Forest Shrinking at Alarming Rate, Fires Problem
10/26/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Forests worldwide are in decline. Following is CNN coverage of the forest
crisis, including recent highly destructive fires. In the last 6,000-8,000
years, two-thirds of the world's forests have been lost. Remaining large,
contiguous expanses of forests are being targeted for highly intensive
forest harvest. The primeval forest wilderness is to be lost within our
life times unless large-scale, commercial logging of remaining wild forests
is firmly rejected.
g.b.
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Title: Forests shrinking at alarming rate, Fires a persistent problem
Source: Cable News Network
Status: Copyright 1997, CNN, seek permission to reprint
Date: October 8, 1997
Byline: From Correspondent Margaret Lowrie
LONDON (CNN) -- Ninety percent of the world's species are found in forests.
But almost everywhere around the globe, trees are disappearing.
In Brazil's Amazon rain forest, for example, this year's dry spell is
resulting in more fires than ever before. And in Indonesia, out-of-control
fires have blanketed the region with an unhealthy haze.
There also are other culprits, according to the World Wildlife Fund for
Nature: ignorance, greed, questionable agricultural and forestry practices,
and inappropriate land development.
All are causes for international concern, says the organization's Francis
Sullivan.
"We like to think of the Amazon as the global air conditioner. It cools and
cleans the planet and rejuvenates oxygen levels in the atmosphere," he told
CNN.
"With these massive fires, we're seeing large areas destroyed. They'll
never properly recover. This, I believe, is folly for humans on this
planet."
Some wildlife -- certain birds and monkeys -- are being pushed to the brink
of extinction.
"What we're looking at is 6,000 to 8,000 years of human evolution, and
during that time we've actually stripped away a full two-thirds of the
forests that were existing before then. So we're looking at an enormous,
devastating problem," Sullivan says.
Forests disappearing fastest in Asia
According to the WWF, deforestation is most rapid in Asia, where 88 percent
of the forests are gone.
Pakistan and Thailand, for example, lose 4 percent to 5 percent of their
forests every year, and may be completely denuded in 15 years, creating
semidesert conditions.
The situation is similar in Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Africa, and in the
Latin American nations of Paraguay and Uruguay.
"These are the countries which really show what the world is going to be
like in 10 or 15 years," Sullivan warns.
"It's a chilling situation with terrible poverty, terrible soil erosion,
completely unstable agriculture, widespread flooding and, of course, a
terrible impact on wildlife populations."
Heavily forested nations such as the United States, Russia and Brazil are
among the worst offenders, he says. And Europe, which has lost 62
percent of its forests, protects only 2 percent of what remains.
Nations must preserve or restore at least 10 percent of their native
woodland before it disappears completely, according to the environmental
group.