World Bank Warns Of A World Of "Silent Forests"

by Sonny Inbaraj

(IPS) BANGKOK -- The threat that East Asia's rich biodiversity faces, with 95 percent of its forests already lost because of uncontrolled logging and wildlife being decimated at alarming rates, may well create what the World Bank calls 'silent forests' devoid of animals.

In a report released ahead of next week's World Conservation Congress, the World Bank pointed out that the region's impressive economic growth has brought about environmental degradation at alarming rates.

"Economic growth in the East Asia-Pacific has increased demand for natural resources such as land for non-timber forest resources," said the Bank's report entitled 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Langur'.

"As a result, the region has lost 95 percent of its primary forests; individual countries have lost 70 to 90 percent of their original wilderness; and deforestation continues to accelerate the seemingly inexorable fragmentation and loss of terrestrial and aquatic habitats," it pointed out.

East Asian economic growth is expected to reach more than seven percent in 2004 but has already peaked in the first half of the year, the World Bank said in its latest twice-yearly update on the region.

In an upbeat assessment of economic progress and the spread of democracy since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, the Bank said that developing East Asian economies should grow at nearly 8 percent this year -- more than a percentage point higher that the rate predicted a year ago.

"The region's dynamism is creating more personal wealth and higher standards of living than ever before; but economic growth has, as elsewhere, brought about environmental degradation," said the Bank's biodiversity report.

As a result of this, the Bank warned, the region is failing to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

But what also worries the international financial institution is that the East Asia-Pacific is also a key supplier to the international wildlife market, both legal and illegal -- besides being a centre for the consumption of wildlife derivates ranging from tiger bone medicines to shark fin cuisine.

"Our concern is that the wildlife trade undermines the hundreds of millions of dollars we have poured into conservation," said Tony Whitten, the World Bank's senior biodiversity specialist for East Asia and Pacific.

"This illicit trade certainly empties forests. There's the 'silent forest' syndrome that we have to deal with -- which means that even if we conserve forests, there might not be wildlife in them if we don't put a handle on the illegal wildlife trade," added Whitten.

Over the 1999-2004 period, the World Bank has committed a total of $300 million in new funds to biodiversity in the region. Of this investment, 82 percent has been used to support projects focusing exclusively on biodiversity conservation, while 18 percent are for raising awareness among the general public -- with the Bank working with 'non-traditional allies'.

In 1995, the World Bank and the World Conservation Union, known by its acronym IUCN, signed an aide memoire to develop a wide range of collaborative work at both the policy and operational levels. World Bank-IUCN joint work now stretches all over the world from staff exchanges and joint programmes to advisory groups.

Created in 1948, the IUCN brings together 81 states, 114 government agencies, 800 plus non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries.

Up to 3,500 environmentalists, scientists, businessmen and government officials are expected to attend the World Conservation Congress -- which is being billed as the largest conservation meeting ever.

Also invited are corporate heavyweights Shell and BP, said Denise Jeanmonod, the communications coordinator of IUCN Asia.

"This would put the environmental performance of big business in the spotlight," she said.

Nonetheless the IUCN Congress is not without controversy.

Asian forests are being destroyed at a staggering rate and the finger of blame is now pointing at China -- a party to the IUCN. Not satisfied with legal imports, China's hunger for wood has also caused a boom in illegal logging.

"One cause for declining forest cover regionally is increased demand from China," said the World Bank's biodiversity report. "Already a net wood importer, China is turning increasingly to international sources of raw material -- a process that continues, and one which threatens the integrity of forests through the East Asia-Pacific," added the Bank.

China's entry to the World Trade Organization has also driven tariffs for most timber imports down to zero, fueling imports as well as a rapidly expanding export industry in everything from pulp and paper to furniture and decorations, most of it destined to the United States and the European Union.

Conservationists are even more concerned about the destruction of tropical rain forests in South-east Asia, whose rich biodiversity make them the "lungs of the earth."

The lowland forests of Indonesia, for example, are being systematically destroyed by international companies and illegal loggers supported by corrupt military and provincial government officials, adds the World Bank report.

"Indonesia is the world's most biologically diverse country. However, one to two million hectares of forest are still being lost annually to illegal logging and encroachment, and the many and varied attempts to stem this haemorrhage to any significant extent have so far failed," stated the World Bank report.