Timber Producers, Importers Take 1st Steps to Save Tropical Rain Forests

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Although they didn’t agree on everything, 40 timber-producing and consuming nations have decided to take their first practical steps toward saving the world’s tropical rain forests.

Some conservationists say that rain forests are disappearing rapidly and that uncontrolled logging is the chief cause.

Member nations of the International Tropical Timber Organization reached the decision after a week of meetings here. While the atmosphere often was discordant, conservationists view the outcome with some optimism.

“It’s justifiable to say progress has been made--it’s a turning point,” said Charles Secrett, rain forest campaign coordinator for the London-based Friends of the Earth International, and one of several international conservationists who attended as observers. “Prior to this meeting, there was a very real danger of the whole thing collapsing.

“But we’re having to balance small gains against a lot of inaction. It’s a bit like a patient on a life-support system. It’s still alive but not cured.”

Estimates of Doom

He and others estimate that only seven or eight decades remain before the forests could disappear, and with them, nearly half of the world’s species. Some warn that such destruction could mean a mass extinction on a scale not seen since the time of the dinosaurs.

Already, excessive logging and its effects have destroyed half of the world’s tropical rain forests, which make up 7% of the Earth’s land, and each year another 50 million acres disappear.

The timber organization meetings March 23-27 centered on administrative matters, including a decision to meet again in November and to base six more staff at its new headquarters in this port city near Tokyo.

But the organization, which includes 22 timber-consuming countries and 18 producers, also will administer the International Tropical Timber Agreement, a global commodity pact approved two years ago after 10 years of debate.

Conservation Chief Aim

The agreement emphasizes research and market studies and is the only such pact with conservation as a chief aim.

The sessions also brought progress on funding.

Members allocated $640,000 for preliminary work on projects ranging from market studies in Italy to broad programs of conservation in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the three main producing regions.

Christopher Rose, campaigns officer for the World Wide Fund for Nature International, said he had worried that members were not taking the timber pact seriously, but “now we see it will become a functioning organization with its own identity.”

Japan Avoids Ire

Host country Japan largely avoided the conservationists’ ire, after years of being assailed as a prime cause of tropical forest devastation.

“We have to stop (destructive logging),” Nobutoshi Akao, deputy director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ economic affairs bureau, said. “I’m not saying we’re not guilty. I admit that kind of thing has been pointed out by many quarters. We are fully aware of the importance of this issue.”

Japan, which imports mainly from Southeast Asia, is the largest user of forest products, consuming 20% of all products sold on world markets. Importing mainly raw logs instead of processed products, which would mean greater profits for producing countries, Japan uses 70% of its imports to make plywood.

“Japan is, in a sense, the linchpin for the future,” Secrett. “If we can change Japan’s trade and policies, the positive knock-offs will be stupendous.”

U.S. 2nd Importer

The United States ranks second worldwide in forestry imports, but brings in mostly processed products. Europe ranks third.

Among producers, most African forests are depleted. While Southeast Asian nations are still major exporters, their forests are rapidly vanishing. Latin America, with the healthiest forest tracts in the world, is also a major exporter.

Environmentalists said that the most urgent need is to define “sustainable forestry” to allow producer countries to balance trade demands with conservation needs.

“Defining sustainable logging is the pivotal next step. We need that definition,” Randall Hayes, director of the U.S.-based Rainforest Action Network, said. “In Southeast Asia, for example, they don’t have another decade to decide whether they’ll sit at a square or a round table.”

Time Wasted

B .C .Y. Freezailah, executive director of the timber organization, acknowledged that his group has wasted time.

“It has taken 10 years to come into being and in those 10 years, 10% of the world’s rain forests have been destroyed to various degrees,” he said.

But, said Freezailah, who is also deputy director general of Malaysia’s Forestry Department, “I am optimistic.”

‘It’s justifiable to say progress has been made--it’s a turning point. But we’re having to balance small gains against a lot of inaction. It’s a bit like a patient on a life-support system. It’s still alive but not cured.’

Charles Secrett

Friends of the Earth International