Why Is Deforestation Allowed?

The practice of deforestation is obviously a contentious one, with no small number of people furious that it is allowed to happen. Yet, it is allowed to happen nonetheless and this happens despite the controversy and the anger that it provokes. The big question is “why?”. And the answer is not that difficult to find. It is hard to stop deforestation because many of the world’s rainforests are in equatorial regions with little financial muscle.

Therefore when a major global company with an interest in developing the land for their own purposes waves a check at a government with little spending power, it is difficult for them to resist. If a country has a lot of money, it is easier to turn away the companies offering financial inducements to remove a beneficial resource. Although it is more financially beneficial long term to develop and harvest the resources for a continuing income, short term thinking dominates when you are already in debt to the world’s banks.

It is not just a story of governments with small budgets needing the money and reluctantly trading in resources for money, of course. In some cases, governments are just greedy. Whatever the case, though, the fact remains that until more companies are persuaded to spend their money more responsibly there will be many governments who are prepared to sacrifice the long term good of their country for financial expediency. It is to be hoped that there will be more green-friendly companies with the muscle and the initiative to ensure that rainforest resources are used correctly.