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The role of American and European consumption in tropical deforestation
China Daily published the following article today, highlighting the responsibility of Western markets in the loss of forest cover in tropical areas.
"Western consumption 'causes forest shrinkage'
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Western
consumption, and not China's timber trade, is to blame for the
depletion of the world's tropical forest resources, according to a
recent report.
Rethink China's Outward Investment Flows,
compiled by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said most of the
natural resources imported to China are re-exported in the form of
value-added inputs or final products. More than 70 percent of imported
timber is processed into furniture and exported to the United States
and European Union countries. When searching for reasons behind
shrinking forests, "we should be careful and we should always look at
the final destination", said Dennis Pamlin, a global policy advisor of
WWF Sweden, who is co-author of the report.
"Or it gives an
incomplete picture and can contribute to a situation where China is
seen as the problem, when the main problem is Western consumption
patterns," Pamlin said yesterday.
Read the rest of the article on the China daily website.
Posted By Anne-Sophie Samjee at 11:07am on May 09, 2007
Comments: 0
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