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At the current rate of destruction of tropical rainforests, we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every day, says Lord Eden of Winton.
At the recent Biological Diversity Summit, there was agreement that by 2020 the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, would at least be halved and, where feasible, brought close to zero. To that end ministers committed to working with international partners and to supporting the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) initiative. They would also work to address the trade in illegal logging.
Everyone now acknowledges the urgent need to reduce the rate of forest clearance and to find ways to protect the world's few remaining rainforests. Yet the logging continues – notably, but not exclusively, in Central Africa, Indonesia and Brazil.
On 6 July this year, Robin Lustig in the BBC's World Tonight programme said that "the charred tree stumps in the Amazon rainforest tell their own story". The rate of destruction this year is already five times higher than a year ago.
It is not just that about 80 per cent of logging in the Amazon violates government controls. Licensed commercial logging is also responsible, as are projects such as new trunk roads and dams. In Peru, for example, the dams now planned for the Ene River Valley are likely to impact 734 km2 by 2014. And the livelihood of at least 10,000 people will be ruined. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is real danger that rainforest the size of the UK will be opened up for felling.
Other forest-dependent life is also affected. Already in Borneo and Sumatra, the habitats of the last two remaining species of orang-utan are threatened as tropical forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. The survival of these and other apes can greatly assist mankind in the study of human genetic diseases.
In addition to the effect on humans and animals, plants are being destroyed – many of them of great medicinal value. At the current rate of destruction of tropical rainforests, we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every day.
The picture is gloomy, but not altogether without hope. The discussions at international level continue. British ministers and officials are leading the agenda. The next great gathering will be in Durban in December. Meanwhile forests are being felled. So we need to instil a sense of urgency and take immediate practical steps, even if they are only small ones.
Groups of nations, especially the Commonwealth, could set the pace in their own territories. And we should mobilise NGOs and voluntary organisations such as the Rainforest Foundation (in whose work I declare my interest) to stimulate local communities at the grass roots. We cannot afford to wait. Only by concerted action will the destruction be halted.
Lord Eden of Winton will ask the government what its latest assessment is of the effect of logging operations in the rainforests of Africa, Asia and South America, and what is the likely impact on the indigenous human, plant and animal life.
John Benedict Edenwas the MP for Bournemouth West from 1954 to 1983. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Eden of Winton, of Rushyford in the County of Durham in 1983. He was awarded the honorary freedom of the town of Bournemouth in 1984.
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