FAQs about Rio Summit 1992

5. What is the “Declaration of principles relating to forests” Rio 1992?

It is a document that contains a series of guidelines for the most sustainable management of forests in the world. It corresponds to part 11 of Agenda 21, approved at the Rio Summit 1992.

Numeral 11.2.a) Is about “Strengthening national institutions dealing with forestry issues; expand the scope and effectiveness of activities related to the management, conservation and sustainable development of forests and effectively ensure the sustainable use and production of forest goods and services, both in developed and developing countries ; by the year 2000, strengthen the capacity and competence of national institutions so that they can acquire the necessary knowledge to protect and conserve forests, as well as expand their sphere of action and, consequently, increase the effectiveness of programs and activities related to forest management and development.

The facts show that after Rio-1992 the objectives related to forests have not been met. Deforestation took on greater intensity, not only in Borneo, where hostile deforestation began in the 1970s, but in the Amazon forests de lung of the of the world.

How much have you deforested? It is impossible to know. Corruption and mafias make it impossible to know the truth. There are dozens of ways to bypass controls, especially through small and large bribes throughout the jungle marketing chain. The traps include falsification of protected places, substitution of tree classes, changes from one area to another, adulterated shipping notes and nationalization documents in the receiving countries that do not correspond to reality. All this makes it difficult to obtain reliable statistical data in the main forests of the world.

According to WWF data, in a report produced in 2005, the forested area of the great rainforest of Southeast Asia, in 1985 stood at about 78%, in 2000 at 58%. For 2010 the NGO projected 44% and 33% by 2020. If we take into consideration that Borneo had its 100% intact forest in times as close as 1950, we can conclude that in just 70 years the huge island, more than double of the Germany size, has lost two thirds of its trees and the amount of ecosystems that nature took millions of years to build.

According to the article “Deforestation in Brazil”, from Wikipedia, it is estimated that the South American country “originally had 90% of its area covered by varied forest formations, the rest was made up of fields, but in 2000 the total proportion had dropped to 62 ,3%”.

The recent intentional fires in the lung of the world (2019), a method used to eliminate roots and clean up other waste, balances of innumerable deforestation, show that there is no intention on the part of the Brazilian government to respect the “Declaration of principles relating to forests, Rio-1992 ”. In addition, they prove that the UN does not have the means to stop this ecological catastrophe that is in full swing. The countries that own timber forests hide within their national sovereignty to do what seems best within their territory. A Democles sword that hangs dangerously upon humanity.

According to the 2018 FAO report, entitled The State of Forests in the World, “Deforestation is the second leading cause of climate change – after the burning of fossil fuels – and accounts for almost 20% of all emissions from greenhouse gases. This is more than the entire transport sector in the world. Between 24% and 30% of the total mitigation potential can be obtained by stopping and reducing tropical deforestation.”