Presenting the key-note speech at the UNFF panel discussion on forests in the Asia-Pacific, CIFOR’s Director General, David Kaimowitz said the first thing that stood out when comparing Asia to other regions around the world was a high-population density and the implication this has in terms of a relatively low amount of forests and forest products that were available for each person.
On average, there is only about one half of a hectare of forest per capita in Asia, which was only one fourth of the global average. The forest cover overall is also declining relatively rapidly, particularly natural forests, as a result of logging and tree crop plantations.
Over half of that is occurring in Indonesia, in part because it is one of the few countries in the region that still has a significant amount of potentially exploitable forests. Other problems include illegal logging and corruption in the region, which involve bank fraud, bribery and misuse of billions of dollars of subsidies.
The other side of the situation of low per capita forests and rapidly increasing demand for forests, is the increase in forest plantations in Asia. Asia has more than 60 per cent of the world’s plantations today, mostly in China, India and Japan, as well as in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Many of the poorest families in Asia depend heavily on forests for their cash, energy, medicinal plants, fodder, and for many other basic needs. The most extreme poverty in India today is concentrated in forested and arid areas, and where there has been little improvement. In China, 80 per cent of the poorest counties are forested, and there is also a high correlation between forests and poverty in Vietnam.
Addressing the Millennium Development Goals means addressing poverty in those regions. Another new trend affecting to poor people and small farmers in Asia, is the rapid process of forest tenure reform and the transfer of forest management to small farmers. For example, China has distributed 30 million hectares of wasteland and degraded forests to 57 million households to plant trees, and community forestry programmes have been introduced in Nepal and the Philippines.
There are other new issues that have not received much attention, but which must be addressed without forgetting the old problems, according to Kaimowitz. One is the issue of adapting to climate change and the effect it may have on forest fires. Another issue is how to manage biodiversity outside protected areas, which is fundamental for biodiversity conservation in the region. Other trends include payment for environmental services, which are likely to increase in the region.
Kaimowitz highlighted China, which has six national forest programmes that have heavily invested in forests in the last five years, and which have committed $40 billion to turn farmland into forest. Kaimowitz also highlighted the very serious problem of violent conflict in forested regions, which has been neglected by governments for too long. He added that the issues of ethnic minorities, abandonment, and lack of state services in Asia, as in other regions, are a major threat to peace.
For further information about the UNFF 5th Session in New York, 16 - 27 May 2005 visit: http://www.un.org/esa/forests/