Dear Editor,
The international conservation community recently became aware of Jamaica's charcoal export trade. While we recognise the right and the need for Jamaicans to secure a diversified export market, we fear that severe exploitation of hardwoods will cause irreversible impacts to not only imperilled tropical dry forests, but ultimately the Jamaican people.
An export charcoal market would inflict further stress on the last remaining stands of tropical dry forest in Jamaica. In particular, we fear that a charcoal export trade would devastate the Hellshire Hills -- arguably the most stellar remaining tropical dry forest in the insular Caribbean -- causing the extinction of animals found nowhere else in the world.
According to published research conducted at the University of the West Indies, trees found in the Hellshire Hills are extremely slow-growing. These trees take up to 400 years to reach maximum size; therefore the remaining forest is very old and may represent the only pristine forest remaining on the island. Once cut, micro-environmental conditions change, making it near impossible for the forest to regenerate to an original state.
The Hellshire Hills are also home to the Jamaican iguana, an animal found nowhere else in the world. The Jamaican iguana was highlighted last year as one of the 100 most endangered animals in a book titled Priceless or Worthless? The world's most threatened species.
Believed to be extinct for much of the last century, the Jamaican iguana was rediscovered in 1970. Widespread international recognition followed in the 1990s when a live iguana was brought to the Hope Zoo.
Now, with the dedication of Jamaicans and international partners, a breeding and research programme is helping to prevent the iguana's extinction.
Iguanas are reintroduced into the Hellshire Hills from a head-starting programme run from Hope Zoo, and an extensive research, monitoring, and non-native predator control programme is managed by the University of the West Indies. Without such intervention, the iguana would probably have vanished entirely.
Even so, they persist only within a 10km2 core zone that is protected from predators by traps. The iguana's forest habitat is protected under the Forest Act of 1996, but a lack of enforcement means that the area continues to be exploited for wood used in charcoal production.
If this destruction is not controlled soon, there is a real risk that the remaining iguana habitat will be destroyed, wiping out the species within it.
Exporting charcoal is also a human issue as it will surely accelerate the deforestation of Jamaica. One only has to look towards Haiti for a case study on how environmental degradation through deforestation (less than 1.5 per cent of its original tree cover remains) is partly responsible for Haiti's troubled rank as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
In 1954, after Hurricane Hazel downed trees across the island, concessionaires increased logging operations in response to Port-au-Prince's intensified demand for charcoal. This demand further accelerated deforestation, which was already a concern.
Deforestation intensifies soil erosion, which washes away productive topsoil, increases landslides, and damages irrigation systems, roads, and coastal marine ecosystems. Soil erosion also lowers the productivity of the land, worsens droughts, and eventually leads to desertification, all of which increase the pressure on the remaining land and trees.
The emerging issue of charcoal export affects Jamaicans, forests, and wildlife. We encourage serious discussions between forest managers and policy makers to prevent the unregulated and large-scale destruction of the irreplaceable tropical dry forests of Jamaica. The international community is anxious to see how this conflict is resolved.
Charles Knapp, PhD
Stesha Pasachnik, PhD
Co-chairs, IUCN SSC Iguana Specialist Group
Charcoal export will affect Jamaicans, forests, and wildlife
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The international conservation community recently became aware of Jamaica's charcoal export trade. While we recognise the right and the need for Jamaicans to secure a diversified export market, we fear that severe exploitation of hardwoods will cause irreversible impacts to not only imperilled tropical dry forests, but ultimately the Jamaican people.
An export charcoal market would inflict further stress on the last remaining stands of tropical dry forest in Jamaica. In particular, we fear that a charcoal export trade would devastate the Hellshire Hills -- arguably the most stellar remaining tropical dry forest in the insular Caribbean -- causing the extinction of animals found nowhere else in the world.
According to published research conducted at the University of the West Indies, trees found in the Hellshire Hills are extremely slow-growing. These trees take up to 400 years to reach maximum size; therefore the remaining forest is very old and may represent the only pristine forest remaining on the island. Once cut, micro-environmental conditions change, making it near impossible for the forest to regenerate to an original state.
The Hellshire Hills are also home to the Jamaican iguana, an animal found nowhere else in the world. The Jamaican iguana was highlighted last year as one of the 100 most endangered animals in a book titled Priceless or Worthless? The world's most threatened species.
Believed to be extinct for much of the last century, the Jamaican iguana was rediscovered in 1970. Widespread international recognition followed in the 1990s when a live iguana was brought to the Hope Zoo.
Now, with the dedication of Jamaicans and international partners, a breeding and research programme is helping to prevent the iguana's extinction.
Iguanas are reintroduced into the Hellshire Hills from a head-starting programme run from Hope Zoo, and an extensive research, monitoring, and non-native predator control programme is managed by the University of the West Indies. Without such intervention, the iguana would probably have vanished entirely.
Even so, they persist only within a 10km2 core zone that is protected from predators by traps. The iguana's forest habitat is protected under the Forest Act of 1996, but a lack of enforcement means that the area continues to be exploited for wood used in charcoal production.
If this destruction is not controlled soon, there is a real risk that the remaining iguana habitat will be destroyed, wiping out the species within it.
Exporting charcoal is also a human issue as it will surely accelerate the deforestation of Jamaica. One only has to look towards Haiti for a case study on how environmental degradation through deforestation (less than 1.5 per cent of its original tree cover remains) is partly responsible for Haiti's troubled rank as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
In 1954, after Hurricane Hazel downed trees across the island, concessionaires increased logging operations in response to Port-au-Prince's intensified demand for charcoal. This demand further accelerated deforestation, which was already a concern.
Deforestation intensifies soil erosion, which washes away productive topsoil, increases landslides, and damages irrigation systems, roads, and coastal marine ecosystems. Soil erosion also lowers the productivity of the land, worsens droughts, and eventually leads to desertification, all of which increase the pressure on the remaining land and trees.
The emerging issue of charcoal export affects Jamaicans, forests, and wildlife. We encourage serious discussions between forest managers and policy makers to prevent the unregulated and large-scale destruction of the irreplaceable tropical dry forests of Jamaica. The international community is anxious to see how this conflict is resolved.
Charles Knapp, PhD
Stesha Pasachnik, PhD
Co-chairs, IUCN SSC Iguana Specialist Group
Charcoal export will affect Jamaicans, forests, and wildlife
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