Deforestation in the Tropics

In his article on deforestation in third world countries, Robert Repetto draws attention to an environmental disaster of global proportions. He begins by concurring with other authors in noting that recent estimates of the ecological devastation in progress exceed damage levels previously forecast. Repetto then describes the numerous factors behind the destruction. Among them he cites economic circumstances and government policy as major contributing forces. Closing on an upbeat note, Repetto finally claims that increased international awareness promises to preserve these irreplaceable natural resources. His optimism, however, can only lead to indifference on the part of an average reader. Outside interests are as much a part the problem as the key to its solution. Greed and shortsightedness at every socioeconomic level, from the jungle settler to the multinational corporation, is changing the interaction between man and the rainforest andinstead of leading to third world economic developmentis draining these countries of their natural resources. Thus, rather than approaching a point of resolution as indicated by Repetto's very readable article, the problem of deforestation in the tropics remains critical.

The exploitation of any natural environment is often wasteful and destructive. The exploitation of the rainforests is damaging on a global scale. In Brazil's Amazon forest alone, 35,000 square kilometers

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de cabinet ministers, senators, and retired military officials. Such conflict of interest makes proper management of forest resources impossible. In fact, in many areas, the government has created a virtual logging boom. To increase the value of their concessions officials subsidize the timber industry by holding down royalty rates, reducing export taxes, and granting tax holidays. The resulting boomtown attitudes make for unenforceable forestry regulations. These conditions, as Repetto notes, only result in damage to the environment and don't even improve the economies of the countries creating them. Corrupt officials looking for quick personal profits fail to negotiate with timber companies for the full value of their country's resources and, as a result, sacrifice revenues. For those logging agreements that are negotiated, most run for less than 20 years anyway. With required intervals of as great as 35 years for selective cutting at sustainable yields, government inadequacy also fails to give loggers any incentive for longterm resource management. As a result, many operations recklessly damage the very forests that they exploit. Greedy government officials and ruthless timber companies aren't the only problem
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Approximate Word count = 1474
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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