Business input needed in fight for forest future

When tackling a rather large problem, it's always good to have as much information as possible. Readers of this journal will not be surprised that WWF is engaged on forest issues - and hopefully by now you have looked at our Living Forests Report (www.panda.org/livingforests) where we've been modelling possible scenarios on the future of global forest resources, and what change is needed for a positive future for forests - and a sustainable timber industry.

Our latest chapter to this report, Saving Forests At Risk, makes compelling reading. Eleven places in the world - 10 of which are in the tropics - will account for over 80 per cent of forest loss globally by 2030. The 11th is in Australia. Yes, Australia.
Up to 170 million hectares of forest could be lost between 2010 and 2030 in these "deforestation fronts" if current trends continue. The fronts are located in the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and Gran Chaco, Borneo, the Cerrado, Choco-Darien, the Congo Basin, East Africa, Eastern Australia, Greater Mekong, New Guinea and Sumatra. These places contain some of the richest wildlife in the world, including endangered species, and all are home to indigenous communities. Some temperate forests in Russia are also considered a major issue.

Globally, the biggest cause of deforestation is expanding agriculture - including commercial livestock, palm oil and soy production, but also encroachment by small-scale farmers.

Unsustainable logging and fuelwood collection can contribute to forest degradation, while mining, hydroelectricity and other infrastructure projects bring new roads that open forests to settlers and agriculture.

Earlier analysis by WWF shows that more than 230 million hectares of forest will disappear by 2050 if no action is taken, and that forest loss must be reduced to near zero by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change and economic loss.

As the WWF Forest Campaign continues focused on actions we can take to drive responsible forest trade through UK and wider EU consumption demands for forest products, we must remind ourselves how much we depend on achieving a change in the future for forests.

At the launch of Saving Forests at Risk, Rod Taylor, director of WWF's global forest programme, asked us to "imagine a forest stretching across Germany, France, Spain and Portugal wiped out in just 20 years" - the equivalent of what we could see lost globally. Can we imagine it? Worryingly, maybe we can. In which case, we must guard against complacency and continue to ask questions and call for changes that enable us to play our part in taking this global problem.

There are solutions to halting deforestation, but this means collaborative land-use decision-making that accounts for the needs of a sustainable forest products business, communities and nature.