Study on Forest Utilization Patterns in Southeast Asia : Changes in the Course of Socio-economic Development

根据粮农组织的最新统计，我们正在全世界失去1 540万公顷热带森林。在这些热带森林砍伐中，只有390万公顷，即亚洲和太平洋的四分之一。然而，就森林砍伐与森林覆盖面积的比例而言，亚洲和太平洋遭受的损失比其他地区更大。特别是，东南亚大陆占1.8%，东南亚岛屿占1.4%，而世界平均水平为0.8%。比较这些情况，大多数发达国家的森林覆盖率现在正在增加，尽管它们曾经失去了大量的森林。出于同样的原因，我们预计发展中国家也会出现同样的转变。但是什么时候，怎么做呢？我们选择菲律宾、泰国和印度尼西亚进行深入研究。这些国家处于不同的社会经济发展阶段。根据联合国的分类，印度尼西亚被列为“低收入经济体”，1990年的人均国民生产总值为570美元，1965-1990年期间的年增长率为4.5%。菲律宾和泰国属于“中等收入经济体”，人均收入分别为730美元和1420美元，年增长率分别为1.3%和4.4%。菲律宾几乎用尽了它的天然森林，现在正试图通过社会林业方法来恢复它。经济活动的水平似乎并不影响那里的森林砍伐。以泰国为例，经济增长带来了木材价格的上涨，这在政府的帮助下促进了树木种植。印度尼西亚拥有相对丰富的森林资源。随着天然林的发展，传统的轮作耕作正在被非传统的、对环境有害的泥炭农业所取代。我们研究了遥感技术来估算印度尼西亚的森林砍伐面积和其他森林干扰面积，以及泰国的新人工林面积，以评估每个国家的上述情况。

According to the latest FAO statistics, we are loosing 15.4 million ha of tropical forests world-wide. Among these tropical deforestation, only 3.9 million ha, or one fourth is counted for by Asia and Pacific. Yet in terms of deforestation ratio to forest cover area, Asia and Pacific suffer more than the other regions. Especially, Continental South Eastern Asia poses 1.8%, and Insular South Eastern Asia, 1.4% whereas the world average is 0.8%.Comparing these situations, forest cover is now increasing in most developed countries, though they have had lost enormous amount of forest once. By the same token, we expect the same turn in developing countries. But WHEN and HOW?We choose the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia to study in depth. These countries belong to different stages of socio-economic development. According to United Nation's classification, Indonesia is classified as "low-income economies" with $570 per capita GNP in 1990 with its annual growth rate of 4.5% for the period of 1965-1990. The Philippines and Thailand belong to "middle-income economies" classification with $730 and $1,420 per capita income and 1.3% and 4.4% annual growth rates respectively.The Philippines almost used up its natural forests and now trying to restore it through social forestry approaches. The level of economic activities doesn't seem to affect deforestation there. In case of Thailand, economic growth brought about higher timber prices, which promotes tree farming with assistance of the government. Indonesia has relatively abundant amount of forest left. With this natural forest traditional shifting cultivation is being replaced by non-traditional and environmental disturbing type of slush and burn agriculture.We studied remote sensing techniques to estimate area of clearing forest and other disturbance in forest in Indonesia and area of new plantation in Thailand to evaluate the above said situations in each country.