Deforestation in Laos
[1] Timber products targeted for logging in Laos includes ironwood, mahogany, pine, redwood, and teak—and other forestry products—benzoin (resin), charcoal, and sticklac.[2] The forest has also been an important source of wild foods, herbal medicines, and timber for house construction and even into the 1990s continues to be a valued reserve of natural products for noncommercial household consumption.Since the mid-1980s widespread commercial harvesting of timber for the export market has disrupted the traditional gathering of forest products in a number of locations and contributed to extremely rapid deforestation throughout the country.Slash-and-burn agriculture is highly destructive to the forest environment, because it entails shifting from old to new plots of land to allow exhausted soil to rejuvenate, a process that is estimated to require at least four to six years.Government efforts to preserve valuable hardwoods for commercial extraction have led to measures to prohibit slash-and-burn agriculture throughout the country.[1] Deforestation increased steadily throughout the 1980s, at an annual average rate of about 1.2 percent in the first half of the decade according to the United Nations (UN) and other monitoring agencies.
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