Stopping Tropical Deforestation

Possible solutions to the problem of tropical deforestation are offered in this article. by John Revington {mosgoogle}"If there is to be even a small chance to relay the pressures on tropical biota, fundamental changes in the World Trade system and the basic relationships between rich and poor nations must take place. " (Anne and Paul Ehrlich 1988) [1] As described in an article in the last issue (The Causes of Tropical Deforestation) the basic cause of most rain forest destruction is misguided development. Any "solutions " to the problem which fail to recognise the underlying cause can at best have limited success, and in many cases, they make the situation worse. Realistic solutions must be based on the realisation that tropical deforestation characteristically involves the disempowerment of traditional landowners, and their rights must be respected. False Solutions: 1. "Sustainable " Commercial Logging On a governmental level, attempted solutions to deforestation caused by the timber industry have emphasised the necessity of supporting sustainable timber extraction. Such approaches assume, without supporting evidence, that rainforests can be used as an industrial resource base for timber on a sustainable basis. This has resulted in more rather than less deforestation. The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) has had to acknowledge that serious attempts at sustainable management of tropical rainforests for timber production are on a world scale, "negligible"