CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION

Deforestation is the product of the interaction of the many environmental, social, economic, cultural, and political forces at work in any given region. The mix of these forces varies from decade to decade, and from country to country. As a consequence, generalizations are dangerous. In most cases, deforestation is a process that involves a competition amongst different land users for scarce resources, a process exacer ated y counter!productive policies and weak institutions. It creates wealth for some, causes hardships for others, and almost always rings serious consequences for the environment. This section discusses four aspects of the causes of deforestation ! the predisposing conditions, the direct causes, the indirect causes, and the role of forest exploitation and plantation development in the loss of natural forests. The predisposing conditions create an environment where deforestation can occur. The direct causes are the most visi le, the most easily identified and are readily associated with the agents of deforestation. They are driven y the other less visi le, socioeconomic forces !! the indirect causes. Predisposing Conditions "redisposing conditions are those factors which com ine to create an environment where deforestation can occur. They are conditions created y society, at times intentionally and at times the consequence of human nature, that pervade all aspects of society and are not #ust related to land use. They are some of the most systemic, most difficult issues that frustrate human progress and sustaina le development. $ithout a dou t, one of the most important predisposing conditions that underlies tropical deforestation and many of the world%s other pro lems related to achieving sustaina le development is our growing population. &ur num ers are currently growing at the rate of ',((( million new individuals every decade. In the last half of the )(th century, we will have more than dou led our num ers from ),*(( million to +,((( million people ,$-I, '../0. 1ost of the population increase is occurring in developing countries, those nations least equipped to a sor them. 2early all of the expected 3./ illion increase in our glo al population y the year )(*( will come from the developing countries ,4imons, '..50 !! 3./ illion more people requiring food, energy, shelter, water, wood, paper, and all the other goods and services that come from the forests.

Approximately /.* illion people, or 6* per cent of the world%s population, live in the developing countries and a ',((( million of them live in a #ect poverty. 1ost of those countries are in the tropics where deforestation is a serious pro lem ,7A&, '..50. 7urthermore, an estimated ).5 illion live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture to meet their asic needs. The exact num er of people who live y clearing the forest to plant su sistence crops is not known, ut the accepted figure is at least *(( million people or a out ' person in every ') on the planet. Another predisposing condition of deforestation is poverty, particularly poverty in rural areas. Although poverty is not a 8cause8 of deforestation, it is a condition of life that the ma#ority of people in this world must endure. $hile greed and power can e the motivations of some groups in society that deforest, survival and the desire to escape from poverty is what drives most people. "overty is the socioeconomic environment that limits peoples% economic options, damages health, limits the formation of rural capital, reduces income generating opportunities, and limits institutional and infrastructure development. It is an underlying condition that facilitates deforestation. There is some evidence from the industrialized countries of the 2orth that suggests as societies ecome more economically secure they reach a point where the economic development pressures that drive deforestation are replaced y a growing environmental concern and a greater appreciation of environmental values. 9owever, for most developing countries that point is off in the far distant future. The rural poor have very few options. There are few prospects of off!farm employment in either the ur an centers or the rural areas. 7or those opportunities that do exist, there is intense competition for the few #o s availa le. Illiteracy further limits the options of many ecause they do not have the asic tools needed to pursue other economic alternatives to su sistence farming. In some cases, people migrate from the overpopulated, depressed regions to the forest frontier in search of a more prosperous, more secure life. 9and!in!hand with poverty comes food insecurity and chronic undernourishment. $ith few alternatives availa le to them, the rural poor look to the forests as a short!term solution to their economic pro lems. 4tudies have een carried out on the relationships etween rural poverty and deforestation and population growth and deforestation. At times the correlations have een inconclusive ecause the dynamics of rural land use are very complex, and deforestation is rarely the consequence of one single cause, rather it is the product of

the interaction of many forces. 7or example, on the island of :ava in Indonesia, high population densities have not resulted in the elimination of forest cover. &n the other hand, high population densities in the Andean highlands led to settlement pro#ects in the Amazonian lowlands, resulting in deforestation. The effect of population pressures as a predisposing condition for deforestation is dependent on the influences of the carrying capacity of the land, the prevailing land use practices, the importance of forest!derived products and services to the local people, and the strength or weakness of the institutional framework in place. In most cases, a rising population pressure and a prevailing climate of rural poverty are important conditions that facilitate deforestation. ;reed and the quest for economic and political power are important underlying forces. Individual and corporate greed that seeks excessive profits at the expense of human suffering and environmental degradation can e witnessed in the actions of many of the agents of deforestation. <nregulated land uses and monopolistic national markets favour the politically influential at the expense of the ma#ority. This can e manifested in competing land uses that favour export oriented agricultural crops or exploitative logging practices. 4lash!and! urn farmers are some of the poorest, least! privileged people in the world. They live in the more remote areas of their countries, areas that receive little or no attention from the political and economic decision! makers. They do not have access to more modern technologies that could increase their productivity and economic security. Indirect Causes 5.1 Fiscal and De elop!ent Policies ! ;overnment policies outside the forest sector have profound impacts on the forest resource, as do international policies on de t repayment, structural ad#ustment, and trade. 4tructural ad#ustment programs have encouraged the expansion of foreign exchange!earning export crops, which have in turn encouraged the liquidation of forest capital either y accelerating tim er harvesting or y converting forests to agricultural uses. The expansion of agricultural cash crops means that either forests are cleared directly for these crops or su sistence farmers are displaced for them, forcing the farmers to relocate to the forest where they practice slash!and! urn agriculture. Incentives ,e.g., low interest rates or tax exemptions0 to industries that would otherwise e less economical, or even uneconomical, have permitted them to prosper at the expense of forests when they couldn%t otherwise. ;overnment policies that have een adopted to facilitate economic development in other sectors that have resulted in deforestation include=

su sidized credit for agricultural and livestock expansion, e.g. lower than commercial interest rates on loans for agricultural development, reduced rates of income and corporate taxes for competing land uses, tax 8holidays8 for the importation of equipment for new industries that negatively impact on forests, high taxes on imported petroleum products that discourage the use of alternative fuels to firewood, infrastructure and energy development pro#ects that do not account for the value of forest capital lost, reliance on cash export crops y commercial farmers that force displaced small farmers to cultivate marginal forest soils. ;overnment!sponsored colonization schemes, such as the transmigration program in Indonesia or the Amazon colonization schemes in "eru, have een used as 8development8 pro#ects y many governments. 4ometimes they have een officially sanctioned y governments and sometimes they have occurred more spontaneously. They have een attractive to governments ecause they allowed them to avoid the politically sensitive issues of population control and land reform, relieve the pressure of overcrowded and underserviced ur an areas, defer otherwise needed investments in ur an infrastructure, and avoid investments in agricultural research and extension to increase agricultural productivity on existing ara le lands. 1any countries have used colonization schemes as a way of asserting national sovereignty on their frontiers. "easant farmers were encouraged to relocate to the forests of order areas to esta lish a physical presence there. The watershed of the -io "utumayo is at the convergence of the orders of >cuador, "eru, and ?olom ia. All three governments have sponsored settlement programs over the last two decades for the specific purpose of exercising sovereignty. 7orests have een cleared to e replaced y marginally productive su sistence farming. >conomic structural ad#ustment and macroeconomic reform programs eing implemented in many countries have the potential to e a serious threat to tropical forests. >conomic reforms have aggravated unemployment in some sectors, causing greater poverty which has, in turn, motivated people to migrate to forested lands to practice slash!and! urn farming. The greater emphasis on exports has, at times, resulted in unsustaina le tim er exploitation and the encroachment of commercial agriculture upon forested lands. The $orld @ank and some of the ilateral donor agencies have een advocating the privatization of pu lic resources in the structural ad#ustment programs and have made it conditional for loan approval. The

privatization of state forest resources favours those management alternatives that can produce a short!term economic gain for the new owners whether they e local governments, communities, or the private sector. "rotection forests or forests that are 8rich8 in non!monetary values like soil conservation are held in very low esteem in such a market!driven environment. In '..+, the total external de t in developing countries was <4A ).' trillion and still growing ,$orld @ank, '..50. @razil and 1exico, two of the principal deforesting countries, have the largest external de ts of all developing countries. De t affects all countries. It drains the availa le financial resources that could otherwise e used for routine operations of government, including conservation and the wise management of the country%s forest resources. 7unds are not availa le to pay staff, to pay for operational costs, to develop infrastructure, or to pay for education and training. The average de tB;2" percentage for the 8Top '(8 deforesting countries rose from )+ per cent in '.6* to +( per cent in '..+ ,$orld @ank, '..50. 7orest!rich countries can e tempted to service their de t in part y liquidating the standing capital in their natural forests through an accelerated exploitation program. The policies and institutional weakness of governments have significantly contri uted to deforestation. $hy have government policies failed so often in the pastC 4ometimes the policies were devised without a complete understanding of all of the issues involved and all of the potential impacts. This is often the case when decisions are made that result in deforestation ecause political decision!makers do not appreciate the real value of forests% goods and services compared to other land uses. "ro lems can also reflect the general weakness of the national forest institution and its ina ility to formulate and execute sound policies. In other cases, deli erate decisions are made to favour a small group of politically and economically powerful individuals at the expense of society at large. In general, government policies reflect the political will, the power structures, the democratic processes, and the level of pu lic awareness present in the country. >ven when policies are adopted with the est of intentions, they can have unforeseen negative impacts !! a consequence of the complexity of the issues eing dealt with and the multiple impacts they can have. Institutions can find that rescinding a policy is a daunting task. 1any countries, however, have made su stantial progress in reforming their policies and legislation that contri uted to deforestation in years past. @razil, for example, has repealed its su sidies to promote cattle ranching in the Amazon, and ?osta -ica is starting to account for the destruction of forest capital when doing its national economic accounts.

5." #and Access and #and Tenure ! In most developing countries, the ara le land ase cannot support the growing population. 7irst, the amount of land suita le for farming is limited. The real ara le land that can sustain long!term cropping is, for the most part, currently under cultivation. Increases in agricultural production can come from increased productivity through the use of improved technology, ut they cannot come from extending the land under cultivation into forested areas ecause there are no large 8reserves8 of unused forested land suita le for farming. 4econd, as the farming population grows and the land passes on from generation to generation through inheritance, the individual farm plots ecome too small to e economical. Third, much of the truly ara le land is held y large landowners or y corporations and, therefore, is not accessi le to the ma#ority of the farming population who really need it. In many countries, particularly in Datin AmericaE large landowners !! latifundistas !! have traditionally controlled most of the farming land, a ad situation made worse in the second half of the )(th century when many small farms were ought out to ecome more economically via le. The introduction of new agricultural pesticides and fertilizers and the greater mechanization of farm la our shifted the profita ility in farming to those landowners who had the availa le capital to invest. The small farmers were displaced and often went to the forest frontier to start over again.

<nder these circumstances, the only solution for most families is to either move to the towns and cities to look for work or to relocate to the forest frontier to clear the trees to make a new farm. 7orested lands, oth fertile and infertile, have een a social safety valve for land pressure. 7or governments, it has een politically less painful to look the other way and ignore deforestation than to deal with the difficult issues of land reform, #o creation, and population control. & viously, the issue of lack of access to ara le land is one of the most compelling for the rural poor who have very few alternatives availa le to them. Dand tenure has an important influence on people%s attitude towards land use. The vast ma#ority of the world%s slash!and! urn farmers do not have formal land title !! at est they have customary rights, at worst no rights at all. $ithout some guarantee that the land will remain theirs, farmers have no incentive to invest in making it more productive. <nder these circumstances, clearing the forest and planting annual crops for a few seasons efore moving on to clear more land is a logical farming strategy. ;overnments are either unwilling to title state lands to small farmers or their land titling procedures are so complicated and so costly that small farmers find it

impossi le to o tain legal title. The lack of ownership excludes them from o taining credit for much needed farm inputs and discourages any long term investment that could lead to increased productivity, prosperity, and enhanced well! eing. The short term alternative is to slash!and! urn the forest. In many countries, settlers must clear the land to exercise their tenure rights. In this case, deforestation is considered an 8improvement8 to the land and an expression of the occupant%s good faith in developing the property. Tree tenure systems can also discourage the planting and tending of tree crops as an economic alternative to agriculture. 4ome countries like the Dominican -epu lic and ;uinea have had laws that extend state ownership to all trees and forests whether they e on private property or state land. $hen tree ownership rests with the state, there is no incentive for the rural population to invest their la ours in forest management ecause the enefits derived are only en#oyed y the government. In fact, this situation has encouraged deforestation ecause many farmers illegally removed the trees on their property so there would e no government interference in the way they used their land. 5.$ %ar&et Pressures ! &ften mentioned as causes of deforestation are the demand for forest products and the demand for other goods ,mostly food0 that are produced on deforested lands. ?learly, without any demand there would e no economic reason for cutting down the trees. As human population continues to grow, so does the demand for forest!derived goods. 4imilarly, as we ecome more prosperous, our per capita consumption rises. This is evident in the great discrepancy etween per capita consumption of almost all goods y 2orth Americans in comparison to the less affluent peoples in developing countries. 7or example, paper consumption per capita rises as individuals ecome more prosperous. "aper and paper oard product consumption in 2orth America averaged 33. metric tons per '((( people in '..* compared to 3 metric tons per '((( people in Africa and 3' metric tons per '((( people in Datin America. The importance of our consumption patterns to the exploitation of forest lands cannot e denied. $hat is de ata le is the importance of the export market in deforestation. As mentioned in section ).) of this issues paper, developing countries produce a out )* per cent of the world%s industrial wood products !! sawnwood, panels, wood pulp, paper !! and almost .( per cent of its fuelwood. In the case of industrial forest products, it is difficult to generalize the importance of international market demand. A

graph is presented that illustrates the '..* sawnwood and plywood exports as a percentage of total production for the 8Top '(8 deforesting countries ,7A&, '..50. 4awnwood and plywood are good indicators of natural forest distur ance ,and suscepti ility to su sequent deforestation0 and exports clearly show the relative importance of the international markets. In the case of Indonesia, 1alaysia, and 1yanmarE exports accounted for over *( per cent of the total production and are o viously a ma#or force ehind tim er exploitation in those countries and its contri ution to deforestation. In contrast, exports in @razil, 1exico, and Thailand account for a modest '( per cent of total production with the ?ongo, @olivia, Fenezuela, and 4udan registering negligi le exports. "ulp and paper are important commodities in world trade, accounting for over <4A 5( illion in glo al exports in '..+ ,7A&, '..50. The industry has witnessed dramatic growth in many countries where deforestation is a pro lem, particularly in Asia. 4ince '.5(, paper and paper oard production has increased six!fold in Thailand, eleven!fold in 1alaysia, and a reathtaking seventeen!fold in Indonesia. The ma#ority of production comes from plantations of fast!growing species that were esta lished on non!forest lands, forest fallow lands, or logged over forests that were not eing managed sustaina ly. In some cases the natural forest was cleared to esta lish the plantations. To a very limited degree, natural forests have een harvested to supply mixed tropical hardwoods as the raw material for pulp and paper production. 1ost new pulp and paper production in developing countries has gone to meet the demands of growing local populations, populations that are, in many cases, increasingly more affluent. In terms of paper and paper oard products, only Indonesia and @razil have had significant exports ,7A&, '..5 0. In '..+, Indonesian exports of '.) million metric tons of paper and paper oard products accounted for )5 per cent of the total production of /./ million metric tons. In the same year, @razil%s exports of '.) million metric tons represented )' per cent of its total production of *.. million metric tons. In contrast, the other paper and paper oard producers were primarily satisfying their local demand with less than '( per cent of total production eing exported. The situation in the wood pulp market is very similar with most of the increased production eing consumed in the country of origin. In summary, the demand for forest products continues to rise as population and affluence grow. The national demand for forest products within the countries where deforestation is occurring is a much more important cause of deforestation than the demand for these same products on the international markets. This generalization

varies from region!to!region and from country!to!country within each region. It should e noted that this conclusion is contrary to the opinion held y many 2orthern 2;&s that it is the industrialized countries% insatia le demands for tropical tim er that is driving deforestation. In the agriculture sector, the importance of export crops as a driving force ehind deforestation is, again, difficult to generalize. -ice is the staple food crop in Asia, ut it is not an export commodity in most Asian countries that are losing their tropical forests. 7or example, Indonesia and 1alaysia are net importers of rice, and of the important deforesting countries only Thailand is a significant exporter of a out /( per cent of its '..+ production ,7A&, '..50. In ?entral America, the single most important crop of the slash!and! urn farmers is maize. All countries in the region are net importers of maize, which indicates that all of the forest land converted into maize production is for internal consumption only, not for export. In '..+, ?entral America%s production of ).56 million metric tons had to e supplemented y importing '.(6 million metric tons of maize and maize products to feed its population. In Indonesia, exports of palm oil have een more or less constant at + to 5 per cent of total production over the last decade, although the area under palm plantations has steadily grown for the same period. The conclusion to e drawn is that most of the demand for palm oil is coming from within Indonesia, driven y its large and still growing population. The situation in the livestock sector is very similar. &ver the last two decades, eef production in @razil has risen sharply from ).5* million metric tons in '.5( to /..+ million metric tons in '..+ ,7A&, '..50. This rise in production corresponds with dramatic increases in deforestation as ranchers, farmers, and land speculators occupied the forested regions of the Amazon watershed. @eef exports, in terms of total volume exported and as a percentage of total production, peaked in the mid! '.5(s at approximately *((,((( metric tons or a out '* per cent of total production. $hile production was still growing in '..+, exports had declined to less than )6(,((( metric tons or a out * per cent of total production. ?learly, the oom in eef production and its devastating impact on @razil%s forests is eing driven y the domestic eef market not y the demand from >urope, 2orth America, or :apan. @eef exports from ?entral America accounted for )( per cent of total production in '..*. Despite the early importance of the American market as a driving force in the growth of the ?entral American cattle industry, most of the production went to satisfy the local demand, not for export sales. >xports as a percentage of total production peaked in the early '.6(s at approximately /* per cent ut then fell to etween )( and 3( per

cent of total production in the following two decades ,7A&, '..5E Deonard, '.560. It is a popular myth that the ?entral American forests were sacrificed to satisfy the Americans% love of cheap, fast!food ham urgers ut, in fact, that is only a partial explanation. Dike the growth in forest products, the growth in agricultural production and its consequent impact on deforestation has een more a response to the growing national markets than an attempt to satisfy the international demand. $hile international market pressures are important factors in understanding the causes of deforestation, their importance should never e overemphasized. The causes of deforestation, like the solutions for controlling it, are to e found within the orders of each of the countries affected. International trade offers some leverage to halt or reverse deforestation in some countries, ut it is far from a panacea. 5.' Under aluation o( Natural Forests ! In economic terms, there is little understanding of the value of the goods and services provided y tropical forests or of the real costs of forest management eing orne y resource users. As a consequence, forests are undervalued and play a less significant role than they should in the decisions affecting resource allocations, development priorities, and land use. They are, therefore, more suscepti le to eing converted to other land uses which are perceived to e more eneficial. Tropical forests are undervalued ecause= they produce many different products that are consumed in many unrelated markets often outside the cash economy, there y creating the perception that they are less importantE they produce many non!market goods ,e.g. forest food, game, resins, fi res0 and environmental services ,e.g. climate control, water regulation, soil conservation0 that do not enter into the national economic accountsE 8downstream8 enefits of 8upstream8 conservation are en#oyed ut not paid for y eneficiariesE the harvest cycle ,rotation0 of natural forests in the tropics is very long compared to agricultural crops, even outside the realm of conventional commerceE the esta lishment of natural forests incurs no direct costs for the exploiter henceE they are viewed as 8free8 commoditiesE there is still much unknown a out the potential value of the forests, a consequence of the lack of systematic research, market knowledge is imprecise, except for the traditional tim er products, prices are often set y monopolies ,government or private sector0 and do not

necessarily reflect society%s value of forest products and services, forests are important to the rural poor, a social group that has little political influence and therefore little economic influence. 7orests that are perceived to have low value will e cleared and replaced y other more attractive land uses. It is important that people%s perceptions e ased on as complete an understanding as possi le of the true value of all the goods and services that forests provide. In recent years, much has een said and much written a out the potential of oth ecotourism and pharmaceutical research as saviours of the tropical forests. $hile these can e important alternatives to slash!and! urn farming at a very local level, they have a limited potential to impact glo al land use. The magnitude of the challenge and the need for meaningful enefit!sharing with the hundreds of millions of persons involved dwarfs their limited potential to generate grassroots enefits. &n the other hand, the economic potential of the forests% car on sequestration and storage capacity could e enormous under the #oint implementation agreements that are coming out of the climate change convention. 5.5 )ea& *o ern!ent Institutions ! 1any institutional failures have een identified as contri uting factors to deforestation. In most countries, forestry departments have a low status within governments relative to competing land uses, reflecting the economic power ase in the countries. Typically, forestry departments are handicapped y poorly paid staff, inadequate udgets, lack of staff, and lack of staff training. As a consequence, the departments have een ineffective in successfully putting forth pro!forestry arguments to the political decision!makers and to the pu lic at large. >ven when there are adequate policies and legislation in place, the weakness of the departments in enforcing the law, resisting political pressures, and maintaining a field presence has red contempt and indifference for the law. ?orruption in government has had a disastrous impact on forest conservation. It has een evident at all levels of government and includes such actions as influencing the granting of tim er concessions and tim er!cutting permits, giving approval to clear the forest for ranching or agriculture, undergrading the value of tim er exports, condoning illegal logging, even allowing the cutting of endangered tree species. ;overnment officials have looked the other way in return for under the ta le cash payments or for political support. The end result has een that government decisions have een taken with an eye to the personal enefits for the ureaucrats taking the ri es rather than to sustaina le forest management, a loss in government revenues

that could otherwise e used to fund sustaina le forestry, and a lack of incentives for the private investors to practice sustaina le forest management. ?orruption also undermines the respect for forestry departments at large as administrators of the law. This has had a direct impact on people%s attitudes towards the forestry departments% efforts to stop deforestation. Although universally recognized as a pro lem, the lack of coordination of the policies of the various government agencies continues to frustrate sustaina le development efforts. 2arrow sectoral analysis and planning processes have led agencies to adopt conflicting o #ectives, having produced them without due consultation and consideration of their impacts on neigh ouring sectors. ;overnment leadership in land use planning has een universally very weak, due in part to a planning process that has een non!participatory in nature. If interest groups do not uy into the land use plan for their own perceived enefits, the plan ecomes non!functional. -ealizing this, international donor agencies are choosing to work more and more with non governmental partners that have strong links to the local populations. 1any government agencies, not only the forestry departments, have prepared am itious plans that are far eyond their capacity to implement. The resulting failures contri ute to the growing distrust and lack of respect for government and to the current disillusionment with government and its role in society. Internationally, forestry has suffered from the lack of strong leadership. This has manifested itself countless times in international fora where forestry and forest!related concerns have received lower priority than other sectors y decision!makers when allocating resources. 5.+ Social Factors ! 7aced with political decisions a out ur an migration, food production, agrarian reform, employment generation, national security, economic structural ad#ustment, and all the other issues that demand their attentionE many governments have opted to ignore deforestation. Deforestation has een a safety valve that has helped to take the socioeconomic pressure off other areas, there y avoiding political turmoil that would inevita ly come. $hile politically expedient, this has een a very short!sighted approach that is not in the long term interest of anyone. In many cultures, 8common8 resources like pu licly owned forests are not looked upon as opportunities for collective management of valua le resources. They are perceived as 8free8 commodities to e used y anyone, free from government

regulation. -ather than eing managed for the common good, they are a used and neglected. $ithout a sense of ownership, there is no incentive to manage the resource. In most countries, forestry development has een characterized y centralized planning and management of the resource. ;overnment departments have een created to act as the pu lic%s custodian of the trees and the land upon which they grow. 7orestry department activities like tax collection and cutting control have usually een more important than extension and cooperation with rural communities. As populations have grown and their demands on the resource increased, governments have egun to look for new, more democratic approaches to managing forests. 1any countries lack a 8forest culture8, an appreciation y the population of the value of forests to their society and a tradition of managing the resource for the collective enefit of all. 7orests are often looked upon as impediments to development. In other societies, communities have traditionally managed their forests ut recent changes in their political systems have destroyed the custom. 7or example, the forests of the $estern "rovince of Gam ia were managed y the "aramount ?hief through the 8induna8 system where the harvest was regulated, taxes collected, fines levied, and a rudimentary system of forest management employed. This system, which functioned well for generations, was dissolved at independence. -ural people now have less respect for the forests ecause they do not perceive them to e theirs, rather they are seen as eing the property of the 4tate. &ther land uses, like the cattle ranching industry in Datin America, have een a traditional part of the local culture since colonial times. The image of the cattle rancher is a role model much respected in Datin American societies. In terms of forestry development, the types of interest groups can e very diverse ! indigenous peoples, forest communities, small farmers, livestock herders, forest industrialists, forestry department staff, charcoal urners, asically any group that uses the forest resources. 4pecial Interest ;roups ! Different "erspectives on Tropical 7orests 4pecial interest group 7orestry perspective environmentalists ! concerned a out preservation of forests, conservation of iodiversity, and possi le negative impacts of development ,e.g. flooding, climate change0

small farmers ! interested in clearing the forests provides land to grow crops and provides family with economic security ranchers ! interested in clearing the forests to sow pasture for cattle foresters ! interested in managing forests for the sustaina le flow of their goods and services and the maintenance of the iological functioning of their ecosystems loggers ! interested in cutting commercial tim ers to produce wood products communities H indigenous peoples ! want more economic enefits from forests, guaranteed access for hunting and harvesting forest products, continued water supply politicians ! developing the forests for agriculture or logging creates immediate #o s, prosperity and tax revenues for governmentE also temporarily relieves the pressures of need for farm land, #o s, and poverty alleviation international community ! concerned a out sustaina le economic growth, the future of a world heritage, preservation of forests and their iodiversity source= adapted from $?74DE http=BBwww... &ne of the lessons of the last 3( years of trying to contain deforestation is that the people who are meant to enefit from the forests must e full partners in the process of identifying and implementing solutions. The word participation means many things to many people, and it is often descri ed in forest conservation programs from the wrong perspective. -eferences are constantly made to 8involving the communities8, 8insuring people%s participation8, or getting a 8consensus of stakeholders8. The implication in these phrases is that the o #ective is to get the people to uy into some notion of development conceived y planners from outside the locality. It is mistakenly elieved that the community%s involvement through consultation will fine tune the planned activities of a pro#ect so it will e more successful. Those intentions, although well meant, approach participation from the wrong perspective. True participation is the process y which people identify their own pro lems and agree on a course of action to solve them. ;overnments can assist with the material and human resources that people do not have at their disposal. In this sense, participation really means government and development agencies helping people to solve their pro lems, not people ecoming involved in pro#ects conceived y government. The distinction etween these two approaches is significant, with profound implications for conserving the tropical forests. "articipation can e oth active and passive. "assive participation was the typical involvement witnessed in past decades when people were consulted after the conceptualization and planning of a pro#ect, when merely employing people was a

measure of participation, or when people were the involuntary, and at times unknowing, 8 eneficiaries8 of development pro#ects. >ssentially, development proceeded on people%s ehalf and in spite of them. 1ost efforts to cur deforestation met with resistance. Active participation is the current approach taken y many 2;&s and too few government departments. In this case, people lead the development process to solve their pro lems according to their priorities. Their local knowledge of their forest and other natural resources and their traditional skills in managing them are the asis for development and for protection of the forest. "articipation means the self!empowerment of the resource users through their own efforts and their acceptance of oth enefits and o ligations. It means sharing power in the making of decisions, it means sharing the enefits that come from resource management, and it means acquiring tenure to the forest resource. Direct Causes 5., Slas-.and./urn Far!ing ! @y far the most important agents of deforestation glo ally are the slash!and! urn farmers who live in or on the margins of all of the world%s tropical forests. It is estimated that small farming families account for nearly )B3 of all deforestation ,-owe et al, '..)0. 84lash!and! urn8 farming includes a diverse collection of farming systems from long fallow shifting cultivation to short fallow shifting cultivation to forest pioneer farming. <nlike traditional farming methods that were used in harmony with the forests% recuperative capacity, current slash!and! urn farming depletes the very soil resource upon which all agriculture and forestry depend. &ne of the strong commonalities of all slash!and! urn farmers is that they are among the poorest, most marginalized groups of their societies and have little or no influence on the important land use policy decisions made in their countries. long fallow shifting cultivation short fallow shifting cultivation forest pioneer farming ! long fallow rotation ! traditional ! mainly su sistence crops ! mainly self!generated capital ! far from ur an areas ! minimal to moderate cause of deforestation ! short fallow rotation ! semi!traditional ! mixed su sistence H cash crops ! mixed capital sources

! intermediate distance to ur an areas ! moderate to serious cause of deforestation ! no rotation ! modern ! mainly cash crops ! mainly outside capital ! close to ur an areas ! serious cause of deforestation ,source= adapted from @rown and 4chrecken erg, '..50 In his landmark ook, The "rimary 4ource ,1eyers, '..)0E 2orman 1eyers coined the phrase 8shifted cultivator8 to descri e the peasant farmer who has left his traditional farm lands in search of new opportunities on the forest frontier. $ith a growing local population, restricted access to ara le land, and few economic alternativesE the shifted cultivator has een forced to migrate to forested state lands to esta lish a new farm and homestead. The shifted cultivator is the typical slash!and! urn farmer of 1exico and ?entral America, the Amazon, parts of $est Africa, the "hilippines, and the settlement schemes in Indonesia !! the typical slash!and! urn farmers of the second half of the )(th century. They are unlike the traditional farmers who have practiced sustaina le shifting cultivation for centuries. At times, the shifted cultivators have moved to ecosystems unfamiliar to them where many of their traditional practices are not applica le, as was the case of the "eruvian farmers who colonized much of the east slopes of the Andes. -ather than the villains of the deforestation cycle, small farmers are its victims. "risoners of illiteracy and endemic poverty, and driven y the lack of access to ara le lands and the lack of alternative employment opportunities, su sistence farming families must survive y clearing the forests to plant their crops. Typically, they cultivate less than two hectares in a year and their important crops are corn, eans, cassava, plantains, and upland rice, depending on the region. 4econdary crops include coffee, cacao, citrus and other fruits, vegeta les, and a few head of livestock. In times of low population density and land a undance, slash!and! urn farming has een an environmentally sustaina le and economically sound alternative for growing food crops on fragile tropical soils. 9owever, as populations have grown and land has ecome scarce, farming has ecome more intensive, making it unsustaina le with diminishing economic returns. Their farms are on soils not suited to sustaina le farming and, as a consequence, they must a andon their fields after two

or three years of cropping and move on to new forests to clear. 7or most, it is a day! to!day fight for survival with their family%s future dependent on the fortunes of the next uncertain crop. Their la ours are rewarded y only meager cash incomes that keep them well elow the poverty line. 5.0 Co!!ercial Agriculture ! In contrast to su sistence farming, commercial or plantation agriculture is often agri usiness practiced y corporations. Important plantation crops in the tropics include sugar, palm oil, natural ru er, coffee, cacao, and tropical fruits , ananas, citrus, etc.0. ?ommercial agriculture%s role in deforestation is two!fold. 7irst, agri usiness can indirectly result in deforestation. ?ommercial farms occupy the est, most fertile agricultural soils located in the valleys. As a consequence, this land is not availa le to the growing rural population that depends on agriculture for their su sistence. $ithout access to farmland in their immediate area, farming families have had to relocate to less fertile, less productive forested land. In 9onduras in the '.6(s, thousands of small farmers and ranchers were displaced from the north coast valleys to make way for the esta lishment of oil palm cooperatives. They were pushed onto the steep forested slopes and enchlands and proceeded to clear them for farms and pasture. 4econd, agri usiness can e a direct cause of deforestation. Through a concession agreement, land purchase, or an informal land occupationE companies take possession of forested land with the intention of converting it to another use. As illustrated in the preceding graph, the area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has skyrocketed in the last '* years. This has een at the expense of the natural forests and of the fallow rush that comes in after slash!and ! urn farming. The Indonesian experience with oil palm has een replicated in many other tropical countries in recent years. >xamples of other important agricultural tree crops that are cultivated on forest lands include coffee, cacao, citrus, and ru er. In addition to the negative environmental impacts that are common to all forms of deforestation, commercial agriculture often rings with it a series of pro lems related to the use of agrochemicals including deterioration of workers% health and the contamination of crops, soils, and ground water. 5.1 Cattle Ranc-ing and #i estoc& *ra2ing ! ?attle ranching, particularly in Datin America, is a ma#or cause of deforestation. -anchers either occupy large tracts of forests and clear the land themselves or they uy the 8improvements8 made y small farmers. Traditionally, ranchers favoured the more easily managed range and pasture

lands of the dry forest zones, ut for the last four decades there has een intensive clearing of the moist tropical forests in oth 4outh America and ?entral America. &pen!range grazing as is practiced in the dry woodlands and savannas of Africa can e a ma#or contri utor to deforestation when herd populations exceed the carrying capacity of the range. It can also seriously degrade the composition and quality of the forest when practiced too intensively. &ne of the more well!known regions where the expansion of cattle ranching has caused serious deforestation is ?entral America. -anching has een part of the culture of rural ?entral America since colonial times. Dominated y large landowners, it was concentrated on the fertile valley soils of the central highlands of the isthmus and along the dry "acific coast. $ith the opening of American markets for cheap eef and improved local infrastructure in the second half of this century, ranchers expanded their operations y moving into the humid forests of the Atlantic watershed. ?attle pasture was originally esta lished in the flat valley ottoms on soils est suited for permanent agriculture, ut eventually spread to the forests in the surrounding mountains. 1any ranchers took possession of large tracts of forested land and contracted la ourers to clear it with chainsaws and fire. A more common method of acquiring new pasture land was to purchase the 8improvements8 to the untitled land held y slash!and! urn farmers. These so!called 8improvements8 were little more than a few opening in the forest made y the farmers to plant their crops. After o taining the squatter%s rights, the rancher would then finish the land clearing, sow the grass, and fence in the property. &nce the land was transferred to the rancher, the farmer would vacate the property and move deeper into the forest to repeat the same cycle of deforestation. Although relia le land use data is not availa le, it is estimated that the area of land under permanent pasture in ?entral America increased from 3.. million hectares in '.** to '3./ million hectares in '..* ,4underlin and -odriguez, '..+E 7A&, '..50. The more than tripling of the pasture area was at the expense of the region%s tropical forests. -anching was a very attractive alternative to other land uses in that it was reasona ly profita le in the short term, carried only moderate levels of risk and uncertainty, required little la our, and had well esta lished markets with less volatile price fluctuations than other cash crops. @eef production rose until '.6. when it levelled off ecause of a softening in the demand and the imposition of American importation restrictions. In conclusion, cattle ranching has een an important direct cause of deforestation in

the latter half of this century, particularly in Datin America. The expansion of cattle pasture is closely linked to slash!and! urn agriculture through land speculation in forest land. 5.13 %ining and Petroleu! E4ploration ! 1ining and oil exploration are locally important to deforestation. Darge mines like those of ?ara#Is in @razil and the ?opper elt of Gam ia consumed vast quantities of indigenous woodlands to supply fuel to their smelting operations efore plantations of fast!growing species were esta lished. The impact of gold mining has een widely pu licized, particularly placer mining in the Amazon, ut its negative impacts have affected the indigenous peoples and the quality of the water more than the ad#acent forests. &il exploration activities, such as the clearing of the seismic lines in the forests of eastern >cuador, not only destroy the forests ut also open them up to colonization y su sistence farmers who follow the exploration crews.

5.11 In(rastructure De elop!ent ! The construction of new roads has a profound impact on the forest. The Trans!Amazonian highway opened up millions of square kilometres of previously inaccessi le forest to colonization and expansion of the cattle industry. 1ain arteries were soon followed y secondary roads that penetrate deeper into the forest, eventually producing a wide swath of deforested land on either side of the road. All roads that are constructed with the purpose of providing etter access to less developed regions within a country tend to push up real estate values for non! forest uses and encourage land speculation and deforestation. Dogging roads are among the most important types of access roads that facilitate deforestation. 9ydroelectric development is another important factor in deforestation. -eservoirs flood forest lands and transmission line right!of!ways are cut out of the forest to carry the energy to consumers, causing permanent losses of forest cover. 7orests are also encroached upon y industrial and residential development as populations grow and cities extend outward.

Role o( Forest E4ploitation and Plantation De elop!ent 7or the most part, firewood collection and logging are not direct causes of

deforestation, however, they do produce a change in the composition of the natural forest and can increase the risk of a su sequent transition in favour of other land uses. In some circumstances, deforestation can result when harvesting occurs under very sensitive environmental conditions or when it is very intense over a long period of time. In the case of tree plantations, replacing the natural forest with plantations results in a loss of natural forest area ut it does not cause deforestation ecause there has een no permanent change in land use. 5.1" Fuel5ood Collection and C-arcoal %a&ing ! 7uelwood is the most important wood product in developing countries where it accounts for 5( per cent of all wood used. >ven with predicted fuel su stitution from electricity, kerosine, and propane, it is not expected that this dependence on fuelwood will change significantly efore the end of the )'st century. $orldwide, nearly 3,((( million people use fuelwood as their principal source of energy, particularly in rural areas and particularly among the least privileged groups in society. In many places, fuelwood collection, while not completely destroying the forests and woodlands, significantly impoverishes them and alters the ha itat y the selective removal of preferred species. 9owever, around ur an areas there is often a ring of denuded land that has een stripped of all its com usti le material y people trying to meet their asic energy needs. $ith very intensive collection over a long period of time, the original trees and shru s loose their a ility to coppice and die out, giving way to a different mix of plant species. 2iamey in 2iger and Dusaka in Gam ia are two well known African examples of this process. 7uelwood is collected mostly from unregulated commons and, as a consequence, is very sensitive to overexploitation as the population increases. 5.1$ #ogging ! 7A& ,'..30 reports that there are almost six million hectares logged annually in the tropics and that the rate of logging has dou led in the last 3( years. Dike most forest sector statistics, these estimates are not precise due to the poor record keeping and lack of field supervision of logging operations. The greatest increase in activity can e found in Asia and Datin America while the annual area logged in Africa has remained somewhat constant. Fery few natural forests in the tropics are managed professionally. "oore, in his well! known and much quoted ITT& study, estimated that the less than ' per cent of the total productive forest area in the tropics was under some system of sustained yield management ,"oore et.al.'.5.0. Dogging in the tropics does not in any way resem le

scientific forestry and is often characterized y a 8cut!and!get!out8 mentality in logging companies. 7orestry uses science and management skills to manipulate the natural vegetation to favor the long term production of a selected num er of goods and services. In contrast, most tropical logging involves the short term exploitation of only industrial wood products with no eye to the future of the forests. This approach has led many o servers to the conclusion that sustaina le forest management is not possi le in tropical forests.

Although the intensity of logging is low in most tropical forests with most of the original tim er eing left standing, there is high felling damage and residual waste, no long!term regulation of the harvest, and poor natural regeneration of commercially useful species. The intensity of logging in 4outh >ast Asia%s diptocarp forests is much higher than in the tropical forests found in Datin America or Africa. The removal of high volumes per hectare has led to serious degradation of the diptocarp forests, even causing their destruction in extreme cases where clear!cutting has een used. "oorly designed logging roads damage watercourses and cause severe soil erosion. The intrusion of men and logging machinery with the resulting changes in the forest ecosystem, displaces many forms of animal life, particularly irds and larger mammals. >nvironmentally appropriate silviculture systems have failed in the tropics, not for ecological reasons, ut ecause they lack the appropriate policy and strong institutional frameworks in which to operate. $ithout question, logging continues to e the principal cause of forest degradation in the tropics ut not one of the principal causes of deforestation. 9owever, there are examples of logging eing the direct cause of deforestation. Intensive logging in 4outh >ast Asia has resulted in the invasion of Imperata grass !! a noxious weed that excludes most other vegetation !! on thousands of hectares of once forested land. In this example, deforestation has occurred without the intervention of one of the competing land uses like farming or grazing. In terms of its contri ution to deforestation, the single most important failing of governments and forest products companies has een their ina ility to maintain a permanent forest estate. 4ustaina le forest management assumes that once the forest has een logged, it will remain a forest until the end of the rotation or to the end of the next cutting cycle and eyond. In most cases, this does not happen. $hen the logging is finished, the farmers, agri usiness agents, ranchers, and fuelwood collectors move in to clear the land for other economic uses. "reviously inaccessi le tracts of frontier forest are opened up y logging companies when they uild new haul roads, open new

skid trails, and remove a portion of the forest iomass, making it easy for the other land users to clear the remaining trees. In short, logging provides them access to the forests. Throughout the tropics, production forests are inadequately protected from this type of encroachment, despite the fact that management plans and concession agreements o lige oth government and industry to do so. Although usually well meant, many government policies in the forest sector are counter!productive in that they produce undesira le, unforeseen impacts that are detrimental to the sustaina le development of tropical forests. 7or example, logging concession agreements are meant to e a tool to regulate the commercial exploitation of forests ut they can have negative impacts on the resource and increase the suscepti ility to deforestation. ?oncessions are given out for tim er extraction without consideration to the other goods and services produced y the forest nor the impact exploitation can have on local people. ?oncessions are usually short term, often less than '( years in duration and always less than the rotation of the tim er crop. $ithout a long term commitment, the concessionaire has no incentive to protect the forest from encroachment or invest in forest management. 4tumpage, the tax the government charges loggers for uying pu lic tim er, is almost always lower than the real cost of forest management. This type of depressed pricing undervalues the resource and makes it appear less economically attractive to other land usesE i.e. it is an incentive to deforest. Dow pricing encourages waste which in turn results in degradation of the forest and su sequent deforestation. 5.1' Tree Plantations ! It is estimated that in '..* there were more than /+ million hectares of tree plantations in developing countries, excluding those found in ?hina ,7A&, '..60. The annual rate of plantation esta lishment in the '.5(s was approximately '.* million hectares of which 3* to /( per cent were industrial wood plantations and the remaining +( to +* per cent were community woodlots, agroforestry, and environmental plantings ,7A&, '..60. 7or the most part they are even!aged, single!species plantations. There has een a growing interest in Indonesia and @razil in esta lishing plantations to produce fast!growing fi re of >ucalyptus and Acacia for the glo al pulp and paper industry. There are many issues concerning tree plantations that are not related to deforestation that will not e touched on here ! e.g. sustaina ility, genetic impoverishment, soil depletion, danger of insect and disease. Darge tracts of heterogenous natural forests have een cut down in the past to plant more uniform, more easily managed monocultures. The :ari pro#ect in @razil is a well

known example of this practice, as are some of the recently esta lished plantations in 4outh >ast Asia. Darge areas of forest fallow and 8logged!out8 forests in Indonesia are eing converted to Acacia plantations to grow pulp wood. The current area of tree plantations of the 8Top '(8 deforesting countries is estimated as follows= Tree "lantation Area of the 8Top '(8 Deforesting ?ountries ,hectares0 ?ountry '..* area Annual area planted . ?ountry '..* area Annual area planted @razil /,.((,((( '.*,((( . Fenezuela )*3,((( '6,((( Indonesia +,')*,((( 33),((( . 1alaysia ''',((( +,((( ".-. ?ongo *+,((( 3,((( . 1yanmar )6+,((( )(,((( @olivia 33,((( ',((( . 4udan )3(,((( .,((( 1exico '3(,((( +,((( . Thailand *).,((( ).,((( ,source= adapted from= 7A&, '..6E $-I, '../0 The annual area of new plantations esta lished in the 8Top '(8 deforesting countries is approximately +)(,((( hectares or less than '( per cent of the 6./ million hectares deforested in those same countries each year. Tree plantations have the potential to produce su stantial enefits in terms of supplying wood and fi re and sequestering atmospheric car on that could potentially outweigh the costs of losing natural forest. ?ar on sequestration and storage is still an emerging issue and the values that will e assigned to car on!sink plantations are still not known. In theory, the sequestration and storage values could su stantially exceed those of the values of the wood and non!wood forest products. <niversal standards will have to e developed to guide plantation esta lishment to ensure that natural forests are not destroyed in the name of ameliorating glo al warming. The vast areas of unproductive forest fallow found throughout the tropics could e made availa le for new plantations, making it unnecessary to distur the remaining natural forests. Are tree plantations a cause of deforestationC 2o, they are not. Along with the natural forests, plantations form part of a country%s forest estate. True, they are different from natural forests in their species composition and complexity, in their contri ution to

iological diversity, in their management regimes, and in the enefits and values they ring to society ut they are still forests !! a different type of forests. Analog forest plantations can also e the first step in a long!term strategy to restore degraded lands with forests of similar species composition and structure to the original forests. $hat constitutes a 8forest8 is an issue of pu lic de ate in some countries with many environmental groups proposing that plantations are not true 8forests8 and equating them to agricultural crops like corn or wheat. This is a de ate that goes eyond mere semantics to our perceptions and expectations of forests% roles in the environment and their potential contri ution to the welfare of 9umankind. It should e noted that the term 8tree plantations8 is understood in this issues paper to include only those plantations that produce wood and non!wood forest products. In 4outh!>ast Asia, the term 8tree plantations8 is also used to refer to agricultural plantations like oil palms, ru er, coconuts, fruit trees, and the like. They are treated in 4ection *.'( ?ommercial Agriculture.