My home country - Myanmar, rich in natural resources,flora and fauna, is facing tropical deforestation.How can such a problem occur though she is covering with vast amount of forests?
Shift cultivation, using wood as fuel, extracting timber and other kinds of tree as commercial- products are the cause of it. The effects are forest depletion, soil erosion, land slide/mud slide, flood, etc.From the ecological impact, it severely damages to the ecosystem which is afflicted to rare flora and fauna.
Shift cultivation is a traditional way of life to provide rural people with basic needs.It is a poor form of land use so that try not to make it.The more increasing the population, the more energy-consumption is needed.The fuel-wood is the most depended one since it is the easiest way for rural people.Though government forces people to replant trees,it is not sufficient.To reduce heavy reliance on fuel-wood, people try to use alternative sources of energy such as biodiesel,solar energy and wind energy.Maybe it is difficult for them to use these at first, these will surely fulfill the requirement.Now, government is focusing on biodiesel and hydro-power,
which is a prospective way.
The China's rise of buying teak and hardwood from Myanmar also causes the potential to deforestation and desertification. According to UNEP, the rate of reducing of forests is around 220,000 ha per year.Since the country is the developing country, the economy can place pressure on natural resources and environment. Over 70% covered with forests is now degrading. To solve the problem, the government needs the international NGOs to collaborate. And,the most important one - every citizen needs to understand the cause and effect of it and should try to do as much as they can enthusiastically.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Deforestation - an important environmental issue in my home country
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4 comments:
Deforestation is a difficult issue in your country, especially when it involves your population livelihood. I have never thought of it as there are very little news and information that I have come across regarding your country.
I have heard of a way known sustainable development that may work. It means that for every tree that was cut down for any purposes, the logger would have to plant 2 more saplings or small tree in its place. Since you have mentioned some solution that are currently takeing place, things will get better after a period of time, if not irreversibly damaged.
I have never heard of shift cultivation before. Nice to hear new things. I feel things will get better automatically when people are aware about the issue besides the ones directly affected by it. This is necesary since I believe Myanmar has a quite a lot of illiterate population just like my country..
That’s true. The government should educate the people more about the cause and effects of their actions. As you mentioned, the forest is the provider of the basic needs for the rural people. The government could provide some form of help or subsidiaries to aid the rural people. Logging provides some form of income for the rural people, as long as it is profitable, the people would continue to log trees at unsustainable rate.
Good topic! I think this problem not only faced by Myanmar, but also lots of developing countries in the world such as China and Indonesia. Because it is difficult to achieve balance between nature and economic benefits.
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