ADB adopts new policy to save tropical forests

ADB adopts new policy to save tropical forests

MANILA (AFP): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday it was adopting a new lending policy designed to arrest the "alarming" destruction of Asia's tropical forests.

The Philippines-based bank said it will refuse to finance "any rural infrastructure or other public investment projects that contribute to the loss of forests," and will promote energy pricing policies to promote "the use of fuelwood alternatives such as bio-gas, kerosene and solar power."

It will also support projects to create jobs in rural areas which are "designed to draw people away from illegal forest exploitation," and to direct agricultural assistance to "encourage intensive production on existing lowlands rather than on farming by clearing forest lands."

A bank statement said "the rate of deforestation is alarming," with the region's forest area cut by nine percent, or 45 million hectares (111.15 million acres), between 1980 and 1990, which was nearly double the annual replanting rate of 2.1 million hectares.

The "worst-affected countries" during this period were Thailand, with annual deforestation rate of 515,300 hectares, Burma with 400,500 hectares, Malaysia with 396,000 hectares, India with 339,100 hectares, the Philippines with 316,100 hectares and China with 304,700 hectares.

It said fuelwood collection and slash-and-burn farming were "as big, if not bigger threats" as logging, with communities removing 700 million cubic meters (24.5 billion cubic feet) of timber yearly, "seven times more than loggers."

A quarter of the world's tropical forests, and half its plant animal species are contained in Asia, it said.

Growth forests

Significant old growth forests remain in Burma, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, while the Philippines and Thailand are not yet in deficit but have little surplus wood for export, the bank said.

China and India, on the other hand, have considerable forest areas but are net wood importers.

For forest-rich member countries, the ADB said it will aim "to maximize the area kept as functioning forests" and "press for adequate areas to be set aside for harvesting, habitat and catchment protection, plantations and forest-dwelling communities."

For the other countries, it will promote the creation of more domestic wood supplies through plantations and improved forest management, and promote woodfuel substitutes.

The bank also blamed "inadequate government policies and fires" as major hazards, with blazes destroying more than 200,000 hectares of regional forests annually.