Would the planet be a better place without humans?

Jonathan Wootliff   |  Tue, 09/02/2008 10:21 AM  |  Environment

Planet Earth would be much healthier without people.

In the name of progress, mankind has irreversibly plundered our environment and humans now pose the biggest threat to nature. Our atmosphere is warming at an alarming rate, the arctic ice cap is rapidly melting and the all-important lungs of the world -- our precious rainforests -- are disappearing at breathtaking speed.

Only if humans die out, which is increasingly likely due to our brazen greed and disregard for the sanctity of nature, will this planet have any chance of recovery for the untold damage we have caused.

That's the dark and depressing opinion I recently heard being expressed by a somewhat jaundiced eco warrior. This sullen view of the world begs the age old question as to what is more important -- humans or the environment?

To a positive thinker like myself, this question seems just as absurd. Surely we have just as much right to life on earth as the birds and the trees.

It is not, for me, a question of the survival of either mankind or nature. It is certainly possible to coexist and to flourish. We have woken up to the plight of our environment and there is growing understanding and awareness of the acute need to protect our biosphere. Of course we must all do much more, with greater speed and more zest.

Indonesia is a natural resource-rich country. It can still boast some of the world's most magnificent rainforests, which are home to millions of species whose survival is inextricably linked to ours.

Unfortunately, these forests are being depleted at a frightening speed. According to Greenpeace, the nation's forests are disappearing at the rate of six football fields every minute.

In spite of sound environmental laws in Indonesia designed to conserve these priceless forests, successive governments have appeared impotent in preventing their demise.

Illegal logging remains rife, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of low paid workers are employed by corrupt gang masters to obliterate these cherished resources. While some efforts have been made by this government to put a stop to this heinous activity, thousands of trees are being unlawfully felled every day.

Open cast mining is another massive threat to Indonesia's forests, most of which is being done in direct contravention of the law and yet is audaciously practiced without interference from the authorities.

This is a scourge which is not only depleting the forest cover, but is also responsible for acute water pollution.

Forest fires, which are commonly caused by the ill-informed belief that burning is the best way to clear land, has claimed millions of hectares in lost forest across the Indonesia archipelago. And the carbon dioxide emitted has elevated Indonesia to the unenviable position of number three in the league table of greenhouse gas producers.

If this is not imposing enough stress on Indonesia's forests, unprincipled commercial enterprises are making matters worse by shamefully exploiting the resource without regard for the law or respect for the environment.

After flying over some of Indonesia's most threatened forests, the fundamentalist eco warrior may not be alone in thinking that the planet would be better off without us.

But there are millions of Indonesians living in forest areas who are dependent on their surroundings for their survival. It would be impractical, yet alone morally unacceptable, to tell these folk that they must ring fence the trees and abstain from deriving their livelihoods from their natural surroundings.

It is certainly possible for both people and planet to coexist. Just as ridiculous it is to suggest that our environment will prosper if only we were to disappear, it is equally ludicrous to believe that mankind can survive without a healthy environment.

We have to find a way to balance ecological with human imperatives. That is what sustainable development is all about. Meeting today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own requirements.

Over the past twenty years, environmental groups have been lamenting the fate of Indonesia's forests, warming of a looming catastrophe, not only for Indonesia but for the whole world.

More recently, these environmental groups have focused their attention on commercial enterprises operating in forest areas. They have accused big business of accelerating the rate of damage to heights never been seen before.

Campaigns have been waged by the likes of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and WAHLI to change the behavior of destructive forestry companies.

Some more enlightened enterprises have woken up to the call for sustainability. One such company is APRIL (Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited) which has one of the world's most advanced paper and pulp mills in the Sumatran province of Riau.

Concerned about the future of Indonesia's forest resources and it reputation in overseas markets, APRIL decided to introduce sustainable management practices across the hundreds of thousands of hectares of land for which it is responsible.

Sadly, not all players in Indonesia's forestry industry have embraced sustainable practices.

Thankfully, conservation campaigners are continuing their efforts to name and shame such recalcitrant enterprises. If the government is unable to make them change their ways, let's hope that environmental activists will.

It's time for Indonesians to demand more responsible corporate behavior. The nation cannot afford to lose more of its high conservation value forests. The time for sustainable management strategies to be adopted by all companies in the forestry sector is long overdue.

I've seen great positive strides being taken in this country since the fall of Suharto. I believe that Indonesian business is capable of reform, and in adopting sustainable management solutions. This will certainly help silence the fundamentalist position that the world would be a better place without humans.

Jonathan Wootliff is an independent sustainable development consultant specializing in the building of productive relationships between companies and NGOs. He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com

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