by Freddy Tay

Created on: July 21, 2009   Last Updated: July 23, 2009

We shall focus on the deforestation activities in Asia.

The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty to oppress climate change, is due in 2012. Many countries that rely on forests for their economic development will face problems as they have to compromise their economic progress to the environment.

Striking a balance between development and conservation of the forests remains taxing. Forests are the crucial push factor for regulating greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Their foliage, acting like a sponge to carbon dioxide (one of the greenhouse gases), absorbs and stores huge quantities of carbon dioxide. When destroyed, they unleash flurries of the gas into the atmosphere.

The burning and clearance of forests to give way for plantations, like palm oil and timber for pulp and paper mills, has damaged not only the ecosystem born from the very forests, but also its ecological signature that was bequeathed by Mother Nature.

Indonesia is one example. Plantations of palm oil supply ingredients that are widely used for biofuels, manufacturing cosmetics, processing food and cooking, bringing a figure of US $10.7 billion to the nation in 2008. This constitutes one-tenth of the nation's income of non-oil and gas exports. Indonesia remains the top producer of palm oil, with Malaysia being second on the list.

Indonesian forests provide a major source of income to the world's fourth most populous nation. More than US $5 billion worth of products, including pulp, paper and timber, are exported globally. Because of the deep rooting of this business, forest-related activities remain a quintessential source of income and employment for a large part of Indonesian population, albeit the fact that the values of wood sales are falling over the past few years.

Valuable hardwood trees have been cut down, with further destruction undeterred. About 5 decades ago, about eight-tenths of Indonesia was forested. Although the forested areas are recently reduced by half. Indonesian forests still remain vulnerable to pressure for further opening.

Activities of foresting include subsistence farming, logging, human settlement, and mining, and these activities constitute about one-fifth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.

One lamentable fact is that the Kyoto Protocol has actually failed to include effective provisions to protect and sustain forests. Scientists warn that the world will stand no chance against abysmal climate change unless forests can be conserved.

Things start to look up, however, as a new approach is being focused by concerned parties. REDD, abbreviated from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, can take a number of forms. The main idea of this is that governments and companies in advanced economics compensate those in the developing countries for preservation of forests. Credits on carbon markets and establishing funds are common currency in that aspect.

A legislation is currently being considered to put a price to carbon, limiting the carbon emissions but encouraging trade to emission permits. Fine lines will have to be drawn as many activities still lie in the grey area, with logging and plantation companies and REDD financial compensation community prioritising. The success of the REDD programme will help alleviate poverty in remote rural areas and control greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Let us hope for a better environment. The present is not a gift from the past, but a debt from the future.

Reference

Tropical Deforestation, 2007 [Online]. Available from: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestat ion/

Richardson, 2009. Giving the Chop on Deforestation, The Straits Times, 20 July, p. A17.

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