Does conserving our forests make sense economically?

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56531148

Does conserving our forests make sense economically?
Stabroek News, Wednesday, October 17th 2007

Dear Editor,

Mr. Walter Wirtz has opened the door for me to make an observation with
his letter captioned, "The pollution is generated in the developed
countries". There is much more to add to what Mr. Wirtz wrote. Mr. Gore
has a private jet and he would not park it to save the planet. A lot of
his democratic colleagues would laugh at any suggestion for the
personal reduction of their carbon footprint. In fact Mr. Gore's carbon
footprint is considerable but instead of personally reducing his
negative impact on the planet he would tell you that he will plant some
trees instead. That's called carbon credits.

Mr. Gore has set up a company, which makes lots of money from carbon
credits. Persons who are concerned about the impact of their carbon
footprint can have Al Gore's company come in, make an assessment and
have them pay an amount of money so that Al Gore can plant some trees.

Guyana should be concerned and should guard against global warming but
it must be understood that there is no conclusive proof that man is
responsible for this phenomenon. It is said that Al Gore's
"Inconvenient Truth" has about nine scientific inaccuracies.

Mankind does pollute and has the potential of destroying itself but
let's not confuse this with global warming and destroying the planet.
If we stop all the pollution the planet will still continue to warm and
if we should detonate all our nuclear bombs we will destroy ourselves
(and still maybe not all life forms) but not the planet.

I also want to bet that after we have destroyed ourselves and as time
goes on, another life form will occupy our planet. There is the
possibility that this new life form will be more intelligent than we
are. So it is absurd and egotistic to suggest that we are the best
thing to happen to this planet.

Guyanese leadership has got to wake up and understand these schemes
that the developed world are using to keep us in place. There are talks
about donating more of our forest to conservation with the hope of
getting carbon credits. While we must try to work towards the longevity
of our prime wood species and must do replanting. More conserving of
our forest is like saying that Guyana is destined to poverty.

Let me give you a hint to where I am going with this. American
businesses are terrified by the impact of Chinese goods and Indian
services. They are hoping that the mass toys recall will create
consumer doubt and tilt the balance in their favour. They wanted to be
the big players and pushed the global market place concept, now that
there is a two way street the going is getting too tough to handle.
There are voices calling on the US government to stop the influx of
cheaper imported goods, mass off shore production and the outsourcing
of services.

Now. Guyana has one of the best collections of quality wood species in
the world. If we could get our act together do you know what an impact
our lumber industry would make on the world market? A lot of foreign
timber business could stumble or fall. I would be extremely suspicious
of anyone or interest suggesting further forest conservation. I would
also want to have an open mind and look far beyond the comfort of the
pitiful and inadequate conservation credit.

Yours faithfully,

F. Skinner