Planting a timebomb

Asia accounts for 62 per cent of the world's plantations. With 89 per cent of the new plantations coming up in the continent, they are increasingly becoming the source of debate and conflicts. Who owns them and who derives benefits from these? Are they grown to reforest wasteland or are they being grown in place of natural forests? All such questions decide whether any plantation will help in sustainable development or not. While industries, like the paper and pulp industry move towards usage of plantation wood, how much benefit is the forest dweller or the farmer able to derive remains the moot question.