Going, going,...
The world loses over 25 million acres of forests every year. These woods are cut down to clear land for agriculture or livestock, to provide firewood, to harvest for paper manufacturing, to acquire timber for construction projects, to clear land for homes or crops—the uses are many, but the result is the same.

The Keel-billed Toucan of Fruit Loops fame is an endangered species in Central America due to disappearing habitat.

And the consequences for the rest of God's creation are dramatic. The destruction of forests is the main reason plants and animals are becoming extinct at rates not seen in 65 million years—some scientists estimate at a rate of 50-100 species a day. The cutting and/or burning of forests affects global warming, as burned or cut forests currently release over 1 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere annually.

Deforestation has other adverse affects on the environment and on human inhabitants of a deforested region. Cutting trees disrupts rainfall patterns, as there are no longer trees to hold and release moisture when it does rain. Erosion of hillsides is dramatically increased on deforested hillsides, not only affecting soil quality, but sending silt into streams to adversely affect aquatic life. When it rains heavily in mountainous regions where there is widespread deforestation, flooding dramatically increases. It is said that a forested hillside retains five times the rainfall of a deforested hillside.

Central America has one of the most severe deforestation problems in the world. Some have estimated that in several countries in that region, all forests may be gone within 20 years if present rates of deforestation continue. The causes of this epidemic are many. In some cases, ranchers are cutting forests to make room for livestock (often the meat is for export to places like the US). Then there is the widespread use of wood for cooking (gathering wood for cooking is responsible for half of global deforestation). And poor farming families often go to the hillsides to carve out space for growing food crops for themselves. The best land in the valleys is held by a small but wealthy percentage of the population or by foreign-based companies, leaving the peasant farmers with little choice but to head for the hills.

Seeds of Hope
The If a Tree Falls... program is one way our church is responding to the crisis of deforestation. This special General Board fund, administered by the Brethren Witness/Washington Office, supports reforestation and forest preservation efforts. Currently, the Fund is focusing its efforts on giving assistance to a tree nursery in Ixtahuacan, Guatemala.

This small nursery is a source of hope for the people of this region of Guatemala—and for its embattled hillsides.

The nursery distributes 25,000 forest and fruit trees every year. While community members must pay a few cents for each tree, this does not cover the costs of the nursery. That's where we come in! The If a Tree Falls... program provides essential support to keep this vital program in operation.

And here's where you come in! This special fund is maintained only by contributions directly given to it. It would make a great project for a Bible School, a Sunday School class, a youth group, or just a committed individual.

You may be able to do more than you think! Every $1 contributed to If a Tree Falls... plants 10 forest trees; $10 plants 10 fruit trees. You can imagine what $50 or $100 will do!

The stoves cut down on deforestation while also cutting down on respiratory disease—the number one cause of death in Guatemalan women—by venting the smoke outdoors.

Other Approaches
We are addressing deforestation from other angles as well. The adobe stove project of the Global Food Crisis Fund is one of these. These stoves are a dramatic improvement over the widespread practice of cooking over open fires on the kitchen floor. The stoves require only one-third as much wood as the open fires. This, in turn, reduces deforestation as well as the time and energy campesinos (poor farmers) have to spend gathering wood. Another approach is taken by the Paper Weight flyer (PDF) from the Our Fair Share Series. This info-piece works at deforestation from the consumption end, reminding us that Americans are by far the biggest consumers of paper in the world—and offering suggestions about how to reduce our paper use.

Contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office for more information on how you or your group can become involved in preserving God's beautiful and bountiful creation through the If a Tree Falls... program.

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