|
|
|
|
|
Saving What Remains Chapter 10: SOLUTIONS Today tropical rainforests are disappearing from the face of the globe. Despite growing international concern, rainforests continue to be destroyed at a pace exceeding 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) per day. World rainforest cover now stands at around 2.5 million square miles (6 million square kilometers), an area about the size of the contiguous 48 United States or Australia and representing around 5% of the world's land surface. Much of this remaining area has been impacted by human activities and no longer retains its full original biodiversity.
In that case, what should be done? The answer must be based on what is feasible, not idealistic, and depends on developing a new conservation policy built on the principle of sustainable use and development of rainforests. Previous approaches to rainforest conservation have failed as demonstrated by accelerated rate of deforestation. These methods consisted of closing off forests as untouchable parks and reserves, using guards and fences to secure park boundaries. As parks around the world were "established," rainforest still fell at a faster rate than ever. In the places that parks were officially sanctioned, they were often not funded sufficiently and lacked the local support to be maintained. As a result, many of these parks today are "paper parks," parks that appear on maps and official government conservation reports, but do not exist in practice. These "paper parks" may be used as for commercial activities like logging, oil extracting, cattle ranching, and mining as a source of revenue for impoverished or corrupt govenments; or by colonists seeking land for subsistence cultivation and fuelwood collection. This traditional park approach can be short-sighted because people living around these forests are often among the world's poorest and depend on the forest for many of their daily needs. Designating an area as a park does not mean the people in the area will have their immediate needs satisfied. A park does not alleviate their hunger, or satiate their requirements for shelter and other necessities. Local inhabitants depend on the rainforest for their survival and until other means become available, will continue to use the forest for immediate gratification in a non-renewable fashion. Today those involved in conservation realize these shortcomings and place emphasis on sustainable development of rainforest lands, to allow local people to benefit from the forests on an ongoing basis without destroying them. Success depends largely on long term planning, cooperation, and informed compromise among environmentalists, scientists, industry, developers, politicians, local people and indigenous goups so reserves will have continuing support. Saving rainforests will hinge on how protected aras are worked into the local fabric of life and how well, as intact systems, the forest can provide for the people that live around them. If managed properly, the rainforests can provide for many of the world's needs on a perpetual basis. It is essential that solutions be adapted for the circumstances and specific problems unique to each region. While promoting community-based sustainable agroforestry might work in Equatorial Guinea, it might fail miserably in Brazil where land policy and tax reform might be more appropriate. Local conditions are of paramount importance in conservation. There is no use bemoaning past deforestation of large areas of forest. Today the concern is how to best utilize lands already cleared so they support productive activities today and for future generations. Without improving the well-being of people living in and around forests, we cannot expect rainforests to persist as fully functional systems and continue to cater to the needs of our children.
|
| what's new | tropical fish | help support the site | madagascar | search | about | contact |
Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2005 |
