By Liliana Usvat
Blog 362-365
The forests of Argentina are being cleared at a rate of 40 football fields every hour. To stop the destruction we took to the trees - and to the streets. While our activists protested in the forest, we joined forces with other environmental groups, got 1.5 million signatures of support and pushed through Argentina's first federal forest protection law.
The new law includes a nationwide one-year moratorium on clearing of native forests - to avoid a rush of deforestation while forest management regulations are put in place. After a year, any jurisdiction still lacking regulations will continue to be prohibited from issuing new logging and land clearing permits.
The Forest Law also establishes environmental impact studies and public hearings - measures that will help protect forests where indigenous people live and small scale farmers. To pay for implementation, the law allocates funds from the national budget, plus income from a new export tax on genetically engineered soy.
Forest clearing to plant genetically engineered soy beans destroys 300,000 hectares of native forest per year.
Argentina currently does not have restrictions limiting the cultivation of forests in private properties. Only native forests are regulated by the government contingent upon the approval of the cultivation project by local government
An estimated 1.115 million hectares were planted as of 2005. There were also 33.2 million hectares (82 million acres) of native forest reserve.
Argentina, often perceived as a vast fertile territory, is losing its native forests. Nearly 40% of animal and plant species in the country's arid and semi-arid ecosystems are in danger from habitat loss, a new study suggests.
The current plantation rate is estimated to be 50,000 hectares per year. It is also estimated that the consumption of wood products from cultivated forests is 5.3 million cubic meters, and sustainable wood supply to the year 2015 will be more than 20 million cubic meters. Argentina, however, is not a major consumer of wood products.
Argentina’s exports of forestry products began in earnest in the 1990s. However, as a producer of primary goods with low value added, the country experienced an overall trade deficit that ran from US$500 million to US$1 billion from 1992 to 2002.
With the sharp devaluation of the peso in 2002, exports of Argentine forest product were given a shot in the arm. Argentine goods became more attractive and exports began to increase, especially for high-value-added products. Between 2002 and 2004, exports increased from US$300 million to about US$700 million.
So what started the sudden export of wood Money. Who decided that countries should cut their forests to make more and more money?
Who are the end users of these large amounts of money resulted from logging?
In terms of the major destinations of Argentina’s exports of wood and furniture products, the United States, Brazil, Spain, and Chile continue to be the most important markets. In 2005, both South Africa and the Dominican Republic emerged as markets for this sector.
China in 2005 also increased its demand for forestry products from Argentina, but they are mainly low-value-added products. Some of the most important exports goods from Argentina are fiber and particleboards, plywood, wood boxes and containers, and wood handles for tools
In 1914, Argentina was estimated to have more than 106 million hectares of native forests; by 1996, when a national action programme against desertification began, only 36 million hectares remained. Today, the country's forests are vanishing at a rate of more than 829,000 hectares a year, mainly where agriculture is pushing into native forests.
In Argentina, 75 percent of our native forests have already disappeared, and every hour the equivalent of 20 football pitches (soccer fields, for you North Americans) of forest is destroyed to grow transgenic soya.
The damage is irreversible, it is almost impossible to grow forest on the soil again - and today an area the size of Germany is at risk. In the last month, a provincial government has already sold off a natural reserve to companies planning to sow genetically engineered (GE) soya, an unprecedented act. This cannot carry on! That's why the Greenpeace Jaguars have gone into action to defend north-west Argentina's remaining forest.
The destruction of the forests in north-west Argentina means the loss of thousands of animal and plant species, the degredation of the soil and its contamination thanks to the use of pesticides, as well as hundreds of indigenous and local people losing their homes.
The forest had been destroyed for agriculture for years, but the rate of destruction has accelerated since 1996, when Monsanto introduced GE soya beans into Argentina. Since then, the country has extended its agricultural frontiers to grow GE soya for export as animal feed, at the expense of its threatened forests, wildlife and the homes and livelihoods of many people.
Protecting forests will not only preserve biodiversity and defend the rights of forest communities, it's also one of the quickest and cost effective ways of halting climate change.
Blog 362-365
The forests of Argentina are being cleared at a rate of 40 football fields every hour. To stop the destruction we took to the trees - and to the streets. While our activists protested in the forest, we joined forces with other environmental groups, got 1.5 million signatures of support and pushed through Argentina's first federal forest protection law.
The new law includes a nationwide one-year moratorium on clearing of native forests - to avoid a rush of deforestation while forest management regulations are put in place. After a year, any jurisdiction still lacking regulations will continue to be prohibited from issuing new logging and land clearing permits.
The Forest Law also establishes environmental impact studies and public hearings - measures that will help protect forests where indigenous people live and small scale farmers. To pay for implementation, the law allocates funds from the national budget, plus income from a new export tax on genetically engineered soy.
Forest clearing to plant genetically engineered soy beans destroys 300,000 hectares of native forest per year.
Argentina currently does not have restrictions limiting the cultivation of forests in private properties. Only native forests are regulated by the government contingent upon the approval of the cultivation project by local government
An estimated 1.115 million hectares were planted as of 2005. There were also 33.2 million hectares (82 million acres) of native forest reserve.
Argentina, often perceived as a vast fertile territory, is losing its native forests. Nearly 40% of animal and plant species in the country's arid and semi-arid ecosystems are in danger from habitat loss, a new study suggests.
The current plantation rate is estimated to be 50,000 hectares per year. It is also estimated that the consumption of wood products from cultivated forests is 5.3 million cubic meters, and sustainable wood supply to the year 2015 will be more than 20 million cubic meters. Argentina, however, is not a major consumer of wood products.
Argentina’s exports of forestry products began in earnest in the 1990s. However, as a producer of primary goods with low value added, the country experienced an overall trade deficit that ran from US$500 million to US$1 billion from 1992 to 2002.
With the sharp devaluation of the peso in 2002, exports of Argentine forest product were given a shot in the arm. Argentine goods became more attractive and exports began to increase, especially for high-value-added products. Between 2002 and 2004, exports increased from US$300 million to about US$700 million.
So what started the sudden export of wood Money. Who decided that countries should cut their forests to make more and more money?
Who are the end users of these large amounts of money resulted from logging?
In terms of the major destinations of Argentina’s exports of wood and furniture products, the United States, Brazil, Spain, and Chile continue to be the most important markets. In 2005, both South Africa and the Dominican Republic emerged as markets for this sector.
China in 2005 also increased its demand for forestry products from Argentina, but they are mainly low-value-added products. Some of the most important exports goods from Argentina are fiber and particleboards, plywood, wood boxes and containers, and wood handles for tools
In 1914, Argentina was estimated to have more than 106 million hectares of native forests; by 1996, when a national action programme against desertification began, only 36 million hectares remained. Today, the country's forests are vanishing at a rate of more than 829,000 hectares a year, mainly where agriculture is pushing into native forests.
In Argentina, 75 percent of our native forests have already disappeared, and every hour the equivalent of 20 football pitches (soccer fields, for you North Americans) of forest is destroyed to grow transgenic soya.
The damage is irreversible, it is almost impossible to grow forest on the soil again - and today an area the size of Germany is at risk. In the last month, a provincial government has already sold off a natural reserve to companies planning to sow genetically engineered (GE) soya, an unprecedented act. This cannot carry on! That's why the Greenpeace Jaguars have gone into action to defend north-west Argentina's remaining forest.
The destruction of the forests in north-west Argentina means the loss of thousands of animal and plant species, the degredation of the soil and its contamination thanks to the use of pesticides, as well as hundreds of indigenous and local people losing their homes.
The forest had been destroyed for agriculture for years, but the rate of destruction has accelerated since 1996, when Monsanto introduced GE soya beans into Argentina. Since then, the country has extended its agricultural frontiers to grow GE soya for export as animal feed, at the expense of its threatened forests, wildlife and the homes and livelihoods of many people.
Protecting forests will not only preserve biodiversity and defend the rights of forest communities, it's also one of the quickest and cost effective ways of halting climate change.
