State of the Rainforest 2014

is generally low inside indigenous territories, comparable to that of strict protection nature reserves, and far lower than in non-protected forest areas. There are, however, also contrasting examples of high deforestation within some indigenous territories, especially in the absence of supportive government policies. 20 Understanding the interaction between deforestation dynamics at the local level and the incentives for protection that can be provided through public policies is important. Indigenous peoples have varying approaches to resource use and forest management. The examples on the following pages, from the border area between Brazil and Peru, show some of this variation. Challenges ahead The Amazon region is rapidly being “integrated” through ambitious infrastructure projects, including roads, waterways, and energy transmission lines. Huge hydropower plants and large-scale investments in extraction of minerals, oil and gas are increasingly causing major environmental and social impact. 21 Both infrastructure and extractive projects depend largely upon external financing or credit – external in this context often means Brazilian (through the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES) or Chinese capital. Roads represent a special challenge in the Amazon. A number of studies over the years have documented a clear link between road building and deforestation, demonstrating how nearly all deforestation occurs within a few tens of kilometres from roads. This is also clearly visible on maps; the infamous Brazilian “arch of deforestation” follows the main trans-Amazon highways. The most recent study, however, highlights the fact that there is an extensive network of unofficial roads in the Brazilian Amazon and concludes that as much as 95% of all deforestation occurs within 5.5 km of a road or within 1 km of a navigable river. 22 Although the deforestation risk associated with roads are well known, there is a glaring lack of preventive measures to control land speculation, unregulated logging and land-grabbing along roads. Between 1975 and 2004 the official highway network in the Brazilian Amazon increased from 29,400 km to 268,900 km 23 – accompanied by increasing deforestation. The transoceanic highway in the western Amazon, inaugurated in 2011 and linking the state of Acre and the departments of Pando in Bolivia and Madre de Dios in Peru with each other and with harbours on the Pacific, facilitating exports to Asia, seems bound to repeat such historic mistakes. Many more roads are planned, and with improved access the natural resources of the Amazon are becoming even more attractive to investors. It is imperative, then, that investors adopt no deforestation policies and that governments prepare their infrastructure projects with full-scale environmental assessments and implement serious mitigating actions, like regulating tenure, establishing protected areas and making social investments, before construction woks are initiated. Forest destruction following roads is not a law of nature, but a proof of negligence.

be highly intolerant of divergent opinions from indigenous peoples and environmental organizations.

Champion of forest destruction Inabsolutefigures, theAmazonregionhasbeen the championof forest destruction since the 1970s, and Brazil has always been responsible for the lion’s share of this development. Given the continental size of the Amazon forest area, however, other regions and countries have deforested much larger percentages of their remaining forests. From 2000 to 2010 the Amazon lost 216,000 km 2 , an area equivalent to 90% of the United Kingdom. 16 In spite of this, dense humid forest still covered more than 5.8 million km 2 in the Amazon basin in 2010. 17 It must be added, though, that a significant proportion of this forest has been affected by human activities, displaying varying degrees of forest degradation. Deforestation dynamics varies considerably between Amazon countries. Brazil has consistently had the highest rates in the region, driven by politically stimulated occupation of the Amazon and expansion of cattle ranching; more recently followed by industrial scale soy cultivation. This is why the drastic reduction of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since 2004 is so significant. The average deforestation for the last two years (2012–2013) was 5,200 km 2 , implying an 81% reduction compared to 2004, and a 74% reduction compared to average annual deforestation 1996–2005. Deforestation in the other Amazon countries has generally been relatively low, and almost non-existent in French Guyana and Suriname. In Peru, with the region’s second largest rainforest area, deforestation has until recently been relatively modest, although serious forest degradation is widespread, not least due to legal and illegal logging. The signals from Peru are mixed. There are some encouraging signals that Peru may be taking positive steps regarding forest protection, but on the other hand the environment legislation was recently weakened in ways that will lower the barriers for exploitation of forest. The fact that almost three quarters of the Peruvian Amazon is covered by oil and gas concessions and that wildcat gold-digging is spreading rapidly and without control, indicate that deforestation is likely to increase in the coming years. 18 Ecuador has historically had high deforestation rates, and although we have witnessed an innovative, but unsuccessful, attempt to mobilize substantial international support for keeping part of the country’s oil reserves in the ground and protecting the globally significant biodiversity hotspot Yasuni, recent signs indicate that deforestation may increase in Ecuador. Colombia has displayed higher deforestation rates than the Amazon average from 2000 to 2010, and conflicts over resource extraction and development models have plagued Bolivia during recent years, where government plans are not always in line with the country’s international environmental rhetoric. Guyana has always had low deforestation rates, but the tendency is towards a slight increase, largely due to the expansion of gold mining.

It is well documented that indigenous lands in the Amazon function as effective barriers against deforestation. 19 Deforestation

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014