Indonesia is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and 85 percent of that comes from cutting down trees. The wood from the forests helps fuel the countries economy. The wood is used to make hardwood furniture and paper. Millions of acres have been deforested. The forest destruction between 1998 and 2002 is a dark chapter in the history of the state forest company Perhutani, which is part of the Indonesian Forest Department. According to some figures, around 150,000 hectares of teak forest were destroyed by poor villagers following the political and social chaos in the post-Suharto era. But the plundering still continues, even if at a lower level. Krisdomo, the head of the Forest Stakeholders Association in the region of Parangantuban (phonetic spelling), says that although vast areas of forest have been destroyed, it's not benefited the local people. They still live in poverty.
Its horrible that 85% of greenhouse gases comes from cutting down trees. People need to stop cutting down trees and figure out some other way to fuel the economy. And I can't believe that people are still living in poverty after they've destroyed all these forests.
ReplyDeletei know it is sad that even after they cut down the forests and sell the wood they are still living in poverty. Maybe they will stop cutting down trees if they don't get money out of it.
ReplyDeleteYes possibly. I hope. Thats horrible that it's hurting the atmosphere that much for basically nothing.
ReplyDeleteAlternative ways should be found to produce the products that the trees are cut down for. If not we could have a serious problem on our hands.
ReplyDeleteOk...good conversation...here's my thought...200+ years ago, Europeans came to this country and pretty much completely clearcut it of its old growth timber. Early settlers needed to build shelter, heat their homes and make money by sending wood back to Europe. So, how do we, as a country, critize these other countries and how they are managing their timber resources when we did the same thing to this country? Your thoughts????
ReplyDeleteYes its horrible. If someone doesn't do something its going to get way worse. Something needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot be blamed for what our ancestors did 200 plus years ago. We cannot do anything to reverse what they did. We can now do things to prevent what is happening. It is wrong for us as a country to critize what other countries are doing because we are doing things just as bad. For example the deforestation that is taking place in Oregon in old growht foreste is getting out of hand. These ancient forests will be completely destroyed if we don't fix what we are doing here in the US.
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