The Peril of Innocence .sx By Nick Gibbs .sx I CAN MAKE no apology for the concentration of articles on the rainforest issue in this month's Woodworker .sx It hardly needs the columns of this magazine to emphasise the number of football pitches worth of forest that are being destroyed every minute , though it is one a second for interest's sake .sx It is hardly necessary to remind people that Britain did to its woodlands during the Industrial Revolution what many tropical nations are doing to their trees today .sx And it is certainly not the place to blame woodworkers for this destruction .sx But then blame and responsibility are not necessarily interlinked .sx Economics , of various flavours , have caused deforestation .sx But while the actions of large corporations and rich landowners wiping out vast tracts of trees have received much publicity , the most prevalent motive for destruction has been poverty and over - population .sx In south America there is certainly an argument for pinning the blame on the Pope for his intransigence regarding contraception and abortion .sx But , however hard we attempt to find the guilty party , only positive action will ensure the future of the timbers that we hold so dear in the workshop .sx When the rainforests , and their predicted demise , became the kind of issue that generates headlines and charity pop concerts some woodworkers decided the most effective action was to avoid tropical timbers .sx This possibly brought the topic into the public-thought process , but I believe that it was in part made possible by the large quantity of native timbers that were brought down by hurricanes in Britain .sx The industry has attempted to introduce , or at least has suggested , an obligatory levy on tropical timber , to be returned to the country of origin and spent on management systems .sx On an industrial level this seems an unlikely ambition .sx However for us woodworkers , putting a higher value on timber that is truly sustainable will ensure its future .sx If the owners of the forest can see that there is a current , and future , income to be earned from their trees they are more likely to treat them responsibly .sx As yet there is no system for verifying the sources of sustainable timber .sx Many timber merchants are claiming sustainability when no such boast can be proved .sx Often they have to pass the buck of the boast to the buyer or importer .sx A member of the timber trade recently gave his definition of sustainability as the existence of more forest ready for felling when the current source is depleted .sx It is frustrating for woodworkers who want to progress but do not know how .sx It is important not to expect some glorious answer overnight .sx Doing a tiny bit is far better than nothing .sx So ask questions , read articles , discuss the matter and act if possible when ready .sx It is the responsibility of the wood users to demand reliable information of their purchases .sx It is also their responsibility to promote the use of these products , and be prepared to pay a higher price .sx Pleading innocence , or ignorance , to the destruction of the tropical rainforests is no longer good enough .sx We may not be to blame now , but unless we take this opportunity to act we will be the guilty party in years to come .sx RAINFOREST EXPLOIT .sx Last summer a team went to Ecuador to help set up a pilot project exploiting the resources of the rainforest sustainably , and Lucinda Leech went with them .sx Even through the deepest tropical forest word evidently travels fast .sx A few weeks after our arrival in Ecuador the organiser of the Rainforest Information Centre there , woke our household at 7am one Friday morning .sx He was proclaiming loudly that a Hourani Indian leader had just arrived , to negotiate with us on the sale of sustainably harvested timber from his tribal lands in the Amazon .sx This man came from an area on the opposite side of the country to the one where we had been working , with the whole height of the Andes between us .sx A message had reached him that a bunch of half-mad gringos were proposing new forestry methods .sx My visions of a dark-skinned gentleman with loin-cloth and spear , arriving hot-foot off the overnight bus due to rumours of commercial gain , proved not so very far from the truth , ( though not the loin-cloth I am sorry to say) .sx Once again demonstrating that those who live in tropical forests do not actually want to chop them down .sx Nevertheless the inhabitants must have a viable means of earning a living , now that they are being increasingly drawn into a moneyed society .sx It is upon this basis premise that the Ecological Trading Company ( ETC ) is buying timber from various tropical regions .sx On hearing about their plans I was lured away from my gainful work making furniture in Oxford by the exciting idea of helping set up a pilot project , with two local communities in untouched Pacific rainforest .sx A couple of weeks after leaving the security of the workshop , when I was struggling over a smoking fire to make a meal for 11 people out of half a jungle rat and a packet of spaghetti , I was not so sure that my contribution to saving the planet was particularly relevant after all .sx At least I now know just what an immense amount of work is involved in ensuring that the timber we use actually does come from a properly managed source .sx It is not practical to assume that just because you stop using tropical timber you will be automatically maintaining the rainforest .sx In fact quite the opposite is often the case .sx Groups of indigenous people who have relied upon the sale of timber to survive , if deprived of their income from it , will clear the forest as fast as possible to raise an alternative crop , such as coffee or cocoa , or set up in cattle ranching .sx All these uses generally degrade the land rapidly , meaning that more forest has to be cleared each year to continue .sx How much more satisfactory for the timber itself to be regarded as a crop , and harvested in such a way that the forest cover remains .sx The trees have a natural life cycle and when they fall regeneration replaces them .sx Man's intervention can be made to more or less mimic this system and thus utilise the forest's ability to renew itself .sx Unfortunately , all too often , this does not happen - greed and expediency results in grabbing as much timber as possible in the easiest way , leaving the land wrecked .sx The two communities we were working with had recently acquired legal title to their land .sx They were now looking for ways to exploit it , but had not considered the timber as a possible long-term resource .sx The normal system of exploitation is to invite in a logging company , who buy the timber rights and clear the land for the local people to cultivate .sx An example of the kind of money offered was given to us :sx the timber company had paid Pounds1,000 for a rich area of forest of 5,000 hectares ( 12,350 acres) .sx This land was covered in untouched forest .sx It represents a few pennies per tree .sx No wonder the people cannot see the point of looking after the forest that surrounds them , when it has virtually no value .sx Incidentally these particular communities are too close to over-exploited areas to be in a position to live off the land in the traditional sense , and too near 'civilisation' not to want the advantages it provides .sx Our party was a varied one to try and provide all the necessary skills .sx Douglas Fergusson , an Australian and leader of the Ecuadorian branch of the Rainforest Information Centre , is co-ordinating this project and has also been planting trees and tending nurseries in Ecuador for several years .sx We were fortunate to have two Columbian botanists whose ability in accurately identifying the species of trees never failed to amaze me .sx Chris Cox represented the ETC interests and the other Englishman , Morley Reed , was not only a biologist but also a professional photographer who videoed the expedition .sx Our first task in setting up a model forest management system , which would allow timber extraction forever , was to establish what actually existed in the proposed area at the beginning .sx It was thus necessary to make an inventory of a representative sample .sx The Ecuadorian Forest Dept .sx lays down rules about what methods should be used ( although we got the impression that many timber companies do not abide by the rules) .sx When I first thought about it , listing the contents of five per cent of 100 hectares sounded like a diverting occupation for a few days , in idyllic forest surroundings .sx But 17 hours in overcrowded buses - some of it on the roof - and a further five hours by motorised canoe brought us to San Lorenzo , the 'metropolis' which was to be the centre of our operations .sx It is not accessible by road and at first sight has no facilities whatsoever .sx But four hours a day of electricity and occasional access to a cold shower was soon to seem the height of luxury ; although an encounter with the world's most voracious bed-bugs did detract from my appreciation .sx The next day another five hours in a canoe brought us to the first of our two villages .sx In the evening as it got dark , about 20 men gradually collected in our hut to discover what we had come for .sx The people of this area are descendants of negro slaves from the sugar plantations who have now colonised the whole of this particular river .sx As the faces peered intently out of the flickering light cast by oil soaked rags , it was difficult to believe we were in South America , not Africa .sx The village president told us of the haphazard way they fell timber at the moment for extraordinarily little money .sx For instance , when he wanted a new pair of wellingtons - price Pounds3 .sx 00 - he had to sell a whole tree ( up to ) .sx He described a recent occasion when he had intended to do this :sx first canoeing three hours down river to hire a chainsaw then working in the forest all day for three days felling the tree and cutting it into manageable sized logs .sx Following that , he would have had to drag the timber to the river and build a balsa wood raft to move it , as wet trees do not float ; another day's work for several men .sx At the end of all this toil the sawmill would only offer about Pounds5 .sx 00 , out of which he would have to pay for the chainsaw and fuel .sx After felling the tree he sat down on it and worked out the economics - not surprisingly gave up and went home , because it was just not worthwhile .sx My clearest impression of that first meeting was the utter disbelief on both sides when we discussed timber prices .sx In England we have to pay Pounds600-700 per cu .sx m for timber such as theirs .sx Even allowing for the many costs involved , it was unbelievable to all of us that they get only Pounds2 .sx 00 when we pay 350 times that .sx The ETC policy is that at least 20 per cent of the final retail price of timber sold in this country will go to the original owners .sx On this basis the local men were immediately interested in the idea and proved faster than us at mental arithmetic .sx Chris went on to explain that the high prices would be directly linked to implementing a management plan designed to ensure that the forest remained intact .sx If timber is extracted differently or in excess of the prescribed amounts , then the scheme comes to an end .sx We tried to explain why this was important , but I wonder what the locals made of world deforestation issues ?sx For people living in or near the forest , trees have always been in the way of everything , from hanging out the washing to economic progress .sx Small boys of five years-old carry machetes and rapidly develop an automatic slashing movement with the right arm , which remains with them for the rest of their lives .sx