Australian Scientists Has Made a Dire Prediction for The Future of Asian Forests

A new report by Australian scientists has made a dire prediction for the future of Asian forests. The report is by the Canberra-based C-S-I-R-O and the United Nations Environment Programme. It's found that if current rates of logging continue, the region will run out of millable timber in less than thirty years. Reporter: Cathy Harper Speakers: Professor Steve Keen, scientist, CSIRO; Professor Andreas Schloenhardt, University of Queensland HARPER: The report by Australia's science agency and the UN Environment Programme looked at the massive increase in the use of all types of natural resources in the Asia Pacific from 1970 to 2005. It concluded that resource use has to be cut by a massive 80 percent if it's to be sustainable. One of the report's main authors, Professor Steve Keen, admits that's not going to happen. But he says the report puts the spotlight on some particular problem areas where action could be taken. KEEN: This report says we have a database on how many trees in a particular type and a particular maturity in a given country and what those usages are etc etc. And if current trends continue then at a certain date in the future the supply of trees of a harvestable age will run out. In 2038 on current usage trends the supply of millable timber in Asia disappears. HARPER: Andreas Schloenhardt is a legal expert at the University of Queensland, who wrote a report a few years ago for the Australian government about illegal logging in the Asia Pacific region. He says illegal logging remains one of the main contributors to deforestation. SCHLOENHARDT: In some places, and Australia is one of them but also places like China for example, they have tried to reverse this trend by placing large chunks of their own forests under protection. So then that leaves very little area where companies or even criminal activities can take place that produce timber. But of course the downside of that is that is handballs the supply elsewhere, particularly on our immediate neighbours like the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia and others which don't have the same environmental protections and feel that this is an important industry for their own economies. HARPER: Are governments in the Asia Pacific region actually looking at this as an immediate resource issue that has to be addressed and undertaking reforestation programs with the view that these industries may not exist in a very short period of time? SCHLOENHARDT: It really depends which country you are talking about. Some countries, Indonesia is one of them, where there has really been a shift in thinking in recent years. I think there has been ample evidence in Indonesia that the current rate is unsustainable, that they need to move to a system of plantation timbering, which means that they have sustainable resources. That might mean production at a lower rate but a more sustainable rate, and also documenting the trail. But other countries and usually Malaysia and Brazil are singled out as a sort of chief offenders internationally, that just continue production at unsustainable rates which also undercuts prices elsewhere and where many species aren't under protection and that are also quite unwilling to engage in international processes to do anything about it because they don't want to harm their own industries. HARPER: More encouragingly, the report by the CSIRO and the UN Environment programme notes that the rate of deforestation in the Asia Pacific has eased in recent years, mainly because of large-scale reforestation programs in China. The report also concludes carbon trading systems could help. It says there's is growing interest carbon credits to provide incentives to make sustaining a forest more attractive and profitable than timber production. Source: radioaustralia.net.au