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.
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.
|