The Forest Foundation participates in Duke Conference, Globalization: Local Environments
On Feb. 25, The Forest Foundation, a Durham-based organization, was invited to participate in a conference at Duke University sponsored by the Student International Discussion Group (SIDG) at The Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and the Latin American Studies Group.
The Foundation set up a booth during the conference and its President, Marc Dreyfors, presented a talk on the Agricultural Panel entitled, “A Values Crises in the Marketplace: The Case for Sustainable Livelihoods.” Open to both University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University faculty and students, the conference was divided into four panel sessions: Agriculture, Eco-Tourism, Fisheries and Forestry. Panelists included leading academic scholars and international trade advisors.
Mr. Dreyfors spoke to the crises that exist in today’s marketplace and the failure of the market and consumers to value environmental goods and services, as well as fair trade and other socially important components of trade. America’s lust for cheap goods is contributing to a race to the bottom as increased competition drive manufacturers overseas to take advantage of low labor prices and lax environmental law enforcement. The ease of movement of international investment capital, subsidies and lack of regulation lend to “fuel being thrown on the fire” of resource depletion and the growing gap between rich and poor. Key will be educating consumers, forcing China to float its currency, reform of international trade agreements and the focus on promotion of sustainable livelihoods, where each of us “vote every day” for the world we wish our children to inherit. (see www.livelihoods.org)
Also presenting in the Agriculture Session were: Edward Millard, Director of Enterprise Programs at Conservation International, a premier international environmental group with which the Foundation has worked. Panelists included a member of RAFI-USA (Rural Advancement Foundation International), who gave an inspiring talk on the problems facing farmers in North Carolina and around the world with increasing monopoly control by giant agri-businesses; and an agricultural economist from NC State, who pointed out that environmental externalities and resource depletion are, from an efficiency standpoint, better addressed at the local level rather than through trade agreements.
The Conference keynote address was provide by the Director of the Tropical Research Institute at Yale University . The lecture highlighted nearly 30 years of research on illegal logging on the Island of Borneo in Indonesia. Even with excellent data from remote sensing and ground truthing on the complexity of the forest, nothing could stop the wholesale harvesting of one of the world’s most important ecosystems. 94% of the lowland forest was depleted with little international protest– a forest if properly managed could have provided income for local communities and the development of the desperately poor nation for future generations. Graft and corruption was central, along with a “look the other way” mentality by international organizations, like World Bank and IMF. Closing remarks were made by Dr. Stuart Pimm, Conservation Ecologist, Duke University, who is on the Board of The National Geographic Society.
The Lazar Foundation of Portland Oregon which supports innovative projects addressing environmental protection, sponsored SIDG’s Spring Conference, in addition to their bi-monthly lectures and a student intern. For more information about The Forest Foundation, Duke University’s SIDG, and other up-coming conferences/programs sponsored by either organization, please call The Forest Foundation at (919)957-1505 or e-mail info@theforestfoundation.org.