STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
43
be highly intolerant of divergent opinions from indigenous peoples
and environmental organizations.
Champion of forest destruction
Inabsolutefigures, theAmazonregionhasbeen the championof forest
destruction since the 1970s, and Brazil has always been responsible
for the lion’s share of this development. Given the continental size of
the Amazon forest area, however, other regions and countries have
deforested much larger percentages of their remaining forests. From
2000 to 2010 the Amazon lost 216,000 km
2
, an area equivalent to
90% of the United Kingdom.
16
In spite of this, dense humid forest
still covered more than 5.8 million km
2
in the Amazon basin in 2010.
17
It must be added, though, that a significant proportion of this forest
has been affected by human activities, displaying varying degrees of
forest degradation.
Deforestation dynamics varies considerably between Amazon
countries. Brazil has consistently had the highest rates in the region,
driven by politically stimulated occupation of the Amazon and
expansion of cattle ranching; more recently followed by industrial
scale soy cultivation. This is why the drastic reduction of deforestation
in the Brazilian Amazon since 2004 is so significant. The average
deforestation for the last two years (2012–2013) was 5,200 km
2
,
implying an 81% reduction compared to 2004, and a 74% reduction
compared to average annual deforestation 1996–2005. Deforestation
in the other Amazon countries has generally been relatively low, and
almost non-existent in French Guyana and Suriname. In Peru, with
the region’s second largest rainforest area, deforestation has until
recently been relatively modest, although serious forest degradation is
widespread, not least due to legal and illegal logging. The signals from
Peru are mixed. There are some encouraging signals that Peru may be
taking positive steps regarding forest protection, but on the other hand
the environment legislation was recently weakened in ways that will
lower the barriers for exploitation of forest. The fact that almost three
quarters of the Peruvian Amazon is covered by oil and gas concessions
and that wildcat gold-digging is spreading rapidly and without control,
indicate that deforestation is likely to increase in the coming years.
18
Ecuador has historically had high deforestation rates, and although we
have witnessed an innovative, but unsuccessful, attempt to mobilize
substantial international support for keeping part of the country’s
oil reserves in the ground and protecting the globally significant
biodiversity hotspot Yasuni, recent signs indicate that deforestation
may increase in Ecuador. Colombia has displayed higher deforestation
rates than the Amazon average from 2000 to 2010, and conflicts over
resource extraction and development models have plagued Bolivia
during recent years, where government plans are not always in line
with the country’s international environmental rhetoric. Guyana has
always had low deforestation rates, but the tendency is towards a slight
increase, largely due to the expansion of gold mining.
It is well documented that indigenous lands in the Amazon
function as effective barriers against deforestation.
19
Deforestation
is generally low inside indigenous territories, comparable to that of
strict protection nature reserves, and far lower than in non-protected
forest areas. There are, however, also contrasting examples of high
deforestation within some indigenous territories, especially in the
absence of supportive government policies.
20
Understanding the
interaction between deforestation dynamics at the local level and
the incentives for protection that can be provided through public
policies is important. Indigenous peoples have varying approaches to
resource use and forest management. The examples on the following
pages, from the border area between Brazil and Peru, show some of
this variation.
Challenges ahead
The Amazon region is rapidly being “integrated” through ambitious
infrastructure projects, including roads, waterways, and energy
transmission lines. Huge hydropower plants and large-scale
investments in extraction of minerals, oil and gas are increasingly
causing major environmental and social impact.
21
Both infrastructure
and extractive projects depend largely upon external financing or
credit – external in this context often means Brazilian (through the
Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES) or Chinese capital.
Roads represent a special challenge in the Amazon. A number
of studies over the years have documented a clear link between
road building and deforestation, demonstrating how nearly all
deforestation occurs within a few tens of kilometres from roads.
This is also clearly visible on maps; the infamous Brazilian “arch of
deforestation” follows the main trans-Amazon highways. The most
recent study, however, highlights the fact that there is an extensive
network of unofficial roads in the Brazilian Amazon and concludes
that as much as 95% of all deforestation occurs within 5.5 km of a
road or within 1 km of a navigable river.
22
Although the deforestation
risk associated with roads are well known, there is a glaring lack of
preventive measures to control land speculation, unregulated logging
and land-grabbing along roads. Between 1975 and 2004 the official
highway network in the Brazilian Amazon increased from 29,400
km to 268,900 km
23
– accompanied by increasing deforestation. The
transoceanic highway in the western Amazon, inaugurated in 2011
and linking the state of Acre and the departments of Pando in Bolivia
and Madre de Dios in Peru with each other and with harbours on
the Pacific, facilitating exports to Asia, seems bound to repeat such
historic mistakes.
Many more roads are planned, and with improved access the natural
resources of the Amazon are becoming even more attractive to
investors. It is imperative, then, that investors adopt no deforestation
policies and that governments prepare their infrastructure projects
with full-scale environmental assessments and implement serious
mitigating actions, like regulating tenure, establishing protected
areas and making social investments, before construction woks are
initiated. Forest destruction following roads is not a law of nature, but
a proof of negligence.
