Only 20% of World's Virgin Forests Remain
3/4/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
The World Resources Institute (WRI) has undertaken a major Geographic
Information System based attempt to identify the last virgin forests
of the Earth, which they term "frontier forests." These last large
tracts of natural forests, 20% of the world's natural forests prior to
human industrial impact, still provide significant ecosystem
functionality while being large enough to harbor healthy populations
of native biodiversity. Following are two items, the first a
photocopy of a Reuter's article and the second WRI's press release
concerning their report (with information on how to order.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Twenty percent of virgin forests left, study says
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
3/4/97
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Only 20 percent of the world's major virgin
forests remain, almost all of them in the far north of Russia and
Canada and in Brazil's Amazon region, the World Resources Institute
said Tuesday.
Most of the world's forests in other areas are unhealthy, threatened
by logging and development, or too small and fragmented to sustain
full biological systems, the environmental organization said.
Russia, Canada and Brazil contain most of the world's frontier forests
that are large enough to provide havens for indigenous species and to
survive indefinitely without human intervention if protections are put
in place now, a study prepared by the group said.
The WRI compiled the study by distributing satellite imagery to
thousands of forest experts around the world, who assessed forests'
health and threatening conditions, WRI president Jonathon Lash said at
a briefing.
The study also used climate data and other information to gauge the
extent of forest cover 8,000 years ago, before human activity started
to degrade forest lands.
"It is an 8,000-year time-lapse snapshot of the human impact on
forests," Lash said.
The snapshot showed only three percent of frontier forests remain in
the world's temperate regions, making those the most threatened kinds
of forests, he said.
All of North Africa and the Middle East and nearly all countries in
Europe have lost all of their frontier forests, the study said.
The continental United States has about 1 percent of its original
forest cover, mainly in three combined park and wilderness areas in
the northern Rockies and a block of the northern Cascades in
Washington.
"The question this report begs of society is when is enough enough?
Humankind has so far destroyed about four-fifths of the world's
natural forests. How much more can we afford to lose?" Nigel Sizer, a
WRI associate, said at the briefing.
Lash and Sizer said the study shows there still is time to save
remaining forests, and cooperation is needed from a relatively small
number of countries.
"The critical point is that the countries whose forests are in good
condition -- Canada, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana,
Suriname, and French Guiana -- offer a tremendous opportunity for
responsible forest management," Sizer said.
ITEM #2
World Resources Institute
NEWS RELEASE: March 4, 1997
First Scientific Assessment of Condition of World's Forests Shows Much
More Than Tropical Forests At Risk
Contact: Shirley Geer at 202/662-2542
The first scientific assessment of the world's large, intact natural
forests -- what the World Resources Institute calls "frontier
forests" -- reveals that it's not just tropical forests that are in
trouble. The world's most endangered frontier forests are in the
temperate zone which includes the United States and Europe.
Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge, a new
World Resources Institute study and global mapping project,
graphically depicts the extent of human impacts on global forests.
This is the first time that historic forest loss over the past 8,000
years has been documented. The study and state of the art Geographic
Information System (GIS) maps spotlight Earth's "frontier forests" --
the last major tracts of undisturbed forests large enough to provide a
safe haven for all their indigenous species and likely to survive
indefinitely without human intervention and forest management if key
decisions are made now to allow that to happen.
Consider these startling findings:
* Only one-fifth of the world's original forests still qualify as
frontier forest.
* Three countries -- Russia, Canada, and Brazil -- house more than 70
percent of the world's remaining frontier forest, and half of this
forest lies in the far north where resource-extraction costs are high.
* Outside of the largely inhospitable northern boreal forests, 75
percent of the remaining frontier forest is threatened, and may well
be significantly degraded in the next 5 to 10 years.
* Logging, including that by multinational corporations, is the most
serious threat to the remaining large tracts of frontier forest.
Agriculture and land clearing endanger 20 percent of threatened
frontier forests.
* The most threatened acreage includes all of Europe's frontier
forests, 87 percent of those in Central America, and three-quarters of
the pristine stands in Africa and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and
Papua-New Guinea).
The WRI analysis, which draws on the expertise of 90 of the world's
top forest specialists, is the opening salvo of a new five-year Forest
Frontiers Initiative to promote stewardship in and around the world's
last major forest frontiers. The multi-year WRI effort will target
government and private decision-makers responsible for deciding the
fate of the last intact frontier forests in Canada and Russia,
Northern Amazonia and the Guyana Shield area of South America, and
Africa's Congo Basin.
WRI senior associate Nigel Sizer, a forest policy expert with
extensive experience working in Latin America, the Caribbean,
and Africa, said: "With the right information, action can be taken by
policy-makers, private-sector loggers, forest product manufacturers,
and consumers to manage all the world's forests responsibly and meet
everyone's needs." He called for new and balanced management
strategies, tailored to each region, that protect forests'
biodiversity and other assets while also providing raw materials and
ecosystem services.
The Frontier Forest Index
WRI developed a Frontier Forest Index to rank nations according to the
percentage of the frontier forest they have lost and the proportion of
remaining frontier forest that is highly threatened.
All of North Africa and the Middle East and nearly all countries in
Europe -- 76 nations in all -- have lost it all. Another 11 nations
are classified as on the edge, with only 5 percent or less of their
frontier forest surviving and all of it threatened. In 28 countries,
time to protect remaining frontiers is running out, while eight
countries have great opportunities to sustain large areas of frontier
forest if they follow stewardship principles. In the continental
forty-eight United States, frontiers account for about 1 percent of
original forest cover, primarily contained in three combined park and
wilderness areas in the northern Rockies and one block in the North
Cascades of Washington state. All legally protected, they are
nonetheless threatened because they are too isolated to support their
traditional populations of some large mammal species over time.
"The critical point is that the countries whose forests are in good
condition -- Canada, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana,
Suriname, and French Guiana -- offer a tremendous opportunity for
responsible forest management," Sizer emphasized. "With a turnaround
in policy, these countries have a real chance to keep most of their
original frontier forests."
Threats to Frontier Forests
Logging turned out to be the predominate threat in all six regions
assessed, affecting more than 70 percent of the threatened frontiers.
Recent years have seen logging's impacts intensified as private
foreign investors look to such forest-rich countries as Brazil,
Suriname, Guyana, Bolivia, Gabon, Cameroon, Cambodia, and Burma to
satisfy demands for timber. Profits from large-scale logging often
subsidize road-building, which opens forests to fuelwood gathering and
clearing for agriculture. Energy development with its attendant dams,
pollution, and new infrastructure also brings new roads and
settlements, affecting close to 40 percent of frontiers under moderate
or high threat.
Clearing for agriculture, affecting one-fifth of threatened forest
frontiers, is worst in Asia, Central and South America. This danger
can only grow as population increases, and it is much worse in
fragmented secondary-growth forest areas. Removing too much vegetation
-- whether through overgrazing or over-collecting firewood and
building materials -- can denude an ecosystem, causing erosion and
clogging of waterways.
Commercial hunting in forests can upset natural processes that shape
forests, for example, by altering the ways that seeds are distributed
and herbivores kept in check. A third of Africa's threatened forest
frontier is at risk because of runaway poaching to meet urban demand
for bush-meat. Other threats include suppression of natural fires,
pollution from faraway sources, introduced animal species that have no
local predators, and replacement of natural forest by tree
plantations.
Behind these threats, however, is a network of root causes of
deforestation that include:
* Growing economies with growing demand for paper and wood products;
* Population growth, poverty, and landlessness that drive the poor to
clear pristine forest;
* Mistaken economic policies that ignore or undervalue frontier forest
preservation;
* Short-sighted political decision-making that appeases special
interest groups or influential families or that defuses acute
political emergencies by offering land, access, roads, etc.
* Corruption among government officials or illegal trade in drugs
produced from plants grown in isolated growing areas.
Why Save Frontier Forests?
The WRI report cites six critical reasons:
1. Frontier forests are home to many of the world's last indigenous
cultures; about 50 million traditional people depend on tropical
forests alone for their livelihood.
2. They are refuges for global biodiversity. For example, between 65-
75% of all plant species found within high-biodiversity countries like
Brazil, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are estimated to be found
within the frontier forests of those countries.
3. They maintain complex biological communities and ecosystem
processes and provide both unique habitats and baseline information on
how natural forests work.
4. They store tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide -- at least 433
billion metric tons -- that might otherwise become greenhouse gases;
they help maintain regional water cycles, the global climate, and soil
integrity.
5. They have the potential to contribute to long-term economic growth
through careful stewardship.
6. They provide opportunities for recreation and ecotourism that can
be economic resources for nearby populations as well as spiritual and
esthetic resources for others.
What Needs to be Done?
The WRI report recommends policy changes to promote economic
development without destroying forest resources and environmental
services. It offers models of stewardship involving protected areas or
combinations of sustainable forest use practices and forest preserves.
It also calls on national and international donors, business, and the
private sector, private citizens and frontier peoples, and
nongovernmental organizations and advocacy groups to take responsible
actions.
Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge was
written by WRI Associate Dirk Bryant, WRI GIS Analyst Daniel Nielsen
and consultant Laura Tangley. Data collaborators include the World
Conservation Monitoring Centre, the World Wildlife Fund, and more than
90 top forest experts from around the world.
The World Resources Institute is a Washington, DC-based center for
policy research that provides objective information and practical
proposals for policy change that will foster environmentally sound
development. WRI works with institutions in more than 50 countries to
bring the insights of scientific research, economic analysis, and
practical experience to political, business, and non-governmental
organization leaders around the world.
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Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge
is available through WRI's website at
"http://www.wri.org/wri/ffi/." Copies can be purchased for
$14.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling from WRI
Publications, P.O. Box 4852, Hampden Station, Baltimore, MD
21211, 1-800-822-0504 or 410-516-6963. Complimentary copies
are available for journalists -- call 202-662-2542.