A solution for forests<\/p>\n
The world's forests have been under siege since the turn of
\nthe century, but this year has been calamitous. In Canada,
\nBrazil, Mexico, Central America, Africa and Indonesia, fires have
\ndestroyed some 16 million forested hectares (40 million acres).
\nthe easy explanation is El Nino, a perverse weather system that
\nhas flooded some regions but left others bone dry. But the main
\nculprit, as always, is human activity, chiefly logging, mining
\nand agriculture, which dries out the forest by stripping it bare
\nof its trees, leaving even humid tropical rain forests vulnerable
\nto fire. For that reason, the fires are likely to reoccur, with
\nor without El Nino, unless something is done to curb mankind's
\ninsatiable appetite for wood.<\/p>\n
In that context, there was a small ray of hope in the
\nannouncement this month that Suriname had decided to give
\npermanent protection to 1.6 million hectares of untouched
\ntropical forests, about one-tenth of the entire country. Suriname
\nreached its decision at the urging of Conservation International,
\nan American environmental group that has set up a private trust
\nfund to help it manage the area. The group became actively
\ninvolved in Suriname several years ago, when Asian timber
\ninterests, having pretty much stripped their own countries of
\nmarketable hardwoods, sought timber rights on 4.4 million
\nhectares of Suriname's forests. It rejected that deal, and has
\nnow put 1.6 million hectares out of reach.<\/p>\n
What makes this decision so heartening is that Suriname is a
\npoor country that might normally have jumped at the quick profits
\npromised by foreign logging interests. Far richer nations, like
\nBrazil, have been unable to resist these blandishments, and Asian
\ntimber interests are even now burrowing deeper into the Amazon
\nrain forest. At the other end of the economic scale, Guyana,
\nSuriname's destitute neighbor, has opened up two-thirds of its
\nforest mass to foreign companies.<\/p>\n
Suriname chose the long-term economic value of forests over
\nshort-term revenues from logging and other resource-depleting
\nactivities. It hopes over time to make money from tourism
\ngenerated by the forests and its spectacular animal life, from
\nnon-timber forest products like tannins and resins, and from
\n\"bioprospecting\" -- the search for medicines among forest plants.
\nThe U.S. National Institute of Health and big pharmaceutical
\ncompanies like Bristol-Meyers Squibb are already engaged in this
\nsearch.<\/p>\n
This avenue has been left unexplored by most of the world's
\ngovernments, which own 80 percent of the world's forests and
\nwhich as a rule cannot see beyond the next truckload of
\nmahogany.<\/p>\n
-- The New York Times<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-solution-for-forests-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }