Deforestation, a significant cause of global warming, is happening at the highest rates in Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil, according to a study by Maplecroft, a United Kingdom-based risk analysis and mapping company. Among the leading causes of deforestation are economic growth, poverty, corruption and the rise of biofuels.
Maplecroft classified these three countries and six more-Bolivia, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, North Korea and Papua New Guinea-as "extreme risk" for problems related to climate change.
In Indonesia, deforestation for new palm-oil plantations is making it tough for illegal loggers to find top-quality products, according to The Jakarta Globe. The newspaper reports that Indonesia's National Police "have only been able to seize low-quality goods during a series of raids conducted between Nov. 8 and Nov. 26." Government data show Indonesia is losing about 1.1 million hectares of forests each year, mostly due to unsustainable logging that includes the conversion of forests to plantations for palm oil and the pulp and paper industry. During the latest raids, 6,300 logs were confiscated, but they were mainly under 1 meter in diameter.
But with deforestation taking a toll on Indonesia, its leaders are not sitting idly by. This year alone, Indonesia policymakers agreed with the EU to trade exclusively in legal timber, enlisted Muslim preachers to campaign against illegal logging, and publicly vowed to protect its rainforests. In May, the country instituted a two-year moratorium on logging permits in primary forests and peatlands.
On Monday, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono planted the one-billionth tree in the country's anti-deforestation campaign, according to The Jakarta Globe. It was a symbolic move that coincided with his plea to foreign companies to support Indonesia's efforts to stop illegal logging. Still, for all its work to combat illegal logging, at least one member of Indonesia's House of Representatives feels the country "lacks commitment" to resolve problems surrounding illegal logging, according to The Jakarta Post.
In Brazil, the cattle industry was cited by Maplecroft as "the key driver of deforestation" in the Amazon rainforest. Biofuel production and the country's goal of expanding roadways to drive its economy are other reasons for deforestation there. Citing data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Maplecroft determined deforestation actually decreased in Brazil from an average of 2.9 million hectares per year in the 1990s to 2.2 million hectares annually from 2005 to 2010.
Nigeria, which is first on Maplecroft's risk index, lost just over 2 million hectares of forest between 2005 to 2010, with a 4 percent reduction per year. This "alarming rate" of deforestation prodded that country to seek about $59 million in UN-REDD+ funding, an international program that aims to make stopping illegal logging a source of revenue for impoverished countries.
"The drivers of deforestation in Nigeria are a complex mix of agricultural expansion, logging, infrastructure development and high levels of national and state level government corruption," said Arianna Granziera, an analyst with Maplecroft.
Maplecroft's full report on global deforestation-for which it surveyed 180 countries-can be read here.
