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The effects of deforestation, forest degradation and forest fires represent
a permanent loss of the potential capacity of forest resources to generate
economic benefits (CDEA 1992). These impacts are more severe in some countries
than others. Most Caribbean countries have depleted forest resources so
much that they must now import forest products, creating an additional
need for foreign exchange. In countries with extensive forest resources,
such as Brazil, deforestation has had less overall impact, although at
the local level the impact can be very significant.
| Forest fires in Latin America and the
Caribbean |
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Fire is a traditional land use tool for opening up new land to
agriculture and making hunting easier. Uncontrolled wildfire is
now a major concern: forest fires can destroy up to 50 per cent
of the forest's surface biomass, with severe effects on forest fauna
(UNEP 2000).
Forests were particularly vulnerable to fire in 1997-99 due to
seasonal droughts associated with El Niņo and decline in forest
quality. In Central America, more than 2.5 million ha of land caught
fire in 1998 with the greatest losses in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico
and Nicaragua (Cochrane in press). In Mexico alone, there were 14
445 separate fires (FAO 2001a). The same year, large-scale fires
also affected many South American countries.
Social and economic costs of fires are high, when full account
is taken of medical costs, airport closures, and timber and erosion
losses. The damage resulting from the 1998 forest fires in Latin
America has been crudely estimated at US$10-15 billion. The first
South American Seminar on the Control of Forest Fires was held in
Brazil in 1998, and policy makers are starting to realize that emergency
response needs to be coupled with better land-use practices. In
Mexico, for instance, the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry
have been collaborating since 1998 to reduce the threat of agricultural
burning to forests (FAO 2001a).
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