Ten Good Reasons to Protect Chile's Native Forests
Native temperate rainforest, south Chile, 1995. Photo: Hernan Verscheure.
- 1) Native forests are reservoirs of biological diversity. They provide essential wildlife habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna, some of which are already on the brink of extinction.
- 2) Native forests help keep Earth in balance, efficiently cycling, nutrients, water and energy, generating oxygen, stabilizing climate and offsetting the greenhouse effect.
- 3) Native forests are the ecological backbone of watersheds. They purify, conserve and provide water.
- 4) Native forests build and maintain soil and minimize soil degradation.
- 5) Many species of trees, bushes, lichens, epiphytes, mosses, herbs, grasses, fungi, and vines present in native forests are important sources of medicines that can help treat illnesses and heal people.
- 6) Native forests are important scientific benchmarks, so that we can learn and better understand how forests work.
- 7) Native forests are an irreplaceable landscape resource of aesthetic value to tourists and locals, for recreation and spiritual enjoyment.
- 8) Native forests provide a broad range of products, including wood products, honey, mushrooms, medicinal herbs and forage.
- 9) Native forests guarantee the traditional lifestyles of indigenous peoples and the permanence of thousands of campesinos on their lands. They ensure an improved quality of life for rural peoples.
- 10)Native forests, especially oldgrowth temperate rainforests, are an increasingly scarce world resource. Their value only increases. Preserving native forests is a wise investment for the future. Our children and grandchildren will thank us!
Chile's Native Forests: Their Conservation Our Commitment
In order to achieve sustainable forestry in Chile, the Chilean government must develop and implement a new comprehensive forest policy that:
- promotes the sustainable management of Chile's native forests as the cornerstone of all Chilean forestry.
- Outlaws the replacement of native forests by exotic tree plantations.
- Requires that forest practices across the entire land base conform to the principles of eco-forestry.
- Requires the expansion of the national protected area system to include large, sustainable representative examples of each native forest ecosystem type.
- Requires a public participation process that fully involves forest-dependent people, communities, companies and citizens groups in the development and implementation of forest policies.
The current boom in Chile's forestry sector, based on exotic plantations and pulp chip exports, is false hope for a secure future. Only a ban on the current practices of plantation forestry, highgrading and deforestation together with a switch to eco-forestry will guarantee the sustainability of Chile's native forests and its future as a forestry country with a healthy life for future generations.
