Deforestation: an Endless Debate

  • Marie-Claude Smouts
Chapter
Part of the The CERI Series in International Relations and Political Economy book series

Abstract

Combating the destruction of tropical forest on a global scale is one thing, where to begin is another question. Deforestation is not a matter of trees and wildlife. It is a human endeavor that is tough, always brutal, sometimes tragic, each time specific. Not only are the definitions and dimensions of the forest area indefinite, but the overlapping of perceptions and the imbrication of responsibilities also form an inextricably complex system. The causes of deforestation can change in a single region over a very short period of time: in the Brazilian Amazon, for instance, the colossal construction projects (dams and Transamazonian highways) and the colonization policy conducted by the Brazilian government were the initial causes of deforestation. Then the expansion of large cattle raising schemes was considered to be the main source of pressure on the forest. Today, the combination of industrial logging and the recent launching of a huge infrastructure program pose new threats to the Amazon forest.1

Keywords

Tropical Forest Forest Cover Primary Forest Tropical Country Tropical Rain Forest 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. 1.
    The Avança Brasil program has planned major construction projects over the next 20 years to build roads, highways, hydraulic power stations, pipelines, high tension lines, and utility infrastructures that will cause lasting degradation of the Amazon forest. See William E. Laurance et al., “The Future of the Brazilian Amazon,” Science, January 19, 2001, pp. 438–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 5.
    Cited by Arild Angelsen and David Kaimowitz, “Rethinking the Causes of Deforestation: Lessons from Economic Models,” The World Bank Research Observer, 14 (1), February 1999, p. 74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 9.
    See Nigel Dudley, Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, and Francis Sullivan, Bad harvest? The Timber Trade and the Degradation of the World’s Forests, London, Earthscan, 1996;Google Scholar
  4. The Rainforest Foundation et al., Life after Logging: The Impacts of Commercial Timber Extraction in Tropical Rainforests, June 1999;Google Scholar
  5. Greenpeace, Buying Destruction. A Greenpeace report for corporate consumers of forest products, Greenpeace International Publications, August 1999.Google Scholar
  6. 18.
    See Gérard Buttoud, La forêt et l’Etat en Afrique sèche et â Madagascar, Paris, Karthala, 1995.Google Scholar
  7. 19.
    See P. Corte, J. Doat, and Ph. Girard, “Le bois-énergie hier et aujourd’hui,” Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 252, 1997, pp. 55–63.Google Scholar
  8. 22.
    See Alan Grainger, Controlling Tropical Deforestation, London, Earthscan, 1993.Google Scholar
  9. 23.
    For an illustrated technical report, see Bernard Sellato, “La tradition du brûlis n’est pas responsable des incendies,” Géo, November 1997, pp. 164–165.Google Scholar
  10. For a scientific account, see P. Levang, G. Michon, and H. de Foresta, “Agriculture forestière ou agroforesterie,” Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 251, 1997, pp. 29–41.Google Scholar
  11. 24.
    See Frédéric Durand, Les forêts en Asie du Sud-Est. Le cas de l’Indonésie, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1994.Google Scholar
  12. 33.
    See Harold Brookfield (dir.), Transformation with Industrialization in Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
  13. 34.
    See Harold Brookfield, Lesley Potter, and Yvonne Byron, In Place of the Forest. Environment and Socio-economic Transformation in Borneo and the Eastern Malay Peninsula, Tokyo, United Nations University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
  14. 35.
    The World Bank, The Jengka Triangle Projects in Malaysia, Impact Evaluation Report, Washington, D.C., 1987.Google Scholar
  15. 36.
    See François Grison, “Le paradigme forestier,” Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 260, 1999, p. 53.Google Scholar
  16. 37.
    Philip Hirsch, “Deforestation and Development in Thailand,” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 8, 1987, pp. 129–138; Seeing Forests for Trees. Environment and Environmentalism in Thailand, Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, 1997, pp. 15–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 39.
    David M. Kummer, Deforestation in the Postwar Philippines, Manila, Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992, p. 27.Google Scholar
  18. 40.
    Marie-Françoise Fleury, “Différents aspects de la filière bois en Amazonie brésilienne,” Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 259, 1999, p. 59.Google Scholar
  19. 41.
    Pascal Delisle, Colonisation agricole et développement soutenable en forêt tropicale: pour une approche multidimensionnelle. Le cas de l’Amazonie colombienne, Doctoral dissertation in economics, University of Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1999.Google Scholar
  20. 42.
    Nigel J. H. Smith, Emanuel A. S. Serrao, Paulo T. Alvim, and Italo C. Falesi, Amazonia, Resiliency and Dynamism of the Land and its People, Tokyo, United Nations University Press, 1995, “The Myth of Virginity,” p. 15.Google Scholar
  21. 45.
    V. de Reynal, M. G. Muchagata, O. Topall, and J. Hébette, Agricultures familiales et développpement en front pionnier amazonien, LASAT/CAT-GRET-DAT/UAG, Paris-Belém-Pointe-à-Pitre, 1997, p. 3 as well asGoogle Scholar
  22. Hervé Théry (ed.), Environnement et développement en Amazonie brésilienne, Paris, Belin, 1997, p. 77.Google Scholar
  23. 46.
    Figures given on the basis of official Brazilian sources by A. L. Hall, Developing Amazonia. Deforestation and Social Conflict in Brazil’s Carajas Programme, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1996, pp. 145–150.Google Scholar
  24. They are also found in Richard Pasquis’ article “La déforestation en Amazonie brésilienne et son impact sur l’environnement,” Bois et Forêts des tropiques, 260, 1999, p. 57.Google Scholar
  25. For the 1966–75 period, Hall ranks the causes of deforestation as follows: 38 percent due to cattle-raising (subsidized at 90 percent); 30 percent due to peasants (17 percent in the context of official resettlement, 13 percent spontaneous); 27 percent due to road building; 4 percent due to timber extraction; cited by Ans Kolk, Forests in International Environmental Politics. International Organizations, NGOs and the Brazilian Amazon, Utrecht, International Books, 1996, pp. 68–72.Google Scholar
  26. 53.
    Robert Faris, “Deforestation and Land Use on the Evolving Frontier: An Empirical Assessment,” Harvard Institute for International Development, February 1999.Google Scholar
  27. 54.
    Sven Wunder, The Economics of Deforestation, the Example of Ecuador, London, Macmillan, 2001.Google Scholar
  28. 55.
    Arid Angelsen and David Kaimowitz, “Rethinking the Causes of Deforestaion: Lessons from Economic Models,” The World Bank Research Observer, 14 (1), February 1999, pp. 73–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 57.
    William D. Sunderlin, “Crise économique et changements politiques en Indonésie. Premiers effets sur le secteur forestier,” Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, 260, 1999, pp. 80–83.Google Scholar
  30. 58.
    Agir ici-Survie, Le silence de la forêt, réseaux, mafias et filière bois au Cameroun, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2000. This little book is full of information, most of which unfortunately cannot be used given that it is incomplete and the sources are not quoted. The Geovic affair has raised public outrage, and the way it is related in this pamphlet concurs with widely circulated information that we have been given elsewhere, while taking into account the rumor factor, all the greater in Cameroon since the political-economic system is totally opaque.Google Scholar
  31. 68.
    World Bank, The Challenges of World Bank Involvement in Forests: An Evaluation of Indonesia’s Forests and World Bank Assistance, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2000, p. viii.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Marie-Claude Smouts 2003

Authors and Affiliations

  • Marie-Claude Smouts

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations