The Roots of Japan's Environmental Policies by Anny Wong

Author:Anny Wong [Wong, Anny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science
ISBN: 9781317734055
Google: 2Hp0DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-24T03:40:12+00:00

THE INTERNATIONAL REGIME FOR THE CONSERVATION OF FORESTS IN THE TROPICS

Tropical forest destruction made its way up the international environmental agenda as understanding deepened on the severity of the problem and its linkages to other environmental and development issues. Ascertaining the scale of the problem was the first critical task. An FAO and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) tropical forest report in 1982 estimated that 7.5 million ha of tropical moist forest and 3.8 million ha of open forests are cleared annually. FAO estimated in 1985 that 11.3 million ha of tropical forest is lost annually. Refinement in information and estimating techniques prompted FAO to raise the figure in 1990 to 17 million ha for the 1981-1990 period.

Many conservationists consider these numbers too low if forest degradation is fully accounted for, but these figures were alarming enough to raise international awareness of the problem and to persuade national governments and international organizations of the need for immediate action. International concern for the future of tropical forests also intensified during the 1980s because of deeper understanding of the linkages of this issue to other international environmental and development issues, including biological diversity, the rights of indigenous and forest peoples, global warming, and economics and politics of the environment.

The evolution of an international regime in response to deforestation in the tropics thus began with this first step of worldwide recognition of tropical forest destruction as an international environmental issue. The next task was to define the causes of the problem and to set it in a framework or context for discussion.

The causes of tropical forest destruction are manifold and vary from region to region. Shifting agriculture, logging, and plantation agriculture are those most often blamed but opinions differ among the various interest groups and policy actors. Conservation groups point to commercial logging, large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects, and socio-economic inequities. For them it is ultimately the failure to manage forest effectively at local, national, and international levels that produces the many negative social and environmental effects of tropical forest destruction.19 These include national policies on forestry, population growth, migration, and economic development, as well as changes in international trade consumption patterns.20

Governments in the tropics, in contrast, generally identify poverty as the main cause of forest destruction. From their perspective, commercial logging can degrade a forest, but lack of national economic development is the true cause of forest destruction. Destitution drives migration into forest land, encourages shifting agriculture, and the conversion of forest land for food production. Poverty also forces people to depend on wood as fuel since they cannot afford alternative energy sources—as in the developed countries. Hence, from their perspective, commercial logging and converting forests to other economic uses are inevitable evils. These activities are expected to produce jobs, income, and revenue for the state to pursue development goals that aim to improve the quality of life and benefit the environment in the long-term.

This difference in perception of the problem is largely responsible for different policy orientations and preferred responses. Conservation

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