CRISIS IN THE RAIN FOREST

(Page 6 of 6)

July/August 1987
By David Schoonmaker 
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Much is also being learned from the last remnants of Mayan culture in southern Mexico, the Lacandon. These people work their two-to-three-acre plots (milpas) on rotations of 20 to 30 years. A wide variety of species are interplanted, leaving no area for weeds to prosper. Annual burnings control pests. The productivity of a milpas is comparable to a North American agribiz operation—as much as 2½ tons of maize per acre per year.

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Rain forests and their inhabitants are a resource the Western world has barely begun to understand. Today we merely mine the forests, a practice whose end is in sight. Unless the devastation is slowed, there may not be an opportunity for sustainable uses. As Aldo Leopold said, "The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts."

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