NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/woodwork/8721

Text File | 1992-12-22 | 2.8 KB | 49 lines

Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!dyoung
From: [e-mail] (Donn C Young)
Subject: Re: Rainforest Destruction
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Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 19:45:52 GMT
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There have been some recent articles posted on tropical hardwoods and their
management. Here's an article I wrote for our local Sierra Club newsletter
summarizing a recent report in Science. I'm not sure if I agree with the
'no restriction' recommendation on import/export, but it might make economic
and environmental sense in that people would be more apt to 'slash and burn'
if the wood was worthless. Whatcha think?

The Sustainable Development of Tropical Timber

In an article published in Science (6/19/92), Jeffrey Vincent of Harvard
questions whether the common boom-and-bust export pattern for tropical timber
is inevitable or if changes in policies can transform this trade to one of
sustainable development. The boom-and-bust cycle is characterized by
excessively rapid harvests, poor forest management, and inefficient wood
processing. The belief that such cycles result from exploitation by developed
countries, high import barriers, and low international wood prices is a myth.
It turns out that this pattern is due primarily to timber concession policies
(where the forests are government-owned and a private contractor harvests the
trees) and restrictions on the export of raw logs (supposedly to stimulate
local wood processing). When the government owns the forest, the value of the
timber (as revenue) is artificially reduced thereby decreasing the amount of
funds available for forest management (sound familiar?). Since the contracts
for harvesting the timber are of short term and may not be renewed, the
timber company has no incentive to invest in forest management. Calls for
tropical timber boycotts and restrictions also encourage boom-and-bust cycles
by decreasing timber prices. According to Vincent, sustainable development of
a timber economy is best promoted by relaxing log-export restrictions and by
increasing government fees for harvesting timber or by selling forests to
private developers. By inducing folks to maintain permanent forest areas,
biodiversity and non-timber values of the forest may be indirectly preserved.
Unfortunately, Vincent does not address the effects of clearcutting rain-
forests, the fast growth of trees (teak can grow to harvestable size of 10-12"
diameter in 8 yrs), and the establishment of tropical timber plantations.

Donn Young
[e-mail]