Tropical forest destination

1989/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

On the one hand, the Thai government has banned commercial exploitation of the forest. On the other hand, the Malaysian government has jailed 100 people fighting against the shoot down of the forest in the Sarawak region of the island of Borneo, applying a new law to fight against wild corruption.

The decision of the Thai government has been surprised by environmental groups and has been a consequence of a human trajedia. Wild corruption has been the cause of the flood that killed 350 people last November. To ensure that this will not happen again, the Government of Thailand has decided that it is best to withdraw all logging concessions.

Thailand is currently importer of wood. Tropical timber exports have been limited since 1978. Now the forest covers 17% of Thailand's surface, compared to two-thirds of 1950.

Thailand's decisions have frightened the world's savage exploitation companies. These companies are working as a lobbyist before governments, saying that the only way to maintain the tropical forest and defend farmers and ranchers is rational corruption. However, attempts so far to implement renewable tropical forests have failed.

The scientific debate has nothing to do with the struggle between the companies and the inhabitants of Sarawak. In the Sarawa region, the largest existing rainforest in South Asia is preserved.

Two-thirds of tropical timber imported by developed countries comes from Malaysia. Malaysia's main timber resources are located in the Sarawa and Sabah regions. Since 1987 people living in the forest are blocking wild roads to keep exploitation away from their territory.

Exploitation is wild in these lands. In some places they work 24 hours a day and only rains sow the logging of the forests.

The Malaysian government has had external pressures to prevent the one who opposes wild corruption from enforcing a fighting law. However, the government sees it as a political and economic threat to denounce the brutal corruption of forests. In addition, he believes that living in the forest is an anachronism in the third richest country in Asia.