Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The term 'deforestation' is applied to a large
number of processes. These include the creation
of infrastructure such as roads, reservoirs, pipelines,
cables, mines, factories and settlements; the
replacement of old-growth forest by new-growth
secondary forest; and the conversion of forest to
plantations, to agricultural land, or to grazing land
of various grades. Only in extreme cases do these
grades range down to near desert. However, there
are many celebrated examples. Until the first two
centuries of the Common Era (i.e. AD), the barren
loess plateau of China was well covered by grass
and trees. Subsequently, it suffered deforestation,
induced in part by human activities and in part by
climatic change. This result was intense erosion,
which turned a rolling tableland into gullied
wasteland (Fang and Xie 1994). Similar tales are
told in other ravine lands like those of South Asia
(Haigh 1984).
However, land destruction is not the most usual
consequence, and Europe provides some excellent
illustrations (Darby 1956 and
cf
. Linnard 1982).
Here, the primeval 'wild-wood' is gone, although
a few hectares survive on the borders of Poland.
Old-growth forests are common, but less common
as one moves into more densely inhabited areas.
Now, most woodland is planted or naturally
regenerated secondary growth. The land has been
turned over to agriculture, grazing, heath, or
human settlement and its infrastructures. In some
places, former forest land has degraded so far that
it is now almost desert, as in parts of the
Mediterranean basin (Johnson and Lewis 1995).
However, across most of Europe, this process has
been buried by history and only fragments remain.
Madeira is one. In 1419, J.G.Zarco brought the
first colonists to this Portuguese island. Zarco's
colonists used fire to clear the native forest.
According to tradition, the island's forests burned
uncontrollably and it was shrouded in smoke for
five or seven years. Shortly after, Madeira's
harvests from newly introduced sugar cane, and
later vines, grown in ashes from the big fires,
began to bring the pioneers prosperity. Today, the
island's 460 km
2
area supports more than 300,000
people, and its deforested landscapes are much
admired by tourists. In sum, the phenomenon of
the big burn is not new. Madeira's early pall of
smoke differs little from the smog that has
shrouded Southeast Asia and Latin America in
recent years. The point is that in the tropics, the
process is current (Box 14.1).
Box 14.1
Fire! Fire!
In 1997 and 1998, forest burning in Southeast Asia
reached epidemic proportions and added a new term to
the language. 'The Haze' was the name given to the
severe air pollution that hung over Indonesia and
Malaysia, affecting 70 million people. In Indonesia's East
Kalimantan, 300,000 acres of forest burn had left 5000
people suffering from smog-related diseases. In 1997
alone, 'Haze'-related losses due to health impacts, loss
of tourist trade, and disruptions of airlines and industry
exceeded US $1.4 billion, with the cost to Indonesia
alone reaching US $1 billion, 90 per cent attributable to
short-term health costs (World Wildlife Fund 1998a).
On 3 April, 1998, the World Wildlife Fund (1998b)
reported on the worst fire ever in the Brazilian Amazon, a
400 km long line of fire that destroyed 15 per cent of
Roriama state's forest and savannah. However,
The
Economist
(30.5.1998) called the fires in Central America
yet more damaging, with many fire fronts extending for
20 up to 50 km. Nicaragua, its forest area halved to
40,000 km
2
since 1960, was losing 500km
2
each week to
the burn. Near Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 70 per cent of the
highland pine forest had burned.
The article adds that the big problem is people, not
the El Niño weather: 'big ranchers clearing land for cattle,
timber companies taking more trees than allowed,
peasant farmers —often displaced to the hills by
expanding agribusiness or by war—clearing forest for
agriculture.' The message here, as in other areas, is that
it is not the traditional peasant farmer who is the driving
force for deforestation. Most of it is accomplished, either
directly or indirectly, by government policy.
Resources: Guidelines on Fire Management in Tropical
Forests are published by the International Tropical
Timber Organisation
(http://www.itto.or.jp),
as are
guidelines on sustainable forest and biodiversity
management. The International Association of Wildland
Fires
(http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/geowarm/dbtoc/
project0099.htm)
maintains a database of 40,000
sources on all aspects of wildland fire management. For
a different viewpoint, the Gaia Forest Archive can be
found at
(http://forests.org/forests/susforest.html)
, and
see Dudley
et al
. (1995).
