International Wood Trade and Its Impact - Research Paper Example

International Wood trade and its impact Name of the student Name of the institution Date of submission Table of Contents International Wood trade and its impact 1 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Environment and Trade Policy Linkages 4 3.0 The links between forest change and international wood product trade 6 4.0 How does wood product trade influence national forest transitions 7 5.0 The relevance of global wood product trade in forest change patterns 8 6.0 Analysis of the impacts of increased trade in wood and wood products 9 7.0 Strategic policy recommendations for the wood and wood products sector 10 8.0 International Tropical Timber Agreement 11 9.0 The beginning of the timber trade and the biggest beneficiary countries and also affected 13 10.0 The Effects of WTO agreement on international wood trade 13 11.0 The extent of damage to the planet from logging 15 12.0 Pros and cons of the timber trade, both economically and environmentally 16 13.0 Conclusion 17 1.0 Introduction Timber trade is one of the leading trades that utilize the forest products. It presents 60% of all the trade from the forest products that are legal1. 63% of these timbers provide the world with a range of furniture for both the offices and home use. Therefore, wooden furniture trade is one of the leading business that utilizes forestry products. Multinational companies mainly carry out International Wooden furniture trade2. For example, IKEA and these organizations usually have their forests. However, the environmental law guides them with the expectation to observe international trade rules. The international law provides these organizations with an opportunity to work freely within the country they operate In return for continuous support and protection of the environment. Either, these laws stipulates for continuous ecosystem support3. Regulation of international wooden furniture trade is at both the local and international levels. At the local levels, the national forest urgencies regulate the planting and a harvesting of trees. Besides, they enforce the environmental laws. This is to ensure that the international investors promote the local environment. The local law requires these organizations to plant and harvest trees. For example, IKEA plants millions of seedlings every year, and they utilize the solar and wind energy. The traders also must involve the local stakeholders. Some countries have the laws that regulate employment of local firms. According to the legislation of these regions, these traders should benefit the locals as well as the national government. This literature has covered the following areas Environment and Trade Policy Linkages The links between forest change and international wood product trade How does wood product trade influence national forest transitions The relevance of global wood product trade in forest change patterns Analysis of the impacts of increased trade in wood and wood products Strategic policy recommendations for the wood and wood products sector International Tropical Timber Agreement The beginning of the timber trade and the biggest beneficiary countries and also affected The Effects of WTO agreement on international wood trade -The extent of damage to the planet from logging. -Pros and cons of the timber trade, both economically and environmentally. 2.0 Environment and Trade Policy Linkages In recent years, policy significance of environmental and trade linkages has increased partly as a result of high profile trade negotiations around the world. Academicians and policy makers have agreed that policy alone is not adequate tool when it comes to addressing environmental protection and issues.  However, many other linkages aspect still remains contentious and still form crucial part of policy debate4. Attempt to include environmental agendas in the world trade organization has brought tension in the organization. The position of the organization is that its main objective is to promote multilateral trade and not to protect environment. The green activist countries on other hand argues that harmonization of the environmental standards across countries is very important in the world of trade as this will help in maintaining environmental standards. The trade theorist on the other hand, argues that WTO should not in any way be burdened with the environmental issues and trade measures and policies will not be the first and best instruments for handling or solving environmental problems across the world. Developing countries on their part view harmonization of environmental standards as an attempt to deny them chance to exploit their natural resource like wood, gas among other resources and it does not occur as a neo-protectionism. In order to address environmental issues, trade policy alone cannot manage and there is need for linkages between environmental regulations and trade policy so that there could be wide acceptance of the policy across countries, both developed and developing. 3.0 The links between forest change and international wood product trade In order to be able to establish the link between the forest changes and the international wood product, the forest transition definition on the identity of the forest focusing on the forest stock is the best concept to be used when discussing the link between forest changes and international wood product trade. A country can measure its forest level in tons of carbon which is contained in its biomass which is determined by the area covered by the forest and the average density of carbon per unit area. It is a common sense concludes that all wood products originate from the forest stock, which denotes accumulated carbon assimilated by the trees. When wood is harvested, it represents the amount of carbon that flows out which is not harvested, would add to the forest stock5. Harvest wood normally lower the forest stock, and in circumstances where wood harvesting is more that the total wood increment, it resulted into forest depletion. Furthermore, with each and every tone of wood harvested, a given percentage of forest biomass is being destroyed in the process of its extraction. This process actually represents losses they signify a large carbon flow and they are considered as rucksack in the assessment of wood product trade. The international trade on wood product can be directly link with the changes in the level of forest in any country. The influence of the international wood product trade is far reaching; most of the old forests have been depleted as a result of trade. Therefore, there is need to protect our forest cover for long term and future benefits6. 4.0 How does wood product trade influence national forest transitions International trade is capable of influencing or accelerates decline in the forest. The continuous cutting down of tree for making product for export can leading to reduction of the forest size. This is possible when the rate of timber harvest is faster than the rate of replacement. When the harvesters are not following the right procedure for timber harvesting, it can result into forest decline and even forest depletion. International trades of wood product can results into prevention of forest return. This is possible more specifically when the forest in question is hardwood forest. Continues clearing and harvesting of wood product may result into depletion of specific wood which may not be replaced in long term. This may result into transition of the forest from one type of wood forest to another. There are a wood which takes long before they can mature, without proper timing of harvest and planting of trees, the forest can take long to return to its normal density hence slowing down forest return. This is also possible in circumstance where the rate of harvest is faster than the replacement and growth rate of the trees being harvested. Apart from the negative transition of the forest, international trade of wood product may result into the slowdown of forest loss. This is possible mostly where the national laws requires extensive tree planting. The companies and individuals involve in the trade may plant more tree reducing the rate of its loss. This can also result to the speed up forest return when there is plantation of trees more so when there is more investment in the forest. Tit can also result into facilitation of forest return in a country. 5.0 The relevance of global wood product trade in forest change patterns In study done by Cronkleton et al., (2013) they state that the size of total forest carbon may appear relatively high if compared with the flow of the wood product through international trade. If this is compared with the industrial round wood production, it is increasingly relevant. Over 35% of wood production is being traded across global annually, hence the effect of wood trade on the forest pattern should be acknowledged by all stakeholders involve. Cronkleton et al., (2013) started that the pattern in world natural forest are changing due to wood harvesting for international trade purposes. Global wood product trade can result either to increase or decrease in the total forest cover. Forestation policies may result into increase in the total forest cover when the international investors increase their investment in the wood through planting more trees. Continuous clearing and harvesting of wood product could result into depletion of the forest cover changing the pattern and the area under cover. These changes are brought about by wood product trade across the globe. However, wood trade is just but one of the factors that are relevant to change in the net forest change. Some other factors include expansion of agricultural land where many people clear forest for settlement. This has resulted into change of forest pattern across the globe. Fuel wood is another area relevant for the forest pattern change. People clear forest to get wood fuel which is also traded internationally, national conservation policy, which works simultaneously with the feedback mechanism among them. 6.0 Analysis of the impacts of increased trade in wood and wood products Ramakrishnan (2008) states that global wood consumption is increasing at a very low pace and in the last 20 years, the average global consumption has been only 3.5 billion cubic meters with 50% of the total consumption going to industrial consumption in form of industrial logs. In the year 2005, the total consumption increased by around 30% mostly pulp logs while saw logs consist of around 66% over the same period. For a period of about 10 years, the consumption of pulp logs increased by 1.7% annually, while the consumption of saw logs increased by 0.6% annually. One of the fast growing products in the international markets is wood panels, which grow at approximately 6.7% annually and secondary processed wood products which grow at 8.7% annually. Other product which grows below estimated value of 2.0% annually includes logs, wood chips and wood pulp. Some of the major impacts of increased trade in wood and wood product include deforestation. The forest cover is declining at an increasing rate and one of the causes of this decline is logging and clearing for primary and secondary forest to supply world market with wood and wood products. Forest decline is closely related with the loss of biodiversity of both species and ecosystem which negatively affects watersheds. The forest decline can heavily impact on the local communities and economy and is growing concerns over the adverse social and economic impacts of the decrease in the forest cover across the globe. Both forest deforestation and degradation resulting from lodging of wood has greater impact on poor segments of the population since most of them directly rely on forest resources for their livelihood improvement. 7.0 Strategic policy recommendations for the wood and wood products sector There is need to ensure a balance between the supply and demand of timber to help in reducing the impacts on environment and forest resources. Individuals exploiting forest resources need to reform and have proper criteria and open procedure on resource exploitation. Some of the strategic policies that can help to improve wood and wood product sector include; Continuing reform on the individual country wood processing policies to ensure environment protection The country should develop proper criteria and procedures when it comes to wood processing, publicizing and conducting necessary closures/mergers in a more transparent manner. The wood and wood product sector should strengthen dual policies on plantations and production forests to ensure sustainable wood and wood product supply. This can be easily monitored through village forest management watch which should be formed. The sector should scale up forest management certification; this can be done through continuing promotion of scale up forest management certification through development of a network on forest and wood export which is based on the sustainable forest management. The government should always crease awareness on the importance of forest management and sustainable wood production. This awareness will sensitize the community and the players of the importance of environmental conservation and indirect benefits of forest. The government should ensure continuous improvement of law enforcement in the forestry sector through strengthening and speeding up implementation of regulation and policies on illegal logging and illegal exporting of wood and wood product. Each and every country should corporate with international bodies on enforcing law that relates to forest management and promotes good governance and trade. The government should also implement the ban on exportation of raw logs. The government should enforce policies that promote cooperation mechanism between public and private sectors. This should incorporate forest department, trade partners and wood processing. 8.0 International Tropical Timber Agreement The international tropical timber agreement main objective is to promote the expansion and diversification of the international trade in tropical timber from sustainable managed and legally harvested forests and to promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forest. The agreement provides an effective framework for consultation, policy development and International Corporation among the members of this agrees concerning aspects of the world timber economy7. The agreement further provides a forum for consultation to promote non-discriminatory timber trade practices across the globe. It is important to note that international tropical timber agreement contributes to sustainable development and help in alleviating poverty from society. This is mostly through promoting good trading practices and environmental management. The agreement aims at enhancing the member state capacity to implement strategies for achieving exports of tropical timber products and enhance sustainable resource management8. The founder of the International Tropical Timber Agreement aimed at promoting improved understanding of the structural conditions in the international, this include long-term trends in the consumption and production, factors affecting access to market and consumer preferences and price conditions resulting to prices that can be reflected in the sustainable cost of management. The agreement aimed at promoting and supporting research and development on improving the efficiency of forest management and utilization of wood product across member state. It will further improve the capacity to conserve and enhance other forest values in the production of timber. The agreement aimed at encouraging member state to support the development of tropical timber reforestation as well as rehabilitation and restoration of degraded forest land with special interest to the local communities across the world and among member state. 9.0 The beginning of the timber trade and the biggest beneficiary countries and also affected Wood trade can be traced back in the 19 century. The increase in the trade was fueled by increased demand for timber product by European countries. This brought a lot of investment in timber trade across Canada and it fostered economic growth and development. It drastically transformed the regional and environment through its early exploitation. Logging of trees was essentially done in winter with a lot of cheap labor available for the work. The industry dependent mostly on muscular men and beast for manual logging techniques, this was used until early 1912. Late 1920’s, horses and oxen were used which was later replaced by steam power driven by donkey. High lead steam was also developed, axe among other machines. In the current market, the industry has developed and more sophisticated tools are being used for harvesting wood across the globe. Some of the biggest beneficiaries include Canada where timber was readily available. The earlier investors in wood industry benefited a lot since there mostly dependent on their ability to log more as possible. There were no rules and regulation when it comes to logging of trees across Europe. Therefore, Canada and Europe as a whole are the major beneficiaries to wood and wood product trade. 10.0 The Effects of WTO agreement on international wood trade WTO environmental agreements can be important instruments for environment management and has influence the development of sustainable forest management programs. However, it is important to note that very few literature have mentioned their effects on trade and environment. There is over 180 multilateral trade agreement; many of these agreements have either direct or indirect influence on the forest management and wood trade in general9. The conventions on biological diversity agreement establish the framework for sustainable management and utilization of forest resources. The agreements sets limits of exploitation of resources in forest limiting free trade on wood product and prohibiting in trading on raw logs, but encouraging exportation of the processed wood product. The WTO agreement further limits trade on the endangered wood species limiting their exploitation. They are seen as major trade barriers by trade theorist. Regulation of international wooden furniture trade is at both the local and international levels. At the local levels, the national forest urgencies regulate the planting and a harvesting of trees impacting on the trading of wooden product globally. Besides, they enforce the environmental laws. This is to ensure that the international investors promote the local environment well-being encouraging growth forest and sustainable supply of wood product. The local law requires these organizations to plant and harvest trees. For example, IKEA plants millions of seedlings every year, and they utilize the solar and wind energy. This is part of the WTO program of ensuring development and sustainable supply of wood and wood product. 11.0 The extent of damage to the planet from logging The illegal lodging of timber and other wood product has resulted into the decline in the rain forest by 20% over the last two decades. Trees have the ability of cleaning the carbon dioxide in the air, when the trees are cleared, they is higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the filling the atmosphere and this contributes to global warming10. When trees are cut down, the land remain bear and these bear lands are prone to erosion not only spoiling agricultural land but making it health hazards for human inhabitants. Another important factor to be considered is the important water cycle which is mostly promoted by the trees; it therefore means that without trees, the water cycle will not be complete resulting into low rainfall annually. This has more than environmental implication but reaching to economic implication. With low water level, hydroelectric production will be very low limiting the production of green energy. This will result into production of other energy like coal and oil which may result into further environmental degradation11. The damage of logging can further be experienced in destruction of biodiversity considering that forests are the breeding grounds of most of wild animals. It therefore, means that continuous destruction of forest results into destruction of wild animals and biodiversity in general. This is a far fetch destruction which goes to an extent of spoiling of wild life and ecotourism in general (UNEP). 12.0 Pros and cons of the timber trade, both economically and environmentally Advantages of timber trade Economically, timber sectors have employed millions of people across the global. This gives citizens source of income which is a very important contribution of trade to local people. The government of various countries derives a lot of revenue from the timber trade which is used in the building of economy12. Environmentally, timber trade help in enacting laws that encourages conservation of forest. This has resulted into planting several artificial forests to increase forest cover in different countries. With increased forest cover, there are many benefits which the local derives from the trade. The artificial forest would have not been there if not timber trades13. Disadvantages of timber trade Economically, there are many deaths, which have been brought by timber trade and these deaths would have been saved. Many countries have been exploited and have drained the natural economic resources simply as a result of timber trade. Environmentally, the damage of logging can be experienced in destruction of biodiversity considering that forests are the breeding grounds of most of wild animals. It therefore, means that continuous destruction of forest results into destruction of wild animals and biodiversity in general. This is a far fetch destruction which goes to an extent of spoiling of wild life and ecotourism in general. Trees have the ability of cleaning the carbon dioxide in the air, when the trees are cleared, they is higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the filling the atmosphere and this contributes to global warming. When trees are cut down, the land remain bear and these bear lands are prone to erosion not only spoiling agricultural land but making it health hazards for human inhabitants14. 13.0 Conclusion In conclusion, trade involving the products need to conform to both the international law and the environmental law. Observation of legislation at the local level is in favor of the environment of the locals. The local government determines the type of business carried out to prevent illegal forest activities. Read More