Post world-war II in Southeast Asia, many countries faced the aftermath that demanded fast action to ensure peace and stability in people. Jobs and homes needed to be created for the people. Most countries followed the land-use policies put in place in the 17th century in Europe and failed to see the importance of conserving the tropical forests (Rishi, 2009). At that time, the forests were seen as a resource of great financial value that could bring about high economic benefit. At this stage, government played a huge role in policy-making, that depended on the forest resource. The policies brought about positive effects whereby the post war period became one of the most thriving times in Southeast Asia as countries focused on developing their economy and going global (Hirschman, 1994). Yet, the same policies also brought about irreparable damages. Poffenberger (1990) stated that tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia reduced from 250 million hectares in 1900 to less than 60 million hectares by 1989. Following are several key factors that supported deforestation:
- Timber exports
The tropical rainforests provided immense resources that could be the easy solution for fast economic development. Timber, from forests, not only could fuel energy, but they are useful as a building supply. Timber production and export became popular as demand increases and this was one of the key contributors to deforestation in Southeast Asia (Rudel, 1989). Of the world’s supply for timber after world-war II, 70% came from Southeast Asia and this demand continued to grow well into the 80’s (Gillis 1988).
2. Agriculture
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Logging practices cleared forests and created space for agricultural practices. Many Southeast Asia countries became producers of basic food supply, several became world food supply even up till now. Kummer and Turner (1994) stated that agriculture was the second driving force to deforestation in SEA countries like Philippines. Landspace was needed to house the growing population and people depended on farming for a livelihood. Also, in the case of Indonesia, huge hectares of forests are cleared for palm oil plantation. High efficiency in wet rice plantation and the growing world population created demand that promoted land clearance for crop farming (Hirschman, 1994).
3. Housing for the growing population
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In many Southeast Asian countries after world war II, population boom followed the peace after war (Hirschman, 1994). Hence, government needed to come up with policies to house its people. Also, the aftermath of war included properties that were left in poor condition and restructuring was required. Colonisation policies were used to force-migrate people out of the forests. Kummer and Turner (1994) explained that population growth may be a secondary factor to deforestation whereby development of road connections brought about land clearing.
(Photo Credits for 1. Timber exports: http://www.strathamnh.gov/Pages/StrathamNH_Assessing/timber)
(Photo Credits for 2. Agriculture: Valerie Lim)