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Every civilization that lost its forests to overexploitation has failed as a consequence. Today, the tropical rainforests are in a state of decline and a simple extrapolation would project their disappearance within twenty-five years. The pressure on boreal forest to produce more lumber and more pulpwood will be exacerbated by the situation in the tropics, and is greatly driven by the increasing population. There is a tension already between the demand for forest products and what the forests can supply sustainably. The present manner in which the world copes with that tension is to cut too many trees. But that cannot continue. |