Plundering the Forests

Plundering the Forests by Sean McDonagh

At the beginning of the second millennium of the Christian era forests covered half the world. The next thousand years witnessed the widespread destruction of forests in every part of the world. In a single century, the 20th century, half the forests of the world were destroyed. And the devastation continues. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its "State of the World's Forests 2001' confirmed that deforestation is continuing at a very high rate in tropical countries, especially in Africa and South America. In the 1990s the countries with the highest forest loss were Brazil, Congo, Indonesia, Myanmar, Mexico, Nigeria, Sudan and Zambia.

Even in Russia with its vast expanse of woodlands, stretching right across Siberia, forests are under threat. Russia contains about one fifth of the world's forests spread out over 763 million hectares. Since the fall of the USSR a dramatic increase in illegal logging has taken a toll on the forests. In 1998 officially sanctioned logging cut 1.5 million cubic meters of timber, but the real worry is the volume being cut by the estimated 2,600 small logging companies that have sprung up near export markets especially near the Chinese border.

The destruction of Russia's forests would add around 600 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. If the forests are cleared global warming will accelerate (l).

My own interest in ecology and religion stems from watching the tropical forests in the Philippines being decimated in the 1970s, comprised about 70 percent of the total land area of the Philippines a the beginning of the 20th century. B~ the end of the century the tropical forests covered was down to les~ than 20 percent. It is predicted that it will slip further to 6 percent unless urgent remedial action is taken now to stop legal and illegal logging. (2) The bishops of the Philippines lamented the destruction of the forests in their pastoral letter "What is Happening to our Beautiful Land?" written in 1988.

The destruction of the rainforest has many adverse effects. Removing forest cover leads to massive soil erosion. The knock-on effect of this is a decrease in agricultural productivity and consequent malnutrition and even famine. I experienced this directly during the 1980s when I worked with the tribal people called the T'boli who lived or the edge of the rainforest in South' East Mindanao. Flash floods during typhoons and the wet season cause destruction to roads, bridges schools and houses, often resulting in the death of many people. The decrease in forest cover on the mountains renders costly irrigation projects ineffective; the trees no longer hold the water so the river~ stop flowing during the dry season.

Extinction
The greatest tragedy flowing from the destruction of tropical forests is the mega-extinction of species. It is estimated that human activity it extinguishing species at "1, 00C times the natural rate seen in evolution". (3) Already tens of thousands a species have been lost. E.O. Wilson, a Harvard Biologist and author of The Diversity of Life estimates that WE are losing 27,00C species each year. Many scientists would consider this to be a conservative estimate, but Wilson warns that the destruction of species will soar ii the last remaining areas of tropical forests are exploited and destroyed.

If the present rate of extinction continues 50 percent or even more of all the life forms on earth could be extinguished during the next few decades. A study published in September 2000 has placed 11,046 plants and animals on the danger list. Mammals and birds are most under threat in Indonesia, India and Brazil and China. Plant species are declining fastest in West Africa and South-east Asia. (4) It is estimated that one in eight of the world's bird species are facing extinction. (5)

Norman Myers, a British biologist and expert on tropical forests, considers that the present "extinction spasm is the greatest set back to life's abundance and diversity since the first flickering of life emerged almost four billion years ago.

Extinction on such a scale is so horrendous that it is difficult to grasp. Many species are being pushed beyond the precipice of extinction before scientists have been able to identify them and see how they may be useful as sources of food and medicine.

Other species are well known and closely related to humankind. Time Magazine (Jan 31, 2000) estimates that many of our close cousins among primates are on the brink of extinction. These include orangutans, mountain gorillas, golden bamboo lemur and Hainan gibbons. The Time survey ends with a very pertinent question: "How long will Earth be a hospitable place for humanity when it is no longer a flu home for our next of kin?"(6)

Extinction is not confined to forests in the tropics. The intensification of agricultural production in Ireland in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990s has taken its toll on other creatures. Three species of wild flowers - corn cockle, corn chamomile, and shepherd's needle have all become extinct in recent years.

Agricultural practices and thoughtless building programmes have silenced birds, like larks, yellowhammers, corn buntings and corncrakes that brought joy to the hearts of previous generations of Irish people. Wetland drainage schemes destroyed the habitat for wetland breeders like the black-knecked grebe, the bittern and the marsh harrier. Of course, as Gordon D'Arcy points out in his wonderful book Ireland's Lost Birds, these are not the first birds to be faced with extinction in Ireland. We have also lost the crane, the osprey, the goshawk, the red kite, and a number of species of eagles. These birds have survived in other countries and, theoretically at least, could make a comeback in Ireland. There is no possibility of a comeback for the great auk. This bird that was once so common is now extinct~ not just in Ireland, but also globally. C7)

Because the reality of extinction and the process by which it is taking place is removed from us, our traditional human-centered moral categories fail to even register what is happening. Our present moral principles can deal in some adequate way with human-centered moral issues like suicide, homicide and even genocide, but we have no way of dealing with biocide or geocide. The evil of species extinction does not appear, for example, in the encyclical Veritatis Splendor, which was written by Pope John Paul II to restate Catholic moral teaching in the contemporary world. (8) Catholics either at the individual or institutional level have not been "people of life and for life", to quote the words of Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae. (9)

Extinction negates the labour, care, energy and untold experiments which were needed to bring forth this gorgeous earth with its great diversity of creatures. The irreversible destruction of life on such a scale, within the past few decades, must be one of the most important ethical issues of our times. Yet it is seldom discussed in either secular or religious publications. You will not see anything about extinction in the party manifestos in the forth-coming General Election.

God, the Author of Life
The Australian theologian Dens Edwards has written extensively about Trinitarian theology and ecology. He points out that in St. Bonaventure's theology of the Trinity, God is seen as the source of life and goodness. The divine love-life and love of life "explodes into a thousand forms in the world of creation". For Bonaventure, creatures are "nothing less than a representation of the wisdom of God, and a kind of sculpture. Every creature is of its very nature a likeness and resemblance to eternal wisdom. Every species, each ecosystem, the earth's biosphere, the universe itself - all are the self-expression of divine wisdom". (10)

In the light of this theology the present mega-extinction phase is not alone sterilizing the planet and rendering it barren for future generations by eliminating species but it is seriously compromising our ability to develop new insights into the nature of God. As one species after another is jostled over the abyss of extinction the unique way that each one has of reflecting the Divine is lost forever. Bonaventure used the image of the stain-glass window to capture this difference. "As a ray of light entering through a window is coloured in different ways according to the different colours of the various parts, so the divine ray shines forth in each and ever creature in different ways and in different properties."(11)

There have been five major "extinction events" in the last 600 million years. The present extinction spasm is not driven by external conditions like a meteor from outer space or naturally induced climatic changes. It is due, almost entirely, to the action of one species, namely Homo sapiens, and that is an extraordinary tragedy for our species.

Closely allied to the massive rate of extinction is the fact that tribal people and particularly their languages and unique cultures are being lost at an extraordinary rate. Linguists estimate that 5,000 tribal languages disappeared during the 20th century. (12) In South Cotabato, where I worked in the Philippines, there were six tribal groups living in, or close, to the tropical forest. The destruction of the forest has tilted the odds against these tribal groups and their languages and rich cultures surviving through the 21st century.

Despite the importance of trees in the Biblical tradition and the role of the Cross in our Redemption, contemporary Christians are oblivious to the present destruction of forests globally. Humans have learned a lot in recent years about the importance of forests in stabilizing climate, cleaning the air, combating global warming, supporting millions of other living creatures and providing human kind with medicine, food and other important human needs.

Despite this we have not developed adequate policies at a global and national level to cherish and protect forests. At the very least, when we buy wood we should enquire whether the wood came from forests that are managed in an ecologically sustainable and socially just way. We should also challenge our politicians to ensure that here in Ireland we give top priority~ in our forestry policy to promoting indigenous broadleaf trees. We should support non-government organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council that is attempting to protect forests globally and, as Christians, we should never forget that Christ, Our Lord, died on a tree for our salvation. END

1. Carter, Stephen and Shulyakovskaya, Natalya, "Into the woods" The Guardian Supplement, Aug 8, 2001, pages 6-7.
2. Decline of the Philippine Forest 2002 I/F Manila Observatory Bldg., Ateneo de Manila, University, Quezon City, Philippines
3. Radford, Tim, "Dead Zones in the oceans and the rate of extinction, 1,000 times faster than evolution. The Guardian, Aug 3 1999.
4. Brown, Paul, 'Mankind speeding extinction of Wildlife", The Guardian. Sept, 2000, page 11.
5. Nutaal, Nick, "Hundreds of birds on 'extinction' list" The Irish Times, Oct 16,1999, page 9.
6. Alexander, P. Charles, "Death Row.' Time, January 31, 2000, pages 62-65.
7. D'Arcy, Gordon, 1999, Ireland's Lost Birds, Four Court's Press, Dublin.
8. Veritatis Splendor, 1993, CTS, London 9. Evangelium Vitae, No. 6, 1995, Veritas Publications, Dublin.
10. Edwards, Denis. 1998, "Theological Foundations for Ecological Praxis', in Ecotheology, Sheffield Academic Press, page 130.
11. ibid, page 131
12. Brody, Hugh, "Silent Witnesses", The Guardian, July 26th, 1999.

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