Question

Why does a solution to the over- harvesting of timber in the tropical rain forest requires some form of international cooperation? would this be a sufficient solution to the deforestation problem? why or why not?

Answer 1

Tropical rain forests are basically resources that are common to all the recipients. There is no well defined property right over a common property resources such as the rainforest. This indicates that one can not exclude others from its usage because the rainforest has no property rights defined everybody tries to exploit it. This results in overharvesting of forest product such as Timber fodder et cetera.

This is the reason why International cooperation from all the countries that lie within the sphere of a Tropical rainforest is necessary. Tropical rainforests lie mostly in a group of countries so International cooperation is necessary for the prevention of over exploitation.

International Corporation is not sufficient. This is because there will never be a formal agreement between the group of countries to reduce the usage of timber extracted from the rainforest. Property rights cannot be defined in case of a common resource such as a rainforest or even a river where a country or region will try to extract the maximum share. Therefore deforestation problem will still persist unless all the regions in the group agree to a Cooperative policy.