Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects - Disaster Management Center ...
Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects - Disaster Management Center ... Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects - Disaster Management Center ...
can quickly ruin a new plantation. Community involvement then is not just an ideologically appealing goal; it is a practical necessity if rural forest needs are to be met. Popular participation is important for economic reasons too, for in most countries the costs of the needed plantings and upkeep would be prohibitive if local residents did not pitch in generously with their labor. Issues in Reforestation Another major need is for the improved management of natural woodlands in order to increase their output of useful products. Recent “reforestation” schemes in semiarid West Africa have sometimes been a mixed blessing, entailing the clearing of rich and diverse woodlands to make room for plantations of fast-growing exotic species. The multitude of nonwood products that local people glean from the forest are thus lost—and the productivity of exotic plantations in the Sahel has often turned out to be far lower than expected. But simply increasing the area planted with trees will not necessarily do justice to social and environmental concerns. With forestry, as with all development activities, who does the producing and who gets the benefits are as crucial as what gets produced. The management of a village woodlot can be designed in ways that help or hurt the rural poor. Another issue in reforestation is that it can become a multijurisdictional problem, i.e. deforestation in one area may produce flooding downstream in another area of the country or perhaps in another country, thereby requiring both national and international efforts. Disaster Mitigation To reduce the damage done by areas already denuded, mitigation procedures such as catch dams and terraces can be implemented. For more information see the chapters on floods and desertification. Conclusion Desirable approaches to forestry differ from place to place. But probably no country lacks the physical resources to meet its most urgent rural forestry needs. Villages virtually everywhere have unused or misused lands on which fast-growing woodlots can be planted. Individual farmers are often willing and able to grow more trees in and around their fields when given the means to do so. In watersheds, the raising of crops, trees, and livestock can be integrated in new ways that protect soils as they provide extra benefits for people. Agroforestry systems can give shifting cultivators a stable, productive life. Idle lands along roads and canals and around fields can be planted to trees that produce food, fodder, timber, traditional medicines, and industrial raw materials as well as a more hospitable environment. Cheap, efficient cooking stoves that cut family woodfuel needs in half can be distributed. Community forestry, as the new approach is known, has begun to catch on over the last decade. U.N. agencies have begun promoting the concept, and the world’s major aid institution, the World Bank, announced in 1978 a marked shift in its forestry program, with emphasis on fuelwood and small-scale activities replacing the former preoccupation with large-scale timber. Having lent nothing for firewood projects in the early 1970s, the World Bank loaned $1 billion for this purpose in the first five years of the 1980s. Other aid agencies have also shown new interest in people-oriented forestry. Whether the issue is the maintenance of timber output, the protection of ecological stability, or the growing of fuel, a host of workable forestry technologies are known and await wider
implementation. But essential as they are, forestry measures alone will not be enough to solve the deforestation problem. Many of the underlying sources of deforestation originate outside the scope of forestry per se. In order to halt the destructive spread of cultivation, national development patterns must provide the destroyers with alternative ways to feed themselves; in particular, crop yields and employment must be boosted on the lands best suited to farming. Sound forestry policies can contribute to these efforts, but broader decisions on investment priorities, land tenure, and the choice of technologies will be even more critical. Woodland depletion by firewood gatherers can be greatly mitigated by tree planting, but broader attention to rural energy needs, alternative energy sources, and national energy priorities is also necessary. Of course, human population growth underlies all the sources of deforestation. A vast amount of tree planting is essential over the coming decades, but its benefits will be undercut if the deeper roots of deforestation are not eradicated. 9 Notes 1 Earthscan, Natural Disasters: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, p. 24. 2 Reidar Persson, World Forest Resources, Stockholm: Royal College of Forestry, 1974. 3 Adrian Sommer, “Attempt at an Assessment of the World’s Tropical Forests,” Unasylva 28 nos. 112/113, 1976. 4 FAO, Wood: World Trends and Prospects, Rome, 1967. 5 Robert J.A. Goodland, “Environmental Ranking of Amazonian Development Projects in Brazil,” Environmental Conservation, Spring, 1980 6 Quoted from “Sacred Cow Causing Ecological Disaster in C.R. Local Experts Say,” Tico Times, San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov.3, 1978. 7 Earthscan, Natural Disasters: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39. International Institute for Environment and Development, London, 1984, p. 42. 8 Entering the Twenty-first Century: The Global 2000 Report to the President, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1980. 9 This entire chapter is based, except as noted, on the paper, “Down to Earth: Environmental and Human Needs,” Erik P. Eckholm, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 1982, pp. 155-177. References Earthscan, Natural Disasters: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39. International Institute for Environment and Development, London, 1984. Eckholm, Erik P., “Down to Earth: Environmental and Human Needs,” W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 1982. Entering the Twenty-first Century: The Global Report to the President, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1980. FAO, Wood: World Trends and Prospects, Rome, 1967. Goodland, Robert J.A., “Environmental Ranking of Amazonian Development Projects in Brazil,” Environmental Conservation, Spring, 1980. Persson, Reidar, World Forest Resources, Stockholm: Royal College of Forestry, 1974. “Sacred Cow Causing Ecological Disaster in C.R. Local Experts Say,” Tico Times, San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov 3, 1978. Sommer, Adrian, “Attempt at an Assessment of the World’s Tropical Forests,” Unasylva 28 nos. 112/113, 1976.
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implementation. But essential as they are, forestry measures alone will not be enough to solve<br />
the deforestation problem. Many of the underlying sources of deforestation originate outside the<br />
scope of forestry per se. In order to halt the destructive spread of cultivation, national<br />
development patterns must provide the destroyers with alternative ways to feed themselves; in<br />
particular, crop yields <strong>and</strong> employment must be boosted on the l<strong>and</strong>s best suited to farming.<br />
Sound forestry policies can contribute to these efforts, but broader decisions on investment<br />
priorities, l<strong>and</strong> tenure, <strong>and</strong> the choice of technologies will be even more critical. Woodl<strong>and</strong><br />
depletion by firewood gatherers can be greatly mitigated by tree planting, but broader attention<br />
to rural energy needs, alternative energy sources, <strong>and</strong> national energy priorities is also<br />
necessary. Of course, human population growth underlies all the sources of deforestation. A<br />
vast amount of tree planting is essential over the coming decades, but its benefits will be<br />
undercut if the deeper roots of deforestation are not eradicated. 9<br />
Notes<br />
1 Earthscan, <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Disaster</strong>s: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39, International Institute for Environment <strong>and</strong><br />
Development, London, p. 24.<br />
2 Reidar Persson, World Forest Resources, Stockholm: Royal College of Forestry, 1974.<br />
3 Adrian Sommer, “Attempt at an Assessment of the World’s Tropical Forests,” Unasylva 28 nos. 112/113, 1976. 4 FAO,<br />
Wood: World Trends <strong>and</strong> Prospects, Rome, 1967.<br />
5 Robert J.A. Goodl<strong>and</strong>, “Environmental Ranking of Amazonian Development Projects in Brazil,” Environmental Conservation,<br />
Spring, 1980<br />
6 Quoted from “Sacred Cow Causing Ecological <strong>Disaster</strong> in C.R. Local Experts Say,” Tico Times, San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov.3,<br />
1978.<br />
7 Earthscan, <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Disaster</strong>s: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39. International Institute for Environment <strong>and</strong><br />
Development, London, 1984, p. 42.<br />
8 Entering the Twenty-first Century: The Global 2000 Report to the President, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,<br />
D.C., 1980.<br />
9 This entire chapter is based, except as noted, on the paper, “Down to Earth: Environmental <strong>and</strong> Human Needs,” Erik P.<br />
Eckholm, W.W. Norton <strong>and</strong> Company, New York, 1982, pp. 155-177.<br />
References<br />
Earthscan, <strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Disaster</strong>s: Earthscan Press Briefing Document No. 39. International Institute for Environment<br />
<strong>and</strong> Development, London, 1984.<br />
Eckholm, Erik P., “Down to Earth: Environmental <strong>and</strong> Human Needs,” W.W. Norton <strong>and</strong> Company, New York, 1982.<br />
Entering the Twenty-first Century: The Global Report to the President, U.S. Government Printing Office,<br />
Washington, D.C., 1980.<br />
FAO, Wood: World Trends <strong>and</strong> Prospects, Rome, 1967.<br />
Goodl<strong>and</strong>, Robert J.A., “Environmental Ranking of Amazonian Development Projects in Brazil,” Environmental<br />
Conservation, Spring, 1980.<br />
Persson, Reidar, World Forest Resources, Stockholm: Royal College of Forestry, 1974.<br />
“Sacred Cow Causing Ecological <strong>Disaster</strong> in C.R. Local Experts Say,” Tico Times, San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov 3,<br />
1978.<br />
Sommer, Adrian, “Attempt at an Assessment of the World’s Tropical Forests,” Unasylva 28 nos. 112/113, 1976.
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