Report: Asia's forests face threat
Manage Alerts | What Is This? BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A shortage of wood to fuel growing
demand from pulp and paper mills worldwide is forcing some companies to tap illegal sources while
others are clear-cutting tropical forests, a leading conservation group charged Thursday.
In an eight-year study, the Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, or CIFOR,
also found that international investors have sunk US$40 billion (euro31.3 billion) worldwide into "
financially risky and environmentally destructive" projects with little concern for their sustainability.
"Financial institutions have shown a surprising lack of interest in understanding how the pulp
companies requesting loans are going to get all this cheap wood," said David Kaimowitz, director
general of CIFOR.
"In reality, some of these mills have vastly overestimated what's legally available from timber
plantations," he said. "So the only way they can meet production targets is through unsustainable
logging of natural forests or by shipping in wood from distant sources at a much higher cost."
Pulp and paper companies have long been a favorite target of environmentalists. Activists have
accused them of converting tropical forests into plantations and being responsible for fires that
cause choking haze which blankets parts of Asia each year.
The companies have denied the charges and insist they are operating sustainable plantations.
According to CIFOR, demand for cheap wood worldwide -- especially in China -- is causing a
rapid expansion of the sector. Analysts expect companies to invest another US$54 billion (euro42.2
billion) by 2015, much of it in Brazil, China, Indonesia, Uruguay, and the Baltic States, CIFOR
found.
Part of the concern with this growth, CIFOR said, is that the investors that fund many of
these projects rarely assess their viability. It singled out private banks but also the World Bank's
private sector lending agency, the International Finance Corp., for failing to adequate consider the
environmental impact of their loans.
"Most banks have little in-house forestry expertise and rely heavily on data provided by the pulp
producers themselves and on projections of global paper demand," the report said. "The study
concludes that pulp mill projects often carry significantly higher degrees of financial risk than
investors realize."
The report also contends that pulp companies do their part to mislead investors, either by
overestimating the size of their plantations or promising to use wood from sustainable supplies when
much of it comes from clear-cut forests.
1.How did companies make lucrative profit out of the wood resources according to the passage?
I . by illegally wood-cutting and processing
II . by exploiting tropical forests
III. by merging international pulp and papers corporations.
A. I B. I and II C. I and III D. All of above
2. Financial Institutions sunk investment to pupil companies ________.
A. to which they gave loans to buy cheap wood
B. mainly to gain profit without considering the means to get cheap wood.
C. to gain profit and suppress the cost of getting cheap wood
D. to help find sources where cheap wood is available.
3. Why did the environmentalists strongly oppose the activities of pulp and paper companies?
A. Because they changed tropical forests into plantations .
B. Because they ignored sustainable development.
C. Because they destroyed nature resources.
D. All of above
4. Why did banks continue to fund investors for timber and pulp projects ?
A. Because they knew clearly about the forestry
B. Because they have rich experience in this field.
C. Because their decisions were based on data from the pulp producers and world demand.
D. Because they cannot be misled by environmentalists.
5. What can be the best title for this passage ?
A. Pulp and Paper Industry
B. CIFOR and Its Report
C. Illegally Invested Timber Projects
D. Forests In Danger
参考答案：
1.B 2.B 3.D 4.C 5.D
