There can be no other means to express the seriousness of the problem regarding deforestation.
This is the wanton yet systematic destruction of the earth’s natural forests. This is brought about by the obvious culprits and these are the people and organizations that want to make huge profits at the expense of future losses from flooding and other natural calamities brought about by a damaged ecosystem. It seems that progress demands a price to steep to pay. In the future the human race will lament all that has been done and at the same time the apathy of the majority in not taking a stand against those who strip the earth bare.But for the moment there is no evidence of more aggressive measures and more deliberate policies that will reverse the trend. This is especially true in developing countries where governments turn a blind eye to unsustainable logging practices.
For as much as they want to preserve the ecosystems, the lure of economic wealth is too tempting to pass up. In so doing the officials and policymakers from these countries will be held responsible for the coming backlash. The inevitable will happen and the National Geographic Society is just one of the many organizations sounding the alarm and it reads like this:By most estimates, the world's forests continue to disappear at an alarming rate. Logging, fires, and land-clearing for agriculture and grazing account for most of the loss. In some places, the green Earth is turning to desert. (see nationalgeographic.
com, 2006) The last few phrases – earth, turning to desert – is more than a wake-up call. It is time to pay more serious attention to global deforestation. In this study, two countries will be compared to each other on the basis of environmental policies, specifically dealing with forest denudation.The two countries are China, representing the East and Brazil’s Amazon representing the West.
This paper will also tackle the underlying factors that contribute to the extreme difficulty of curbing the disastrous consequences of deforestation. China's Problem To easily understand what is going on in China it would be helpful to focus on one region.In the WordWatch Institute website, an organization driven to help save nature, an observation was made regarding Fujian Province in China that boasts the highest forest coverage, “... Fujian Province has seen a growing deficit in its forest resources, with annual consumption far exceeding net annual growth over the past four decades” (2006).
In a nutshell what is happening in Fujian Province is also occurring somewhere else in the nations forest reserves. The reason for the increased reduction of forest cover was given by Li Zhenji, Associate Professor of Ecology at Xiamen University, who remarked that, “... natural forests in Fujian's northern Jian'ou City have been gradually converted to bamboo forests and orchards since the 1980s, these now cover for one-tenth of the total area” (see WorldWatch Institute, 2006).The explanation for the rapid degradation of forests is not a secret.
China is home to more than a billion Chinese. Zhang et al had mor to say regarding the impact of the population explosion on the environment: China's human population has increased about 2. 5 times over the past 50 years, yet the human population in forested areas has incrased five fold. Scientists foresaw the potential conflict between human population growth and forest resource use and began advocating changes in China's foreign policy as early as the 1960s. They had little success ” (2000).The World Wildlife Fund on the other hand gives an explanation as of the sudden turn-around, “In August 1998, following a summer of devastating floods, the Chinese government announced immediate logging bans in natural forest in 17 provinces and accelerated its formulation of a nationwide Natural Forest Protection Program or NFPP” (see WWF China, 2006).
This resulted in the shutting down of State-owned logging companies or forcing them to adopt a more sustainable forest management schemes.An example of the commitment to reverse the trend can be seen in the Grain-to-Green policy where farms are converted into forests by giving grain subsidies in exchange for reforestation. (WWF China, 2006). The Problem in the Amazon What is happening in China is similar to what is happening to the natural forest of the Amazon. But to have a correct understanding of the scale of destruction, the Word Wildlife Fund has this to say, “With 26,000 square kilometers lost last year -more than half the size of Switzerland – the annual deforestation rate in the Amazon has again increased and is at its second highest ever.
Almost 17 percent of the natural vegetation in the Brazilian Amazon has already been devastated” (see WWF Amazon, 2005). The explanation for this surge in deforestation was explained by scientists who while using data obtained from NASA satellites made the following conclusions, “…NASA satellite data have found that clearing for mechanized cropland has recently become a significant force in Brazilian Amazon deforestation […] in 2003, the peak year of deforestation, more than 20 percent of the stat’s forests were converted to cropland” (NASA, 2006).What is ironic about this is that the Brazilian government made plans and initiatives to lower the rate of deforestation in the same year of 2003. It is no wonder why Woods Hole Research Center asserts that, “…simply implementing existing laws and proposed protected areas would spare the Amazon one million square kilometers of deforestation (one fifth of the entire forest area) “ (see Woods Hole Research, 2006) Comparing Both Countries China and Brazil are similar in many accounts when it comes to forest denudation.Both countries are similar in the rapid decrease of forest cover. The two countries are also similar on the general causes why there is an urge to cut more trees.
The need for more timber is fueled by increasing population and increasing demand for forest products. China as an emerging superpower could not afford to slow down in growing as an economic power. Brazil on the other hand could not be faulted for wanting to be in the winner’s circle and in order for that to happen Brazil has to cut into forest reserves and look deeper into Amazon jungles to get fresh resources.In both nations the numbers are the same – there is increasing use of forest products while experiencing a decrease in replacing what was taken. In short logging practices are not sustainable and that there is clearly poor management of natural resources. That is where all similarities end.
The differences between two countries are also distinct. Forests in China are cleared for bamboo and orchards while forests in Brazil are cleared to give way for more croplands. Another major difference is that Brazil have inconsistent policies that encourages illegal activities (see WWF, Amazon Deforestation, 2005).While the Chinese government was willing to shut down state owned logging companies in hopes of eliminating the possibility of man induced natural calamities. The efforts of the Chinese government bore fruit, Zhang et al, where able to confirm initial successes: Timber harvests from China’s natural forests were reduced from 32 million cubic meters in 1997 to 29 million cubic meters in 1999. It is projected that timber harvests in 2000 will be 14 million cubic meters, with still lower harvest levels thereafter.
(2000)The problem of forest denudation is similar in every corner of the globe. The same factors and forces are at work. Economic pressure and the burgeoning human population exerts heavy pressure on a fragile ecosystem. Yet in comparing two countries China and Brazil it was shown that different groups of people can respond to a crisis in two different ways. China chose to be tough while Brazil opted to be double-minded in its policy making and implementation of laws.
There is no question which government has seen the long term effects of the rapid rate of forest destruction.
