吉爾吉斯的環保人士對於該國森林消失的速度提出了警告。在過去的50年間，前蘇聯已失去了一半的森林。專家並警告，如果依照目前的速度繼續砍伐，整個中亞地區將會面臨水資源缺乏、健康與更頻繁的自然災害等問題。這個嚴正警告來自吉爾吉斯環保與森林局於今年二月初出版的資料。
生態學者表示，吉爾吉斯的森林在中亞地區的生態系扮演著舉足輕重的角色。當林地減少，冰河融化的速度也會隨之加快，而冰河正是中亞地區最主要的水資源。環保局表示，目前僅有4.3%的山區面積為森林所覆蓋，然而50年前，雖然沒有精確的調查佐證，但估計當時全國約有6-8%的土地為森林林地。
專家指出，在二次大戰結束後，人民為了度過艱困的經濟情勢，伐木作為取暖與炊事之用，森林砍伐速率也在1940-1950年代達到頂峰。但在過去的15年間，森林砍伐卻是肇因於1991年前蘇聯垮台後的生活水準下降與經濟動盪的緣故。
環保與森林局長達夫勒克蒂夫賽德(Arstanbek Davletkeldievsaid)說，缺乏法源與政治腐化使得保護殘存森林窒礙重重。近年來，環保局提告了200多件非法砍伐案件，但只有1件真正進入法庭審理。「地方官員與專家、警察、交通警察等，甚至其他執法人員，每一個人都涉入其中並為此護航，要使大家放棄盜伐，實在太困難了！」達夫勒克蒂夫賽德抱怨地說。
只要人們還是貧窮，還是得需要依靠木材取暖與炊事，生態學者芙寇華(Tatyana Volkova)說她對未來感到悲觀。專家表示，吉爾吉斯政府沒有盡力保護森林，他們需要制訂更嚴格的法令與更加重視環境事務，並以更高的標準來履行該國簽訂的國際環境公約。其他的建議則包括擴大自然保留區的面積，與設法讓在地社區為了自身利益，進而保護森林。
（本文原刊於中亞報告書，由戰爭與和平報告研究所提供）
Environmentalists in Kyrgyzstan are raising the alarm over the speed with which this Central Asian country is losing its forests.
In the last 50 years, the former Soviet republic has lost more than half its forests, and experts are warning that if logging continues at the current rate, the whole Central Asian region will suffer from a scarcity of water, health problems and more frequent natural disasters.
The stark warnings come from the Kyrgyz government's own Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry, in data published in early February.
Ecologists say forests in Kyrgyzstan play a key role in the ecosystem of Central Asia. As forests shrink, the rate at which glaciers melt - the main source of water in Central Asia - appears to be accelerating.
The environmental agency says only 4.3 percent of the mountainous country's territory is now forested. But 50 years ago the agency estimates between six and eight percent of Kyrgyzstan was covered in trees, although no precise surveys were done back then.
Experts say the rate of deforestation was worst in the 1940s and 1950s, when people cut down timber for heating and cooking to cope with the bleak conditions during and after the Second World War. But over the last 15 years, deforestation has increased as a result of the economic crisis and fall in living standards that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The agency's director, Arstanbek Davletkeldievsaid said poor legislation and corruption had hindered the agency in its battle to save what remained. In recent years, the agency has brought more than 200 lawsuits against illegal loggers but only one case has actually reached the courts. "It's difficult to wean people off stealing," complained Davletkeldiev. "Everyone is involved, from local government officials to our own specialists, the police, the traffic cops who escort lorries carrying illicit timber, and sometimes other law enforcement officers."
Tatyana Volkova, an ecological expert, sees little future for forests as long as people remain so poor that they have to rely on timber for heating and cooking.
Experts say the government is not doing enough to preserve the forests. They want tougher laws, a greater focus on environmental matters, and efforts to uphold standards set out in the environmental conventions to which Kyrgyzstan is a signatory. Other recommendations include an expansion in the area of land designated as nature reserves, and more work to explain to local communities why preserving the forests is in their own interests.
{This article originally appeared in Reporting Central Asia, produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting}
全文及圖片詳見：ENS
