Following my knee-jerk reaction to the Guyana Research proposal, several
people posted to my privately. While there were a few flames, most
people were supportive of my message, but somewhat critical about my
methods; in that I could have posted a more informative/less inflamatory
message. In retrospect, I agree entirely. What "lit my fire" so to
speak was that the day before, I had just finished reading a n excellent
book by an Anthropologist who studied deforestation in Sri Lanka. While
acknowledging that damage that has already occured, she remains
optimistic that tropical forestry management practices that involve the
indigenous cultures are far more likely to succeed than those that do
not. The Guyana project appeared to be totally lacking in any human
componant, and I reacted strongly.
I have enclosed a couple of excerpts from the book
("Deforestation, women and forestry: the case of Sri Lanka" by Anoja
Wickramasingshe published by the Institute for Development Research in
Amsterdam in 1994) in the hopes that there are those on the list who
would at least entertain the idea that forestry can actually be developed
into a symbiotic relationship with indigenous cultures rather than a
parasitic one. There are those who will dismiss my post because they
think that I am an "eco-nazi" who opposes all logging...please read the
excerpts anyway, I think we could all learn something.
"The Bad News"
The rate of global deforestation and the acreage under forest cover is
still being debated. But it is clear that the damage already caused is
irreversible. At least 120 million hectares of tropical forest were
cleared between 1950-1975 in South and South-east Asia alone. Every
year, about 2.5 million hectares dissapear in Cental America and Amazonia
to make room for cattle ranching. By the year 2000, according to 1980
FAO projections, 150 million hectares of remaining tropical forest (12%
of the total) and 76 million hectares of open tropical woodlands will be
diminished. On the other hand, reforestation efforts will supply less
than 10% of what is needed to meet Third World needs by that time.
A quarter of the world's forest resources are in the Asia-Pacific
region, yet a 1986 study by the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) estimates that in South Asia, 67%
of the natural habitats have been lost to logging. Timber harvesting
continues to play a major role in this situation, annual deforestation
has increased from two million hectares per year in the 1970's to 4.7
million in the 1980's. Estimates of this loss range from 100 species per
day (Peter Reven, 1988) to 50 species per day (Wilson, 1988; Meyers, 1986)
This loss eradicates the life-support systems of rural peoples,
who depend on wild species of plants, animals and fish for food, timber,
medicinal herbs, fibre, and fuelwood. The livlihoods, nutrition, health,
protection, and local trade of local people are based on forest
resources. Currently most, if not all programmes have focused on timber
production alone; practicalities related to multiple uses and sustainable
management of the forest have been ignored.
"The Good News"
According to the FAO's Tropical Forestry Action Plan, the
underlying causes of deforestation and land degradation are: poverty,
inequitable land distribution, population growth, and poor land use
policies. Although forestry has been rocognized as the solution to global
warming, desertification, and atmospheric pollution, appropriate
strategiesto restor forests have not emerged. Progress in forestry is
extremely slow, in spite of huge investments, numerous scientific
investigations, and technological and institutional improvements. The
reasons for this failure lie in the concepts of forestry which have been
employed in dealing with the problem. When reforestation became a
"development sector"--aimed at restroing the wealth lost from
deforestation--nature's control over natural processes was replaced by
scientific knowledge. Forestry sectors came under the guardianship of
technically-trained foresters, and indigenous people's participation was
largely ignored. However, socio-economic and Anthropological studies
conducted show that, unless subsistance issues are guarenteed, people's
participation will not be effective, because these programmes excluded
the art of forestry practiced by the local groups whose forest-management
skills are site-specific and proven, having evolved over hundreds, if not
thousands, of years.
Current-day forestry is not sustainable because it ignores the
indigenous knowledge which employs the best methods of preservation yet
known to the modern world. Where legislation has tried to alienate
people from their traditional rights to forests, acceptance of the
harmonious nature of gathering forest products for subsistance cannot be
denied. If there is one lesson to be drawn from the past decade of
experience in tree-planting projects, it is that there is no substitute
for local experience. The accumulated knowledge regarding the ecological
niches in which specific tree species flourish, is invaluable.
In it's conventional form, froestry has primarily been focused on
increasing timber production through establishing plantations to meet
increased demand. However, there has been a growing realization that it
is impossible to separate economic development issues from from
environmental issues as many development projects erode the environmental
resources upon which they must be based, and environmental degradation
will ceratainly undermine economic development.
Bret Diamond
Oregon, USA
Mail converted by
MHonArc 1.1.0