CRISIS IN THE RAIN FOREST
(Page 5 of 6)
July/August 1987
By David Schoonmaker
Logging accounts for a quarter of the destruction in Brazilian rain forest and is the main cause in Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Papua-New Guinea, Burma and the Philippines have cut more than half of their primary rain forest and shipped it to Japan and Western nations. The U.S. alone receives $2.2 billion worth each year.
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Flooding of rain forest for hydroelectric dam reservoirs is a growing problem. Brazil's 8,000-megawatt Tucurui project is the most ambitious yet, covering nearly 800 square miles of forest. But Brazil has much bigger plans for the 100,000-megawatt potential of the Amazon and its tributaries. With help from the World Bank, it hopes to begin 100 new dams by 2000. Besides the destruction wrought by the dams themselves, industry attracted by the inexpensive power will take its toll. Furthermore, many of these reservoirs are expected to silt up and become unusable before the projects ever make a profit.
What to Do?
Just as the causes of tropical rain-forest devastation are diverse, the solutions are hard to pinpoint. At home, we can exercise restraint in using products we know are contributing to the destruction. Rainforest Action Network (466 Green St., San Francisco, CA 94133) is organizing a fast-food boycott in the U.S., and Great Britain's division of Friends of the Earth is working on the Tropical Hardwood Product List, a guide to rain-forest wood products.
Likewise, we can lobby our legislators to restrain government agencies and lenders who fund tropical boondoggles. Congress has already put some reins on the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). In 1985, the agency was told to weigh the effects on biodiversity of dams, roads and other projects it supports. Bills are pending to set aside AID funds to foster sound environmental practices and hire consultants.
No amount of external coercion, however, will relieve the growing problems of the dispossessed poor—the major cause of tropical rain-forest loss. Researchers are working on ways to improve the productivity of marginal land to relieve the pressure to clear new land. Many of the techniques are familiar: succession planting, intercropping, drip irrigation, natural pest controls. Others are new and exciting.
In the nick of time, we are beginning to tap the wealth of knowledge that indigenous peoples have about working with the rain forest. In Brazil, the Kayapo, of whom only about 10 remain, practice an amazingly sophisticated form of sustainable agriculture. They clear small plots, planted with a range of species in careful patterns, and have more than a dozen classifications for different soils. For a month or two each year, they move about the Amazon planting food along the trails. Their annual sabbatical may encompass an area the size of France.
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