Directly and indirectly, the leading threats to rainforest ecosystems are governments and their unbridled, unplanned and uncoordinated development of natural resources. Rainforest timber exports and large scale development projects go a long way in servicing national debt in many developing countries which is why governments and, international aid-lending institutions like the World Bank supports them. In the tropics, governments own or control nearly 80 percent of tropical forests, so these forests stand or fall according to government policy and in many countries, government policies lie behind the wastage of forest resources. Besides the tax incentives and credit subsidies which guarantee large profits to private investors who convert forests to pastures and farms, governments allow private concessionaires to log the national forests on terms that induce uneconomic or wasteful uses of the public domain. Massive public expenditures on highways, dams, plantations, and agricultural settlements, too often supported by multilateral development lending, convert or destroy large areas of forest for projects of questionable economic worth.
Tropical counties are among the poorest countries on Earth.
Sadly, these numbers don't even represent an accurate picture in the Amazon because Brazil is one of the richer countries in South America. These struggling Amazonian countries must also manage the most complex, delicate and valuable forests remaining in the planet and the economic and technological resources available to them are limited. They must also endure a dramatic social and economic situation, plus deeply adverse terms of trade and financial relationships with industrial countries. Under such conditions, the possibility of them reaching sustainable models of development alone are nearly impossible. There is a clear need for industrial countries to sincerely and effectively assist the tropics in a quest for sustainable forest management and development if the remaining rainforests are to be saved.