| 1. Rainforests: Whatís the future ? The special General Assembly of the United Nations, which met at the end of June, was forced to address bitter revelations. Five years after the first Earth Summit, the hope created by the incredible mobilisation has faded. Certainly awareness of the ecological danger has greatly spread, but this has not brought about much action. The grand idea of durable development may well be forgotten, just one more beautiful utopia. The lure of wages for the poor and the egotism of short term interests combine in the north as well as the south to render the application of a global strategy to this threat more illusory than ever. Everyone agrees on the diagnostic, more or less, however the differences between the American and European solutions to the problem illustrate the difficulties - difficulties which do not bode well for the future. While the Europeans argue a volontarist position, the Americans have not yet wanted to ratify restrictive measures. The assessment of the results of « Rio+5 » is disturbing. Regarding progress on desertifi-cation, threats to ecosystems and global warming, all indicators remain alarming. The only glimmer of hope, it seems, is a slight improvement concerning tropical rainforests. However this may be a false hope. If the rate of destruction has slowed, this is certainly linked to the fact that most easily exploitable rainforests have already disappeared. Between 1960 and 1990, 1/5 of the worldís rainforests were destroyed. In Central America as well as in West Africa they have been virtually eliminated. What remains is seriously threatened. Paradoxically the Amazonian rainforest, which represents the rainforest « par excellence », and which pays the heaviest price in absolute terms to deforestation, is proportionally less threatened than the forests of Central Africa or the Asian/Oceanian tropics. It is difficult to provide exact figures, but based on current estimates, from concessions already granted to forestry companies, the total disappearance of tropical rainforests seems inescapable. At the Belgian or European level what can we do to save the irreplaceable heritage ? Without renouncing global action, which is indispensable, it seems possible to focus part of our means and efforts on a few limited objectives. What should we do and where ? Let us look at the two regions of the world in the most immediate danger. In Asia/Oceania tropical rainforests are still found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. According to a recently published study by the World Resources Institute, the situation seems less critical than that of Africa. There, the remaining rainforests are concentrated in the Congo Basin. The situation is particularly worrying for three reasons : Civil wars, coups díétat and other political and humanitarian crises have a direct impact (hunting, deforestation, etc) and an indirect one (problems in control, increased poverty, disorganisation, havoc in the National Parks), the magnitutde of which is progressively becoming clear. The economic crisis has led to the development of commercial hunting in order to satisfy the immediate needs in the villages and to provide the urban centres with meat. The disappearance of animals, notably large fauna, poses a serious threat to the ecosystems. Indeed certain key species, such as the elephant, play a crucial role in the propagation of plants and consequently for maintaining biodiversity. Finally, South Asian forestry companies, after having completed the exploitation of numerous regions of America, Asia and West Africa, have moved in on Central Africa. Working for Far Eastern markets, these companies are not satisfied simply with most valuable rainforest species. They clearcut rather than cut selectively, causing a great deal of damage. There is little time left to act. Nevertheless we have a few assets European cooperation, in all its forms, is by far the most important in a region in which we have considerable knowledge. Thanks to European Commission programs such as the Ecosystèmes Forestiers de líAfrique Centrale (ECOFAC), the Avenir des Peuples des Forêts Tropicales (APFT), we have developed a unique expertise in coordinating with local researchers and managers. Their high quality and motivation demonstrate that they increasingly share our concerns. Herein lies an opportunity to seize, but what strategy must be developed to save what can still be saved ? In fact there are many initiatives, unfortunately they are often dispersed or even competitive with one another. The European Commission should take the lead and coordinate the activities of the different participating organisations. The European Commissionís establishment of an informal conference involving everyone active in the Congo Basin last April is an excellent start. |
| As for forestry exploitation, we must help the countries concerned to enforce existing
rules and encourage exploitation that respects the environment as much as possible. This includes the development of a certification or award of an eco-label of quality for all rainforest products sold in our markets. We must continue to study the ecosystems, the complexity of which only becomes apparent progressively over time. Furthermore we must not accept the myth of the virgin forest, a product of the idealisation of nature by Western city dwellers. These forests have been inhabited for thousands of years and their exploitation through ancestral habits has contributed to the biodiversity. It is therefore essential that we include these peoples in our conservation effort. This is not easy but it is the only guarantee for long term success. From the cities to the villages, these people must change from spectators to actors, and hence our partners in the move towards durable development. Finally we must be more than other regions, we must think big. The distances covered by large fauna are considerable, so we must protect areas much larger than those of current reserves and parks. To this end we can either link several existing protected areas by controlled « corridors », an option currently proposed within Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville and the Central African Republic, or preserve one very large uninterrupted zone. This immediately brings to mind the National Park of Salonga, at the centre of the Congo Basin. Demarcated several years ago, at present it exists only on paper. Immense, enclosed and situated in an area of low population, it offers an exceptional opportunity to preserve, in one or two large blocks, an area of 36 000 km2, significantly greater than the surface area of Belgium. The ECOFAC program had planned to integrate this in its activities, however the political situation in Zaïre has interrupted all activity in this country. With the subsequent changes, there is now a chance for Europe and the government of President Kabila to make a major gesture for future generations. Let us hope that our own country, which as we know played an important part in the creation of the Congo National Parks, will have, with the help of the European Community, the will to support an initiative on this issue. by P. de Maret A FEW REFERENCES Article published in La Libre Belgique, in the Summer University column, 11/08/1997 Pierre de Maret is professor of Anthropology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Director of the APFT programme. |
| A FEW REFERENCES Daou V. Joiris is anthropologist and co-ordinator of APFT consultancies Daou V. Joiris: «The anthropological constraints within the framework of conservation projects of Central Africa», Trinational Sangha River Conference, Yale University, 25-29 September 1997. To be published in the Conference acts. Civilisations, Vol. XLIV, N° 1-2, « Les Peuples des Forêts Tropicales : Systèmes traditionnels et développement rural », January 1997. |