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Imperilled Riches SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES At least 60% of tropical deforestation is caused by subsistence activities on a local level by people who simply use the rainforest's resources for their survival. Having neither the money, nor the political power to acquire holdings on productive lands, these transient settlers follow and settle along roads constructed in the rainforest by development or extractive firms. After cutting trees for building material, these people use the slash-and-burn technique to clear the surrounding forest for short-term
Although this sort of slash-and-burn agriculture has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples, the practice has been carried out in a careful, small-scale, rotational manner which ensures relative sustainability. In the past the clearing was left idle for 20 to 100 years, so the forest could recover and again provide fertile land and useful timber when cleared. However, today so many people are practicing slash-and-burn agriculture in a non-rotational manner, that the practice no longer allows the ecosystem to function, and the fields do not have time to return to secondary forest as they do after natural disturbances. The clearing cycles are becoming shorter and shorter, and in some cases it is only 5-8 years before the forest scrub is again cleared. Eventually, the forest is replaced by tough grasses which can tolerate the short cycles. The colonizer not only brings his fire to the rainforest, but also his domestic animals and diseases. Domestic animals devastate local wildlife by infecting them with disease and eating their young, while local indigenous peoples, where they exist, are infected by the colonists' diseases. When not actively burning forest for agricultural clearing, the colonizer cuts fuelwood and hunts wildlife for food. It is not solely the fault of the landless peasant for their plight; the unequal distribution of land and inability of the government to provide adequate means by which the peasant can make a living are also to blame. These people are trapped and without a better alternative, they will continue to do what they must to survive: destroy the forest. This subsistence activity on a local level is the greatest threat to the future of the rainforest and the most difficult to answer, especially with ever-growing populations.
In addition, the colonization of "worthless" rainforest land is encouraged by developing governments who would rather have people living on their own the land, creating GDP, than in the slums of the crowded cities, consuming GDP. Many governments lack the resources and foresight necessary for proper urban planning and employment. Thus laws are passed by legislatures that promote the clearing of primary forest by allowing free ownership of such lands. In Peru and other countries, for unoccupied or unused land that has been settled or cultivated for a specified amount of time, the land rights revert to the settler regardless of the previous owner (in some cases even if it was a reserve or national park). The governments of other countries like Brazil and Ecuador encourage settlement of the Amazon Basin by opening roads and offering tax incentives to settlers. Indonesia has a huge resettlement program in the outer islands of the country (Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sumatra) to alleviate some of the population pressures of the central islands and develop new regions for economic growth. |
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A World Imperilled |
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Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2005 |
