We all know about “Peak Oil.” But what about “Peak Timber”?
The findings of a team of researchers published in the journal Biological Conservation should not be a surprise. But they are deeply worrying for anybody concerned about forest depletion and climate change.
If you have watched the cycle of logging and reforesting when handled correctly, there is a fascination in seeing logged land regenerate as saplings grow into full grown trees and back into a forest. Sometimes it is possible to fool ourselves that this cycle is sustainable if handled correctly.
The problem, though, as raised by these researchers is that in the mad rush to harvest trees, too little time is devoted to regeneration. In addition, the rampant clear-cutting practices guarantee that the land will degrade and make it that much harder for forests to grow back – if saplings are even planted at all.
This is how the researchers summarize it:
Over the past few decades, tropical timber production in many Asia–Pacific countries has been akin to the symmetric logistic distribution curve, or ‘Hubbert Curve’, observed in the exploitation of many non-renewable resources—a rapid increase in production followed by a peak and then decline. There are three principal reasons why logging of native tropical forests resembles the mining of a non-renewable resource: the standard cutting cycle of 30–40 years is too brief to allow the wood volume to regenerate; tropical logging catalyses considerable deforestation; and the bulk of logging is undertaken by multinational corporations with little interest in long-term local sustainability. Unless something fundamental changes, we believe tropical forests will continue to be overharvested and cleared apace, leading to an inevitable global decline in tropical timbers of non-plantation origin. It has become common these days to speak of ‘peak oil’. In the tropics, we suggest that we should also begin to discuss the implications of ‘peak timber’.
The scientists used logging on the Solomon Islands as an example because it was said to be “a microcosm of the challenges facing sustainable forest management in the tropics.”
The team, made up of Dr Phil Shearman and Jane Bryan from the Australian National University, and Prof William Laurance from James Cook University, Australia, compared their findings to the now well-known “Hubbert curve” – what we recognize as the chart that shows “Peak Oil.”
In some ways, it is surprising that environmentalists have not jumped on this analogy before. Massive deforestation is taking place around the world at such a rate that the majority of tropical forests will be decimated within the decade or so. What is frightening is that predictions by environmentalists might prove to be too conservative. The reality is that the destruction is moving faster than we might think.
The BBC in a story on the report pointed out three key findings of the team to keep in mind:
• Low level of marketable timber production – many tree species having unsuitable wood properties, and the slow growth rate of commercially viable specimens is another factor
• Collateral damage – while logging in the tropics tends to focus on a small fraction of the trees, many others are damaged or killed as a result of the network of access roads to the area being logged
• Second-wave clearance – the “labyrinths of logging roads have opened up vast swaths… for colonisation, hunting, illegal mining and other destructive activities”
The team issued a worrying warning:
“Unless something fundamental changes… we believe that logged tropical forests will continue to be over-harvested and, far too frequently, cleared afterwards, leading to an inevitable global decline in native timber supplies.
“It has become common these days to speak of ‘peak oil’. In the tropics, we assert, we should also begin to seriously consider the implications of ‘peak timber’.”
Yet the message here is that we are not just talking about “Peak Oil” or “Peak Timber.” We are talking about “Peak Everything.”
“Peak Everything” implies we are running out of most non-renewable resources. And in the rush to use up these non-renewable resources, we are trashing the planet. If you are a villager living in a forest being cut down, you see it. If you a resident in an area where hills or mountains are being knocked down for tar sands or coal, you see it. Yet for most of us, we don’t see it.
If you were living in a forest shaken by the sound of chainsaws, would you do something?
You bet.
