Sustaining the World's Forests

2 Sustaining the World’s Forests Janet N. Abramovitz For millennia, humankind has influenced A major force driving these trends is forests, although much of the impact was the explosive growth in the global con- hard to see. In recent decades, however, sumption and trade in forest products, in the scale and impact of our footprint on part due to rising affluence. Since 1950, the world’s forests has changed. Almost the demand for wood has doubled, and half the forests that once covered the paper use has increased more than five- Earth are gone, and deforestation is fold. In the next 15 years, demand for expanding and accelerating. The health paper is expected to almost double again and the quality of remaining forests are as industrial countries continue their declining. already high levels of consumption and as Mechanization of forestry and agricul- demand in developing countries grows.1 ture has allowed large areas to be harvest- Our relationship to forests has evolved ed quickly and converted to other uses, so in some positive ways as well, however. old frontiers are being abandoned and In some places there has been a shift new ones are being exploited. Globali- from unrestrained boom-and-bust forest zation and free trade allow corporations exploitation and conversion to more sus- to roam the world seeking more prof- tainable forest management for a wider itable forest opportunities. Huge fires— range of goods and services. People who conflagrations visible from space—are have lived in and near the forest for gen- destroying vast areas and sickening mil- erations are being recognized as forest lions of people. Pollution blows in from managers in many places, not forest distant autos and industries, and the destroyers. New ways of satisfying the buildup of greenhouse gases has ushered need for forest products less wastefully in an era of climate change that further are also being pursued. threatens forests. Sustaining forests for the next century (2) State of the World 1998 and beyond calls for changes in the way and Alaska, the boreal forest of Russia, forestry is practiced on the ground. It also and the tropical forest of the northwestern calls for reforming policies and pricing, Amazon Basin and the Guyana shield reducing waste and overconsumption, (Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and strengthening land tenure and equi- northeastern Brazil, Venezuela, and ty. And it will mean recognizing that the Colombia). (See Figure 2–1.)4 real wealth of the forests lies in healthy Until recent decades, most forest loss forest ecosystems—and appreciating how occurred in Europe, North Africa, the much we depend on them. Middle East, and temperate North America. By the early part of the twentieth century these regions had been largely stripped of their original cover. Now forest RENDS IN OREST REA AND cover in Europe and the United States is T F A stabilizing, as secondary forests and plan- QUALITY tation forests fill in. In the last 30–40 years, in contrast, the vast majority of deforesta- Today, forests cover more than one quar- tion has occurred in the tropics, where the ter of the world’s total land area (exclud- pace has been accelerating. Indeed, ing Antarctica and Greenland). Slightly between 1960 and 1990, one fifth of all more than half of the world’s forests are tropical forest cover was lost. Asia lost one in the tropics; the rest are in temperate third of its cover, and Africa and Latin and boreal (coniferous northern forest) America lost about 18 percent each.5 zones. Seven countries hold more than 60 Broad regional overviews such as these percent of the world’s forests: in order of can mask even more severe forest loss that forest area, they are Russia, Brazil, is taking place in some countries and for- Canada, the United States, China, est types. Half of the tropical deforesta- Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic tion during the 1980s took place in just of Congo (formerly Zaire).2 six countries: Brazil, Indonesia, the The world’s forest estate has declined significantly in both area and quality in Million Square Kilometers recent decades. As noted earlier, almost 18 half the forests that once blanketed the Source: WRI Earth are gone. Each year another 16 mil- Cleared lion hectares of forest disappear as land is 14 Non “Frontier” Forest cleared by timber operations or convert- “Frontier” Forest ed to other uses, such as cattle ranches, plantations, or small farms.3 10 The extent of forest loss and fragmen- tation was made clear in a recent study by the World Resources Institute that identi- 6 fied what it calls “frontier forests”—areas of “large, ecologically intact, and relatively 2 undisturbed natural forests.” The study found that only 22 percent of the world’s original forest cover remains in these large Asia Africa South Oceania Russia America expanses, about evenly divided between and Europe North and Central boreal and tropical forest. More than 75 America percent of the frontier forest is in three large areas: the boreal forest of Canada Figure 2–1. Forest Area, by Region, 1996 Sustaining the World’s Forests (3) Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, surveys by the U.N. Economic Com- Bolivia, and Venezuela. Tropical dry for- mission for Europe.9 est types, mangrove forests, and the tem- As troubling as the statistics on forest perate rainforests of North America have loss and declining quality are, the true also experienced very high losses.6 picture of the global forest situation is Deforestation is not the only threat. undoubtedly much worse. A major obsta- Serious declines in forest quality are cle to assessing forests is the quality of the affecting much of the world’s forests. data assembled by U.N. Food and Ironically, while many people in northern Agriculture Organization (FAO), the countries look at tropical forests with con- most widely used source. FAO relies on cern, they may be unaware that the tem- self-reporting by governments, and many perate forests in their own backyards are countries do not have the capacity to the most fragmented and disturbed of all carry out systematic forest assessments. forest types. For example, 95–98 percent Nor is there a system of independent of forests in the continental United States monitoring in place—either by satellite or have been logged at least once since set- by ground-truthing. tlement by Europeans. And in Europe, FAO also uses inconsistent and confus- two thirds of the forest cover is gone, while ing definitions, which in turn can result in less than 1 percent of old growth remains.7 some misleading conclusions. “Natural for- The secondary forest and plantations est” is estimated, and forest quality is not that are filling in are a very different type measured at all. Deforestation is defined than the original. The mix of tree and by FAO as the conversion of forests to understory species has changed, and the other uses such as cropland and shifting age is more uniform. The forests are high- cultivation. Forests that have been logged ly manipulated and highly fragmented. and left to regenerate are not counted as Plantations and even-aged stands occupy deforested, nor are forests converted to substantial areas of forestland. In the last plantations. Thus, some of the land report- 15 years, the area covered by forest plan- ed by countries as forest actually has no tation has doubled globally. And it is trees on it at all. According to FAO defini- expected to double again in the next 15 tions, 80–90 percent of forest cover can be years. Worldwide, at least 180 million removed by logging without “deforesting” hectares of forest have been converted to an area. Then when small-scale farmers forest plantations. These altered ecosys- reduce the remaining forest cover the next tems usually cannot support the full array few percent they have, according to the of native species and ecological processes official definition, “deforested” the land. that characterize natural forests. Many This is why “slash-and-burn” farmers are nonnative species—from tree species to often blamed for deforestation for which vines to insect and animal pests—have they are not responsible.10 invaded these woodlands.8 Atmospheric pollution is also taking a toll on forest quality. Exposure to pollution weakens trees and makes them more vulnerable to the effects of pests, diseases, RISING PRESSURES ON FORESTS drought, and nutrient deficiencies. This is especially evident in Europe, North Widespread reports that poor agricultur- America, Asia, and cities throughout the alists and fuelwood gatherers are respon- world. More than a quarter of Europe’s sible for the rapid loss of the world’s trees show moderate to severe defoliation forests are greatly exaggerated. Closer from these stresses, according to regular examination reveals a different—and (4) State of the World 1998 more complex—picture. The rising the live trees that are cut for fuel are used appetite for forest products and trade is a to make charcoal or in other industrial major driving force behind the logging applications, such as brick-making and and conversion of many of the world’s tobacco-curing, and in cities. This commer- forests to other uses. Policies and subsi- cial fuelwood collection, especially when dies that encourage conversion (for tim- concentrated near cities, can cause signifi- ber harvest or agriculture and settle- cant local deforestation. On the other ments) also drive the process. This holds hand, the fuelwood collected by rural true in the temperate and boreal forests households is usually dead wood, which of Canada, the United States, and north- does not contribute to deforestation.14 ern Siberia as well as in the tropical Consumption of paper (including forests of the Amazon, Central Africa, and newspaper and paperboard) is increasing Southeast Asia.11 faster than any other forest product.

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