New series of BBC Earth Report - Deforestation and Externalities
BBC World’s Earth Report has just started a new series of reports and the first edition is a powerful programme on deforestation in Indonesia and the impact that this has on carbon emissions. Across south east asia peat swamp forest is being drained to make way for oil palm or pulpwood trees. The destruction of tropical forests causes about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than the world’s entire transport sector – making tropical forest countries such as Indonesia, some of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. Which incentives will be most effective in limiting the permanent damage of huge rates of deforestation and the costs of damaging burning trees?
Trying to turn the tide of deforestation
Deforestation brought about by excessive logging has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and undermined the ecosystems and sustainability of local economies. Well managed and cultivated tree plantations create fruits, leaves, bark and roots, firewood, building materials and healthy trees also help maintain an area’s ecosystems by recycling nutrients, prevent erosion and maintain moderate water flows. Tree logging can clear land for arable farming and growing new crops - but a recent report in the journal Science found that the economic benefits were short term in nature.
read more...»Logging in Alaska - an Environmental Catastrophe?
I was alerted to this article in The Guardian by Bryn’s excellent AS Economics blog. The report says that
‘The US government has announced plans to open more than 3m acres (about 5,000 square miles) of Alaskan wilderness to logging, mining and road building, angering environmental campaigners who say it will devastate the region. Supporters say the plan for the Tongass National Forest, a refuge for grizzly and black bears, wolves, eagles and wild salmon, will revive the state’s timber industry.’
This type of decision focuses squarely on the role that might be played by undertaking a proper cost-benefit analysis of the impact of the project. But politics (and in particular the pleading of special interest groups) can often get in the way of a focused and objective assessment of the present and future costs and benefits. There is a related article here in the LA Times which reports that logging is only 1 per cent of the economy of the region.
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