One report, released by the Environmental Investigation Agency in 2018, revealed that merely a third of tropical timber exports from Peru to China underwent proper inspection, and of those that were checked, 70 percent originated from areas that had been illegally deforested.
Another report issued in May indicated that Chinese imports of products associated with deforestation from 2013 to 2022 led to the destruction of approximately 4 million hectares of tropical forest, with nearly 70 percent being illegally cleared. The greenhouse gas emissions stemming from these imports were roughly equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions from Spain.
“Despite China being a global frontrunner in domestic reforestation and renewable energy, this report sheds light on a significant oversight regarding the environmental impacts of its imported agricultural and timber products,” stated Kerstin Canby, a senior director with Forest Trends, during a press release distributed alongside the report.
In a conversation, Canby pointed out that while China has enacted vigorous reforestation initiatives domestically, this has had a detrimental effect on sensitive forests elsewhere, including the Amazon.
“China has been exemplary, but this has cascading effects,” Canby remarked. “Everyone is striving to safeguard their own forests, but this merely shifts demand to nations with the weakest governance, where protective measures for forests are lacking.”
Coda
From her rooftop studio, where Arce creates canvases showcasing her coastal panorama, she can nearly touch the netted scaffolding installed outside her home’s walls to prevent construction dust and debris from entering through the windows. (It still managed to get in.)
Daily, trucks arrive with rumbling sounds, idling at the entrance of the port, located about 100 feet from her back door. She isn’t precisely aware of what they carry, nor has she, nor anyone else, assessed the harm caused by their deliveries. She is simply aware that soon there will be an increase in their numbers.
Arce and numerous neighbors are apprehensive that the city’s issues may escalate as the port proceeds with its second and third phases of construction in the coming years, along with more roads and railways being developed to accommodate it.
“There’s no room left for the residents here. We might have to vacate. Who will be displaced from their homes?” she expressed. “That’s the upcoming battle.”
She fears that fissures will persist in spreading across the walls of the home she has occupied since infancy, or that the foundation could potentially collapse someday. Someone then quipped that she should seek compensation from the Chinese, perhaps one of the newly delivered electric vehicles.
Arce flashed a sardonic smile and gazed out at the ocean, which was calm and placid that evening. “Or a new house,” she added.
