Chapter 27 International

tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour

International: Tobacco and deforestation

globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne)

2.5 million tons of tobacco worldwide is flue-cured using wood each year. This

requires 6.2 million acres of forest to be cut yearly to meet this need. Pakistan

consumes 1.5 million cubic meters of wood for tobacco curing; Tanzania consumes

1.3 million cubic meters of wood fuel.

Tobacco Control in the Third World, p. 57

tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut

In terms of the use of wood in curing tobacco, different studies give different results on

deforestation, and the subject is controversial. The following data are reported: one

tree is felled for every 300 cigarettes, one hectare of tobacco requires between 0.5

and 1 hectare of forest for curing; one in twelve trees felled worldwide is used in curing

tobacco; or, each kilo of tobacco demands about 160 kilos of wood. However,

another report downgrades the environmental impact and estimates lower ratios of

wood usage for tobacco curing. Unfortunately, facts about trees cut and deforestation

have been uncritically repeated many times, and are not proven.

Tobacco in History, p. 243

tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut

Dr. Helmut Geist from Nuess, Germany published a detailed review article "Global

assessment of deforestation related to tobacco farming" in Tobacco Control, Spring

1999, pp. 18-28. An estimated 200,000 hectares of forests are lost from tobacco

farming and flue curing each year. The deforestation occurs mainly in southern Africa,

South and East Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. This accounts for about

1.7% of global net losses of forest cover, but nearly 5% of the total deforestation in the

developing countries of the world. An estimated 11.4 million tons of wood, much

taken from native forests in the developing world, is consumed each year for flue

curing of tobacco. 93% of tobacco-related deforestation occurs in developing

countries, and 90% of all land cultivated for tobacco is in developing countries. In

Tanzania, wood is used for 100% of flue-cured tobacco that is produced.

tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut

tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour

Monday, July 24, 2000

Page 99 of 116

globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne)

First page of this chapter        Previous page of this chapter        Next page of this chapter Last page of this chapter Copyright (©) 2000 - David Moyer - published on UICC GLOBALink