantation or losing it altogether. In either case, the vast majority of the original native wildlife species do not survive. Even if total number of species remains constant, the rarer natural species are often replaced by exotics and weed species. Loss of forest quality has already occurred over most of Europe, North America and Australasia. It is becoming significant in several Southern countries as well. Analysis of the timber trade's impact should consider more than just the loss of area under trees. It also should consider the biological quality of the forest that remains.

    Including all forests in assessments

    Previous emphasis on problems in tropical rainforests has obscured issues in other forests. The WWF study looked at all forests. The role of the timber trade immediately grows in significance. Unlike tropical moist forest, where there have been endless arguments about cause and effect in forest loss, in almost all temperate and boreal countries still possessing substantial old-growth forests, the timber trade is now undoubtedly the primary cause of natural forest loss.

    Illegal logging operations

    Assessments from the industry tend to draw on official studies of the legal timber trade. In fact, in some countries undergoing severe deforestation, the timber recorded by the Ministry of Forests is only a small proportion of the actual fellings and/or exports. Much illegal timber enters the international trade, with or without the knowledge of importers. Often, illegality is tacitly accepted by the buyer. Countries where illegal logging is having an important, and largely unquantified, impact on natural forests include (not an exhaustive list): Kenya, Zaire, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and the Russian Federation. Until recently, 80 per cent of the mahogany leaving Brazil was exported illegally.

    Changing global forest conditions

    Time has also increased the relative impact of the timber trade. Primary forest has now been reduced to fragments in many countries. As the amount of high quality, natural forest declines, and is increasingly confined to areas which are inhospitable to human settlement, the proportion of this remnant that is damaged by the timber trade continues to grow. The actions of the national and international timber trade are now critical to the survival of most of the world's biologically richest forest ecosystems and therefore to the majority of species.

    The way forward

    The next two or three decades will decide whether or not we enter the future with a full range of rich and diverse forest ecosystems. The future actions of the timber trade will play a vital role in this implicit decision. Although the situation is serious, there are some optimistic signs. A substantial, and growing, section of the timber trade is prepared to take environmental issues seriously, and is making real efforts to change its practices. Developments such as the establishment of the Forest Stewardship Council, and efforts to promote certification in countries such as Belgium, Sweden and the UK, provide a framework for changes in forest management that will have important benefits to wildlife.

    On the other hand, some sections of the trade are responding to the perceived "threat" of environmentalism by resisting change and fighting back; pressuring governments and aid agencies, funding front groups to discredit the environmental lobby, cutting fast to beat planned controls, moving into areas where environmental controls are lax, and delaying reforms. These timber traders will come under increasing pressure in the future.

    WWF supports the use of wood from well-managed, environmentally and socially sustainable forests. The needs of the timber trade and the environmental movement are not as far apart as people often assume. Clearcutting an area and moving on might benefit a handful of people at the top of a timber company, but it certainly doesn't benefit the workers on the ground any more than it does wildlife, the environment and local people. Recent abandonment of worked out concessions in countries as far apart as Côte d'Ivoire, the USA and Indonesia all bear witness to the human costs of bad forestry.

    WWF has responded to the problems posed by forest degradation by setting the world two important and challenging targets:

  • Establishing an ecologically representative network of protected areas covering at least 10 per cent of the world's forests by the year 2000, demonstrating a range of socially and environmentally appropriate models.

  • Ensuring the independent certification of 10 million hectares of sustainably managed forest by 1998.
  • Getting forest management right - for people and the environment - is in the interests of everyone. We call on the timber trade to respond positively to the challenge of forest sustainability, and to work with the environmental movement in realising the vision of a world full of high quality forests.


    Country

    Status and details

    Europe


    Finland

    Only 1-2% old-growth forest remains; this is till being logged in places.

    Latvia

    Logging has increased 700% in the last few years, mainly for the export market, threatening many important wet forests.

    Norway

    Logging of remaining old-growth forest has increased since plans for additional conservation legislation were suggested.

    Poland

    Logging has intensified since 1989, and is taking place on the edge of the internationally important Bialowieza forest Biosphere reserve.

    Sweden

    Logging of old growth forest continues in the boreal region, despite being reduced to 1-2% of the original.

    UK

    Illegal felling of broadleaved trees to sell as firewood is on the increase.

    Russian Federation

    Logging is occurring in many biologically rich areas of Siberia and European Karelia. In the latter case there is currently a growing cross-border trade in birch with Scandinavia

    North America


    Canada

    Boreal forest logging is taking place on a large scale in many areas, including particularly Alberta. In Ontario, two thirds of the remaining 1% of old-growth forest is slated for commercial felling.

    USA

    Logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest looks likely to increase again in response to Republican aims to deregulate the industry and overturn environmental legislation.

    South America


    Argentina

    Temperate forests are rapidly being logged by foreign companies, including many from North America.

    Bolivia

    Forest loss has now reached critical levels in some areas.

    Brazil

    Illegal logging of mahogany is having a major impact on the ecology, and the survival, of forests in many areas, and until recently 80% of mahogany exports were of illegal felled trees.

    Chile

    Large areas of beech (Nothofagus) have been logged to make way for pine plantations in the last decade, often by foreign companies, and Araucaria forest is also threatened.

    Guyana

    Increased logging by foreign companies is now threatening one of the largest remaining areas of pristine rainforest in the region.

    Suriname

    Malaysian, Indonesian and Chinese companies are preparing to log in pristine rainforest.

    Africa


    Cameroon

    Numerous transnational companies are operating in the country, including companies from Belgium France, Germany, and Italy. A survey in 1993 identified 100 forest operations, 60 of which were foreign-owned. Logging has increased 100% in the last few years.

    Central African Rep

    90% of the forests have been allocated to 10 companies, including 4 from France, 2 from Romania and 1 from former Yugoslavia.

    Congo

    At least 15 of 36 active timber companies are foreign-owned, controlling about half the cut and based in Germany, the Netherlands and France.

    Côte d'Ivoire

    Less than 14% of the original forest remains. Companies from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Holland remain active.

    Gabon

    Most timber production is under European control, predominantly from France but also from Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Latest estimates for deforestation are 0.6%/year.

    Ghana

    More than 90% of forests have been logged since the 1940s. Danish and Dutch companies operate, and in the late 1980s a state-owned timber company was rehabilitated by a UK company; this was abandoned after allegations of corruption.

    Nigeria

    Much of Nigeria's small area of remaining forest is threatened by legal and illegal timber operations.

    Zaire

    Around ten timber companies are operating in Zaire, and most logging is carried out by foreign-based firms from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Italy. Logging is increasing rapidly.

    Asia


    Cambodia

    Illegal timber felling has increased enormously over the past few years and is rapidly depleting the country's forests.

    Indonesia

    The government intends to replace 2 million hectares of forest with plantations by 2000. Commercial forestry is a major cause of forest loss in Kalimantan, Irian Jaya and outer islands such as Siberut.

    Laos

    Illegal logging has increased rapidly as a result of a ready market created in Thailand due to the latter's logging ban.

    Malaysia

    Logging is the major cause of forest loss in Sabah and Sarawak, and is still important in some areas of Peninsula Malaysia.

    Philippines

    Logging has already caused major deforestation in the country. Illegal logging is now more important than legal operations and is still a major source of exports.

    Thailand

    Illegal logging continues despite a logging ban, particularly in the north east and on the Burmese border.

    Vietnam

    Large areas of the country are being cleared of natural bamboo to feed pulp mills.

    Pacific


    Australia

    Logging is the major cause of forest degradation and loss, particularly in the south west and Tasmania

    Papua New Guinea

    Logging, including illegal logging, is the major cause of forest loss in PNG, mainly involving expatriate firms from south east Asia.

    Solomon Islands

    Legal and illegal logging is the major cause of forest loss.

    Vanuatu

    Logging is increasing rapidly, mainly controlled by expatriate Malaysian companies.




  • Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature

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