Logging

The main logging areas in the world are the Amazon, Far Eastern Islands, Canada and New Zealand. Because of the "Asia crisis" in the last few years logging has been cut back in the Far East. This followed scenes of continuous burning in Indonesia, to such an extent that the earth was permanently on fire and the smoke drifted right across to Malaysia, causing schools to close because of the pollution. Malaysian business interests control the logging on the Solomon Islands, where - because of the economic downturn, they pulled out making hundreds of workers redundant. Only now is the Solomon Islands government introducing measures to make the forest sustainable - both for employees and the environment.

Fuel

Agriculture

Unjust patterns of land use and ownership in the tropics have been exaggerated by the incorporation of the third world into the global market. Self-sufficient economies have been turned into zones of agricultural production for export (cash crops). Secured power of wealthy land owners at the expense of third world farming systems creating instability, poverty and environmental degradation. Since the 1950's the World Bank and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) have played a key role in promoting this market-orientated agricultural model.