Abholzung

AMONG THE MANY NASTY things that humans are doing to the environment, few rank worse than destroying tropical forests. Rainforests sustain an astonishing diversity of species and keep our planet liveable by limiting soil erosion, reducing floods, maintaining natural water cycles, and stabilising the climate. Yet roughly 10 million hectares of tropical forest are destroyed every year – the equivalent of 50 football fields a minute.

Researchers have questioned 2009 findings by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) that found that India's forests were, unlike many tropical Asian nations', on the rebound. According to the FSI, Indian forests had grown by almost five percent from the 1990s. Yet, were these finding too good to be true?

According to Jean-Philippe Puyravaud and Priya Davidar of Pondicherry University, and William Laurance from James Cook University, the findings were very likely too optimistic.

It must be realised that while population growth and poverty do threaten forests, their destruction is more seriously determined by institutional and economic policies. Institutional failure can occur due to pro-degradation land use development policies or if there is a lack of regulation of resource use or corruption