Southeast Asia: Transition among the Nagas - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 406

of the population) tend to have about two children each,
while Malays and other indigenous groups average close
to three children each. In Southeast Asia, the use of birth
control is at 60 percent, with contraceptive use rising with
educational level. A major problem is access to contracep-
tion, as in remote areas of Vietnam and the Philippines.

logs, which was fully implemented by 1988. Most Japan-
ese companies withdrew from the Indonesian timber in-
dustry , but Japan remains the largest importer of
Indonesian plywood. This example shows the relation-
ship between one country' s political and economic activ-
ities and environmental consequences in another.
Although several countries have taken steps to con-
trol wholesale forest destruction, illegal logging contin-
ues. Deforestation, with its accompanying soil erosion
and habitat elimination (Chapter 2), continues as one of
the major issues in the region.

Environmental Concerns

The most severe environmental problem in Southeast
Asia is deforestation. While slash-and-burn cultivation,
clearing for migrant settlement, and the development of
tree crop plantations are important causes, perhaps the
most important is commercial logging. The forests of
Southeast Asia have high commercial value in addition to
high yields. Much of today' s imported wood products
originate in these forests.
Commercial logging is a lucrative activity . The en-
tire process has involved considerable corruption, es-
pecially in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and
Thailand. Much forest is logged illegally . In other
cases, timber exports are under-invoiced and the logs
smuggled overseas. Most logs from the Philippines are
exported illegally . Finally , timber concessions are
granted for political or money favors. Who has access
to and control of forests is one of the most salient aspects
of their use today .
Southeast Asian sources of tropical timber products
are concentrated in the Philippines, the Malaysian states
of Sarawak and Sabah, and Indonesia' s outer islands. The
primary destination of logs and related products is Japan,
which has been the world' s largest importer of tropical
timber since the 1960s. Forest devastation has been so
great that today only Sarawak continues to export raw
logs legally .
Timber extraction in Southeast Asia is related to
Japan' s investment and development plans in the region.
For example, Japan' s early role in the timber industry in
Kalimantan began with technical assistance in exchange
for timber export agreements. After 1967, most of the
major Japanese trading companies such as Mitsubishi,
Mitsui, and Sumitomo were involved in loaning money
for infrastructural development, including access roads
into timber areas. In 1971, Indonesia replaced the Philip-
pines as Japan' s first source of raw logs, which were
largely processed into plywood in Japan.
By 1980, after rampant forest destruction, Indonesia
shifted its efforts to develop its own forest products in-
dustry . It also began a phased ban on the export of raw

Conflicts at Sea

T Territorial conflicts have permeated the history of South-
east Asia. Given this ocean-bound world, it is no surprise
that some conflicts would be over ocean spaces. Control
over ocean space becomes critical when natural resources
are involved, as in the case of the Paracel and Spratly is-
lands where fishing rights and oil potential drive coun-
tries to occupy islands, reefs, rocky outcrops, and
anything else sticking out of the ocean.

DISPUTED ISLANDS
The Paracels are disputed islands and reefs approxi-
mately 16 degrees north of the equator and about
233 miles (375 km) east of Da Nang in Vietnam. They
were a part of French Indochina until the Japanese held
them in World War II. Although these islands are closer
to Vietnam than they are to China, the Chinese took the
islands from Vietnam in 1974, claiming they were always
a part of China. The Paracels are also claimed by Vietnam
and Taiwan. The interest centers on potential oil reserves
beneath the ocean.
The Spratly Islands are another group of a hundred
or so islands and reefs in the South China Sea lying
about two-thirds of the way from southern Vietnam to
the Philippines. They were used as a submarine base by
the Japanese in World War II. Their natural resources
are fish, guano, and undetermined natural gas and oil
potential. They are also situated near several primary
shipping lanes. About 45 of the islands are claimed
and occupied by China, Mala ysia, the Philippines,
Taiwan, and Vietnam (Figure 14-17). In 1984, Brunei
established an exclusive fishing zone in the southern
Spratlys.
In 1994, the American company Exxon signed a
multibillion dollar deal with Indonesia to develop the