Report claims forest destroyed for food and fuel production
July 21, 2008
A report from the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) suggests that tropical forests could be destroyed as the demand for land to grow food, fuel crops and wood exceeds the available supply.
The RRI claims that only half of the extra land that will be needed by 2030 can be obtained without intruding into forested areas. An accompanying report highlights the lack of progress in reforming land ownership and governance in developing countries as the major causes of the problem.
RRI’s supporters include the UK Department for International Development and equivalent organisations in Sweden and Switzerland. It calculates that an additional 515 million hectares (ha) of land will be needed for growing crops and fuel by 2030, but claims that only 200 million ha will be available without appropriating that currently occupied by tropical forests.
United Nations figures suggest that, at present, the world has approximately 1.4 billion ha of arable land, plus around 3.4 billion ha of pasture.
Some academics are hopeful that agricultural technologies, such as genetic engineering, will boost crop yields and help solve the problem but, recently, advances have been slow. Yields are actually falling in some areas, and climate change might reinforce that trend.
RRI concludes that, if large-scale pillaging of tropical forests is to be avoided, it is essential that land ownership in developing countries is reformed.
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