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Reader Feedback: 'Solving' Rainforest Destruction

02/19/2008 10:29 am

Wouldn't it be amazing if it were so simple? A Reader Joins the Conversation

I came across a blog today titled “New Solution to Deforestation in Sumatra’s Rainforests.”

It pointed out that an area the size of 300 football fields is felled every hour in Sumatra. The good news is that a new reforestation project will hopefully ensure 101,000 hectares are saved from logging.

As a blogger myself, I know how easy it is to create headlines on the fly, but this headline is misleading. While it would be amazing if there were tidy solutions to complex problems, scattered reforestation projects in places like Southeast Asia don’t solve complex environmental realities.

The heroes who are working tirelessly to save remaining forests are faced with governments who protect big business complicated by local people who continue the “slash and burn” methods of agriculture that are a way of life.

Oh, wait a minute! Does that sound like the situation in the highly advanced country we call home?

Nancy Harkrider, Editor, Contributor

Reader Comment 02/101/2008
Isn't the issue here that we are pushing our values on the rest of the world? When is it OK for us to intervene?
Ken M, London

Nancy's Reply to Ken

That's a tough call and one I think about every day.

When I talk with non-Asians who are leading or supporting environmental projects in Asia, they talk about the "split brain" condition they struggle with.

Their DNA is Western, with all that implies but they have lived among Asians long enough to have crossed over. So they understand both sides of the issue.

For me, it's about respecting traditional cultures, including the slash and burn tradition, while finding ways to help them realize how environmental degradation hurts them.

As for the ruthless big busineess, the rest of the world should be all over them to clean up their act!

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