Forest Industry—Southeast Asia
An important source of raw materials and revenues, the forests of Southeast Asia have played a key role in the development of trade and commerce in this region for more than two millennia. Since World War II the forest industry in Southeast Asia has become an increasingly significant player in the international forest-products trade. The effects of many years of overcutting and forest conversion are transforming this sector. Forestry institutions as well as the forest industry are changing as concern for the social and environmental role of forests grows.
Historical Basis
Forest produce, as trade or tribute, has formed the basis of economic and political relationships between neighboring societies in this region since earliest times. Indian, Arab, and Chinese vessels plied southern seas conducting a thriving trade for more than a thousand years before Europeans arrived in Southeast Asia in the late fifteenth century. Historically important trade goods have included spices, aromatics (e.g., sandalwood and aloeswood), medicines, dyes, and decorative woods (e.g., ebony), plus a great variety of gums, resins, fruits, and various wild animals and animal products, all from the forest. Expansion of commerce has been instrumental in the domestication of several forest species, including pepper, cloves, and cinnamon, while products less easily cultivated (e.g., sandalwood) have been pressed to the brink of extinction.
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