Environmental Conservation 25 (1): 12 1998 Foundation for Environmental Conservation

EDITORIAL

Chronic disturbance, a principal cause of environmental

degradation in developing countries

Impact of human action is being felt in all ecosystems. Traditionally, urban landscapes and agri-
cultural fields have been considered to be dominated by humans, but human alteration has also
been substantial in tropical forests. The common forms of acute forest disturbance are ones that
involve logging selectively or clear-cutting, allowing forest to regenerate by natural means. In con-
trast to the acute forms of disturbance, the chronic form of disturbance, which is subtle and slowly
creeping, but equally destructive, is a much less-recognized problem. In the chronic form of dis-
turbance people remove only a small fraction of forest biomass at a given time, generally as
head-loads of firewood, or in the form of fodder, leaf litter and other non-timber forest products
(NTFPs). The problem with the chronic form of forest disturbance is that plants or ecosystems
often do not get time to recover adequately, because the human onslaught never stops, and can
cause adverse changes in the forest, even if rates of biomass removal are within the carrying ca-
pacity of the forest. In a similar fashion, the cumulative effects of low but chronic exposure to air
pollution are now cause for concern all over the planet (Pitelka 1994). In the case of chronic forest
disturbance, the effect somewhat resembles that of persistent insect herbivory at a moderate scale.
Fuelwood, which is still the main source of cooking energy in most developing countries, is re-
ported to be in under supply for 1.4 thousand million people, and these may rise to 2.5 thousand
million by 2010 (Food and Agriculture Organization 1994). Therefore, more areas are likely to
come under regimes of chronic disturbance in the next century.
Environmental degradation due to chronic forms of disturbance can be seen in many regions
and ecosystems of developing countries, in wetlands (Foote et al. 1996), croplands where cattle are
fed on crop residues, in grasslands subsequent to seasonal harvest. Local people use natural biota
for subsistence agriculture or generating cash from NTFPs, which include silk, herbal medicines,
canes for making basket and carpet, and spices. Enterprises based on NTFPs are being promoted
in developing countries with the objective of achieving union between economic growth and bio-
diversity conservation (Peters 1994). The assumptions are:
the harvest of NTFPs does not involve tree cutting so deforestation can be checked,
it is possible to harvest NTFPs at a sustainable rate, and
estimating sustainability at ecosystem level is possible.
The science of sustainability is still in its infancy. Managing harvests of NTFPs at sustainable
levels is very difficult to achieve, given the heavy human pressure on forest subsistence. NTFPs
were already being used, only economic enterprise and linking to market are now new.
The environmental degradation caused by chronic human disturbance is often discontinuous
and non-linear, resembling, for instance, the sudden change of state of liquid water to steam
(Myers 1995). As long as the collection of fodder, litter and firewood from forest remains below
the replenishing capacity of the forest ecosystems, the effect of harvesting is invisible. But when
the human pressure on the forest is so persistent that it is unable to replenish itself, degradation
becomes non-linear. The processes that cause degradation become increasingly operative and
compounded by a dwindling forest stock. The non-linear phase of forest degradation can be seen
in many areas of the Himalaya, where the scale of deforestation is inexplicably large for the amount
of biomass harvested. The non-linearity of environmental degradation, along with synergistic and
other effects, is one of the root causes of several front-rank environmental problems such as glo-
bal warming and acid rain, which are arising in recently-industralized countries.
Failure of regeneration of Quercus semecarpifolia, a major forest-forming species over a 2000-
km-long east-to-west area in the Himalaya (Singh et al. 1997) , is a good example of how processes
of chronic disturbance operate at a regional scale and only become visible after damage is done. In
many Himalayan states tree-cutting (acute disturbance) has been banned, and replaced by the
practice of looping trees (removal of foliage and twigs) persistently until they are no longer able to
2 Editorial

regenerate foliage, resulting in the failure of regeneration of more tree species than in the past
(Singh et al. 1997). Since but a few tree branches and leaves are removed at a time, gaps in the
canopy grow only by small increments. By the time a gap sufficiently large for species to regener-
ate is formed, the gap habitat is substantially altered and becomes different from that of acute
disturbance. Habitat alteration may include soil compaction and consequent increase in run-off
water, loss of litter and nutrients, change in herb species composition, and increased abundance of
climbers, among other ecological alterations. However, the gaps formed continue to be subject to
chronic disturbance, resulting in poor seedling recruitment and high mortality of seedlings.
The idea of establishing economic enterprises based on NTFPs would be good if it were
capable of improving the economy. But the novel idea of realizing a union between enterprise and
conservation of forest resources is faced with many difficulties. They may be related to the high
level of discipline required, for example to manage forest use, estimate sustainable harvest-rates
and make allowance for cultural traits of humans. The last of these continues to be poorly under-
stood. To cite an example, in the Himalaya, tree branches and twigs are cut for fodder and fuel by
women who have a tradition of climbing trees. However, to young and educated women who are
familiar with the comforts of modern technology, climbing trees or other hard physical work is
going to be less acceptable. This small cultural change may substantially benefit conservation.
However, not many forests are going to be left by the time such cultural changes permeate the en-
tire society.
Increasing population and acute poverty are the main reasons for the prevalence of the creep-
ing disturbance in forests of developing countries. The population is dispersed all over the land,
making it impossible physically to separate natural ecosystems from the human influence. The
physical separation of human population from forest and other natural ecosystems is more con-
ducive to conservation than having them exist co-extensively. The presence of an exploitative
human population degrades the natural vegetation, livestock populations aggravate the damage,
and promotion of agriculture and a market economy render conservation only a theoretical exer-
cise in such situations.
Biosphere reserves and sanctuaries are gifts of the dominant Homo sapiens to the other species
of the planet. The goal of achieving conservation of biodiversity through economic enterprises
based on NTFPs is inconsistent with this sublime gesture, although, where space sufficient for
both remains, it is worth trying to develop such enterprises. Rather than poisoning or otherwise
killing all organisms and habitats to produce a selected organism, it is sound to develop economic
means based on microbial and chemical processing of what Nature produces. However, this ap-
proach may warrant the use of technological, marketing and management arrangements which are
far more sophisticated than those currently at human disposal.

References
Food and Agriculture Organization (1994) Forest Development and Policy Dilemmas. Rome, Italy: Food and
Agriculture Organization.
Foote, A.L., Pandey, C.K. & Krogman, T. (1996) Processes of wetland loss in India. Environmental
Conservation 23(1): 4554.
Myers, N. (1995) Environmental unknowns. Science 269: 35860.
Peters, C.M. (1994) Sustainable harvest of non-timber plant resources in tropical moist forests: an ecological
primer. Washington, DC, USA: Biodiversity Program: 45 pp.
Pitelka, L.F. (1994) Air pollution and terrestial ecosystems. Ecological Applications 4, 6278.
Singh, S.P., Rawat, Y.S. & Garkoti, S.C. (1997) Failure of brown oak (Quercus semecarpifolia) to regenerate
in Central Himalaya: a case for environmental semisurprise. Current Science 73: 3714.
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Advisory Editor