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News articles on Rainforests

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Mongabay.com news articles on rainforests in blog format. Updated regularly.

Hardwood flooring linked to illegal timber smuggling ring, says group
(5/8/2005) Environmentalists today revealed how hardwood flooring sold across the U.S. is linked to the world's largest illegal timber smuggling operation. Following two years of undercover investigations, The Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-profit group, has exposed how a leading distributor of hardwood flooring, Goodfellow Inc., is selling flooring made from logs illegally felled in Papua province of Indonesia.


Ethnologists attempt to show forest dwellers perils of leaving the rain forest
(5/5/2005) A team of experts has spent months comparing the lives of the Punan people, who still live as hunter-gatherers in the forest of Indonesian Borneo, with those of tribe members who have been lured away by civilisation.


Borneo's disappearing forests
(4/26/2005) Borneo, the third largest island in the world, was once covered with dense rainforests. With swampy coastal areas fringed with mangrove forests and a mountainous interior, much of the terrain was virtually impassable and unexplored. Headhunters ruled the remote parts of the island until a century ago.


Amazon rain forest continues to fall; 200,000 square miles gone since 1978
(4/24/2005) Forest loss may worsen as Brazil seeks to expand agricultural production and fires threaten stressed ecosystem.


Drought, fire called biggest threats to Amazon rainforest ecosystem
(4/23/2005) A prolonged drought in the Amazon could lead to a massive die-off in the world's largest rainforest according to a study released in Science last week.


Farmers and landless poor battle over the Amazon
(4/22/2005) Land battles in Brazil's countryside reached the highest level in at least 20 years in 2004 as activists clashed with farmers and loggers advancing on savanna and Amazon rain forest, a nongovernmental group said Tuesday.


Studying the rainforest canopy
(4/21/2005) The Global Canopy Programme, a groundbreaking new project dedicated to studying rainforest canopies, is about to enter the implementation stage in five tropical forests across the globe. Headed by Dr. Andrew Mitchell of Oxford University, the project will place giant cranes in Brazil, Ghana, India, Madagascar and Malaysia


Borneo's peat lands going up in smoke
(4/21/2005) The tropical rainforests of Kalimantan have long been threatened and increasingly endangered by deforestation and other invasive types of human activity. However, a lesser known ecosystem in the region that is literally coming under fire, is the tropical peat lands, particularly in the central area of the province of Indonesian Borneo


Are rainforests still worth saving?
(4/20/2005) Rainforests around the world still continue to fall. Does it really make a difference?


Another look at global rainforest conservation
(4/19/2005) With Earth Day approaching it is appropriate to take another look at conservation efforts in the world's tropical rainforests, which today 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. So, what should be done?


Chinese economy drives road-building and deforestation in the Amazon
(4/17/2005) Chinese economy drives road-building and deforestation in the Amazon


Smoke from forest fires reduces rainfall and spells trouble for the Amazon rainforest
(4/14/2005) Smoke from forest fires reduces rainfall and spells trouble for the Amazon rainforest


Deforestation in Borneo
(4/13/2005) Deforestation in Borneo


Coca cultivation in the rainforests of Colombia
(4/3/2005) Coca cultivation in the rainforests of Colombia


Seeds and Fruits
(3/1/2005) Many of the seeds and fruits produced by canopy trees fall to the ground where they provide food for seed gatherers (rodents, birds, fish, etc) and create a natural seed bank in the leaf litter. There are two growth strategies once seeds reach the ground. One strategy is to produce large seeds with food reserves enabling the seedling to survive in the low-light conditions of the understory. The second method characteristic of many pioneer species is to produce huge numbers of small seeds which only germinate under certain conditions (usually light gaps). When a light gap opens, these seeds sprout and the seedlings rapidly grow to once again plug the hole in the canopy.


Ground Invertebrates
(3/1/2005) Invertebrates are by far the most abundant and most diverse animals in the rainforest. They have invaded nearly every niche imaginable and many unimaginable, and each plays a unique, although still poorly understood, role in the ecosystem. For example, in the soil invertebrates are essential in the process of decomposition. These species feed on broken-down plant plant material and organic particles. Earthworms, termites, and others fragment larger particles into sizes more manageable for bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms.


Rainforest Diversity - Short-term Variation, Ice Ages, Ecotones
(3/1/2005) Rainforests and their diversity do not exist in a constant state, but are the product of a series of impacts including fires, tree falls, small-scale human clearing, and even lava flows. These events can increase forest diversity by giving new species a chance to grow in the absence of the towering canopy trees. The growth of new tree species spells new opportunities for their symbiotic species (for example new pollinators or seed dispersers).


Importance of Rainforest Rivers to People
(3/1/2005) Tropical rivers have always played an essential role in the ecology of the rainforest, but they have also been important in the lives of forest and non-forest peoples. Before the arrival of the Europeans, sprawling civilizations and smaller societies formed along major waterways which served as a means of transport and communication, a route for trade, and a source of fish and fresh water. However, because of their location along major rivers, such settlements were the first to disappear, either directly affected by warfare or indirectly affected by the onslaught of European diseases..


Riverside wildlife in the Rainforest
(3/1/2005) Few riverine (bank) plant species will be found in the forest. These tend to resemble gap-colonizers and edge species that grow well in the strong sunlight of open areas. There is not a great diversity of riverside plant species, and rivers are often bordered by walls of vines which cover trees because of the access to bright tropical sunlight. The presence of this thick vegetation is largely why early explorers in the Amazon referred to the rainforest as an "impenetrable jungle.".


Conservation Role of Intergovernmental Institutions
(3/1/2005) Until recently the concept of sustainable development was foreign to the principal organizations funding development projects, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The World Bank, a multilateral development bank that lends money to help countries develop economically through financing infrastructure and new industries, has historically funded numerous projects that resulted in the destruction of rainforests. The IMF shares a similar record..


Tropical Rainforests of the World
(3/1/2005) Tropical rainforests are a world like none other; and their importance to the global ecosystem and human existence is paramount. Unparalleled in terms of their biological diversity, tropical rainforests are a natural reservoir of genetic diversity which offers a rich source of medicinal plants, high-yield foods, and a myriad of other useful forest products. They are an important habitat for migratory animals and sustain as much as 50 percent of the species on Earth, as well as a number of diverse and unique indigenous cultures. Tropical rainforests play an elemental role in regulating global weather in addition to maintaining regular rainfall, while buffering against floods, droughts, and erosion. They store vast quantities of carbon, while producing a significant amount of the world's oxygen. .


Structure of the tropical rainforest
(3/1/2005) Tropical rainforests across the world are quite diverse, but share several defining characteristics including climate, precipitation, canopy structure, complex symbiotic relationships, and diversity of species. Every rainforest does not necessarily conform to these characteristics and most tropical rainforests do not have clear boundaries, but may blend with adjoining mangrove forest, moist forest, montane forest, or tropical deciduous forest..


Rainforest Diversity
(3/1/2005) Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organisms on Earth. Although they cover less than 2 percent of Earth's surface, they house an estimated 50 percent of all life on the planet. The immense numbers of creatures that inhabit the tropical rainforests are so great--an estimated 5-50 million species-- they are almost incomprehensible. The sheer range of numbers alone suggests the limited extent of our knowledge of these forests. For example, whereas temperate forests are often dominated by a half dozen tree species or fewer that make up 90 percent of the trees in the forest, a tropical rainforest may have more than 480 tree species in a single hectare (2.5 acres). A single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles. This diversity of rainforests is not a haphazard event, but is the result of a series of unique circumstances..


Rainforest Diversity - Role of Climate, Solar Energy, and Stability
(3/1/2005) The hot and humid climate plays an important role in rainforest variety. As a general rule, diversity and ecosystem productivity increase with the amount of solar energy available to the system. Sunlight is captured in the leaves of canopy plants via photosynthesis, converted into simple sugars, and transferred throughout the forest energy system as the leaves and fruit are eaten or decomposed by various organisms. The primary measure of ecosystem net primary production is the fixation of carbon by plants. Tropical rainforests have the highest mean net primary production of any terrestrial ecosystem, meaning an acre of rainforest stores more carbon than an acre of any other vegetation type. The humid climate adds another ingredient essential to rich diversity: water..


Rainforest Diversity - Canopy structure, soils, effect of area on biodiversity
(3/1/2005) The canopy system characteristic of tropical rainforests further increases diversity by creating new niches in the form of new sources of food, new shelters, new hiding places, and new areas for interaction with other species. In fact, it is estimated that 70-90 percent of life in the rainforest is found in the trees. One of the best examples of a canopy niche which multiplies diversity are the epiphytes, many of which form tiny ecosystems of their own. The tank bromeliads of New World forests can hold over eight gallons (two liters) of water in catchments formed in their stiff, upturned leaves. These pools of water serve as nurseries for frog tadpoles and insect larvae specifically adapted to life in this tiny obscure niche, and provide water for millions of other canopy dwellers. Over 28,000 epiphyte species are known to science, although many more have never been catalogued. .


Diversities of Image - Rainforest Biodiversity
(3/1/2005) Because plants grow year round in the tropical rainforest, they must continuously defend themselves against an array of predators. Over the course of millions of years of evolution, plants have developed a variety of mechanical and biochemical defenses. Mechanical defenses like thorns, spines, and stinging hairs appear to be secondary protection to chemical compounds produced by plants, like alkaloids, tannins, and toxic amino acids..


The Arts of Deception - MIMICRY AND CAMOUFLAGE
(3/1/2005) There are three forms of mimicry utilized by both predator and prey: Batesian mimicry, Muellerian mimicry, and self-mimicry. Mimicry refers to the similarities between animal species; camouflage refers to an animal species resembling an inanimate object.


Rainforest Canopy - Introduction
(3/1/2005) An estimated 70-90 percent of life in the rainforest exists in the trees, above the shaded forest floor. Primary tropical rainforest is vertically divided into at least five layers: the overstory, the canopy, the understory, the shrub layer, and the forest floor. Each layer has its own unique plant and animal species interacting with the ecosystem around them. The overstory refers to the crowns of emergent trees which soar 20-100 feet above the rest of the canopy. The canopy is the dense ceiling of closely spaced trees and their branches, while the understory is the term for more widely spaced, smaller tree species and juvenile individuals that form a broken layer below the canopy. The shrub layer is characterized by shrubby species and juvenile trees that grow only 5-20 feet off the forest floor. The forest floor is the ground layer of the forest made up of the trunks of trees, fungus, and low-growing vegetation. These layers are not always distinct and can vary from forest to forest, but serve as a good model of the vegetative and mechanical structures of the forest.


Rainforest Canopy - Research & Study
(3/1/2005) Little was known about this rich layer until relatively recently when scientists discovered efficient ways to study the canopy. However, even with modern techniques of study, many species, systems, and relationships of the canopy are still mysterious and much is still left to be discovered.


Rainforest Canopy - Overstory
(3/1/2005) The overstory consists of giant emergent trees that tower above the surrounding canopy. These trees are huge, at least by tropical standards, some exceeding a height of 213 feet (65 meters) with horizontal limbs that stretch over 100 feet (30 m). These trees live in a different climate from the trees of the canopy. The air is much drier and moderately strong winds blow through their branches. These overstory species have adapted to take advantage of the wind for seed dispersal and typically the seeds of these species are light and equipped with some sort of mechanism to allow the winds to carry the seeds great distances away from the parent tree. The Kapok (Ceiba), or Silk-cotton tree, of South America releases its seeds attached to cotton-like material, which drifts in the wind currents for miles before reaching earth. Before fruiting, the tree sheds all its leaves so breezes pass unimpeded through its branches. In Asia, the seeds of emergent tree species Dipterocarps are equipped with "wings" that cause the spinning seed to slow as it falls and enable it to be carried long distances by the breeze..


Rainforest Canopy - Canopy Trees
(3/1/2005) The canopy is the richest region of the diverse rainforest, and ranges in thickness from 10-40 feet (3-12 m). Countless species usually thought of as ground dwellers have adapted to life in the canopy--including worms, crabs, frogs, kangaroos, anteaters, and porcupines--where they feed on the abundance of fruits, seeds, and leaves or the numerous animals that are attracted these foods. The plant life of the canopy is nearly as rich due to the variety of epiphytes and lianas..


Forest Floor - the Understory
(3/1/2005) The forest floor of primary tropical rainforest is rarely the thick, tangled jungle of movies and adventure stories. It is actually quite the opposite: the floor is relatively clear of vegetation due to the deep darkness created by perhaps 100 feet (30 m) of canopy vegetation above. The canopy not only blocks out sunlight, but damps wind and rain. A visitor to the rainforest during a rainstorm will usually not immediately feel falling rain because so much is deflected and collected by various canopy plants. The blocking of wind by the canopy makes the forest floor a calm place where only the slightest breeze blows during tropical thunderstorms. When hiking in primary tropical rainforest a flashlight may be more useful than a machete since the subdued lighting limits ground growth. Instead of choking vegetation, a visitor will find large tree trunks, interspersed hanging vines and lianas, and countless seedlings and saplings and a relatively small number of ground plants..


Soils and Nutrient Cycling
(3/1/2005) Understanding the basic composition of forest soils helps explain the concept of nutrient cycling in the rainforest; why there are problems with clearing rainforest lands for agriculture; and how soils are an important factor influencing forest complexity..


Light Gaps, Seedlings, Shrubs
(3/1/2005) The majority of the world's remaining forests are not the classical rainforest with towering trees, an open interior, and virtually no ground growth. Instead, most rainforests have been impacted in their recent history by storms, fires, logging, and landslides and subsequently have scattered areas in various stages of regrowth.


Mammals of the Forest Floor - part 2
(3/1/2005) Due to the scarcity of large prey, larger predators are relatively rare in the rainforest. Many of these carnivores have adapted to cope with the shortage of large ground-dwelling prey by hunting in the canopy and supplementing their diet with smaller animals like fish, rodents, birds, and reptiles. The largest group of mammalian predators on the forest floor are the cats. Each forested region, except the Australasian realm has its own forest cat species..


Birds of the Forest Floor
(3/1/2005) The majority of ground-dwelling forest birds are insect eaters and elusive, although while quietly walking through the forest it is not unusual to startle some. The Asian forests are home to peafowl and jungle fowl (from which domestic chickens descended) in addition to the well-known common peacock of India and Sri Lanka. The common peacock lives much of the year in large flocks, but at the beginning of spring, the breeding period, a single male forms a harem with two to five females. Only the males have gaudy, elaborate plumage. The green peacock has a more extensive range across Southeast Asia and is larger, with predominantly green and metallic blue plumage.


Rainforest Waters
(3/1/2005) Tropical rainforests have some of the largest rivers in the world, like the Amazon, Madeira, Mekong, Negro, Orinoco, and Zaire (Congo), because of the tremendous amount of precipitation their watersheds receive. These mega-rivers are fed by countless smaller tributaries, streams, and creeks. For example, the Amazon alone has some 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are over 1,000 miles long. Although large tropical rivers are fairly uniform in appearance and water composition, their tributaries vary greatly. Many tropical rivers and streams have extreme high and low water levels that occur at different parts of the year.


Global Consequences of Deforestation in the Tropics
(3/1/2005) Rainforests around the world still continue to fall. Does it really make a difference? Why should anyone care if some plants, animals, mushrooms, and microorganisms perish? Rainforests are often hot and humid, difficult to reach, insect-ridden, and have elusive wildlife.


Organization of Rainforest Conservation Efforts
(3/1/2005) To best meet the complex requirements for rainforest conservation, it is imperative that we balance conservation efforts between the local, national, and international sectors. Empowerment over forests and their resources should begin on the local level of individual communities with municipal governments overseeing parks. State agencies--with guidance and assistance from intergovernmental institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs)-- need to help formulate broader conservation strategies and provide expertise in protecting and managing protected areas. Partnerships between participants are necessary to fuse scientific, economic, and social information and formulate an overall plan for the use and conservation of tropical rainforests..


Saving Tropical Rainforests
(3/1/2005) Simply banning the timber trade or establishing reserves will not be enough to salvage the world's remaining tropical rainforests. In order for the forests to be preserved, the underlying social, economic, and political reasons for deforestation must be recognized and addressed. Once the issues are brought into the light, the decision can be made about what should be done. If it is decided that rainforests must be saved, then the creation of multi-use reserves that promote sustainable development and education of local peoples would be a good place to start. Currently about 6 percent of the world's remaining forests are protected, meaning that over 90 percent are still open for the taking. However, even this 6 percent is not safe if the proper steps towards sustainable development are not taken. Where possible, reforestation and restoration projects should be encouraged if we, humanity, hope to emerge from the current environmental situation without serious, long-term consequences..


Rainforest Canopy - Other Mammals and Birds
(3/1/2005) Of the more than 10,000 species of birds in the world, the majority are found in the tropics with 50 percent of all bird species found in the Amazon Basin and Indonesia..


Communication, What the Individual Can Do to Help Save the Rainforest
(3/1/2005) One of the most essential parts of saving the world's rainforests is keeping an open line of communication between all parties. Communication from all parties, including indigenous peoples, local populations, business interests, governments, scientists, and conservationists, is key to understanding how to best approach balancing conservation with development. The information gained from conferences can be used to help devise a plan that will be acceptable to all parties. No group should be excluded or misrepresented and every effort should be made to keep conferences open and non-threatening. Conferences should meet regularly and have some legislative muscle so that decisions can be implemented. So far no such ideal conference has taken place, but in all fairness the whole rainforest conservation issue is relatively recent as a worldwide concept.


Grassroots Movements in Rainforest Conservation
(3/1/2005) Non-governmental organizations are a driving force behind conservation efforts today. These non-profit groups fund and support all aspects of conservation from initial research to protected-area initiatives to implementation through park management and community-based conservation schemes to alliance building between government agencies and private interests. They support and coordinate grassroots movements, promote communication between all parties, and sponsor education initiatives in both developing and developed countries..


Indigenous Peoples' Role in Rainforest Conservation
(3/1/2005) Tropical forests have been inhabited by humans for tens of thousands of years, and human activities on a traditional scale may actually help promote forest diversity. Indigenous peoples rarely over-exploit the resource that provides them with their livelihood, and they carefully practice rotational farming and sustainably harvest forest products and game. Yet these indigenous peoples often take the brunt of the blame for the destruction of the rainforests. Creating reserves has sometimes evicted these traditional peoples from their lands and in some places national park rangers unfairly restrict their activities. Less so today, but frequently in the past, tribal peoples were disregarded when national government granted concessions to foreign oil, mining, and logging firms on their traditional lands. Indigenous people have missed out on most of the benefits garnered by forest developers..


Sustainable Logging in the Rainforest - Overview
(3/1/2005) In most tropical countries forests are government-owned and ownership by parties other than the state is often prohibited. Timber is often harvested under concession agreements awarded to private logging firms who, without securimg legal rights to the land, are reluctant to make investments in forest management. Thus it is no surprise that a recent study found that less than 0.1 percent of tropical forests are sustainably managed and less than 1 percent of the area used for logging is under any form of management. Nevertheless, tropical countries see timber as a major source of revenue and continue to grant huge concessions at below their market rates. Forestry is important to the world economy, contributing 2 percent to world GDP (4 percent of GDP in developing countries) and making up 3% of international trade; it is also vital to the local economies of many countries. For example, the logging of tropical timber provides work for 100,000 people in the Sarawak province of Malaysia and generates US$ 1.5 billion annually in exports. However, the resource management of tropical forests is grossly underfunded, causing numerous problems..


International Conservation Organizations
(3/1/2005) Today international conservation organizations serve as environmental consultants for governments and large corporations interested in reducing pollution, setting aside protected areas, and conserving biodiversity. Organizations like the International Conservation Union (IUCN), Conservation International (CI), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) act as mediators between various development interests, policy makers, local peoples, scientists, and activist groups in promoting conservation. These organizations initiate and support a broad range of conservation-related activities, from arranging international conferences to establishing community-based conservation projects to maintaining parks and reserves. Keeping attuned to economic realities, they work to integrate the latest scientific findings into preservation efforts.


Impact of Population and Poverty on Rainforests
(3/1/2005) The ultimate driving force behind all deforestation is human overpopulation; both the population in the temperate region that places demands on the resources derived from the tropical rainforests, and the expanding population of developing tropical nations, who exploit the rainforest for survival. Today the world's population stands at approximately 6,490,000,000 (6.49 billion) people. Each minute another 145 people are added to the planet, each day another 208,000, and each year another 76,000,000. Despite declining global birth rates, which have now fallen to the lowest level in recorded history, the U.S. Bureau of the Census projects the population will reach 8 billion by 2026 and expects the population to then level off at 9.1 billion in 2050, barring an outbreak of a widespread deadly plague or a catastrophic environmental disaster. Over 99 percent of this new growth will occur in the less-developed countries of today..


Human Threats to Rainforests - Consumption, Conclusion
(3/1/2005) Misdirected consumption in wealthier countries contributes to rainforest destruction in tropical countries. For example, during the 1970s and 1980s American demand for cheap beef triggered the clearing of vast stretches of rainforest in Central America and Brazil. Similarly demand for certain forest products like tropical hardwoods and inexpensive particle board gives impetus for companies to exploit forest stocks. Japan converts thousands of acres of tropical rainforest every year into wood framing for cement blocks (discarded after the cement dries) and chopsticks. The cultivation of cassava in Thailand for European cattle feed increased more than ten-fold from 1965 to the mid-1980s, causing extensive deforestation in northeastern Thailand.


Saving What Rainforest Remains
(3/1/2005) The third part to resolving the deforestation problem is setting aside land for conservation. As this site has tried to make clear, conservation will not work without consideration for economic realities. The fate of parks and reserves rests largely in the hands of local people and only by improving their living conditions can saving rainforests through any sort of protected-areas system be addressed. Studies have shown that deforestation and encroachment on parklands generally diminish as the quality of life improves. The previous sections have discussed the means by which we can hope to accomplish such an elevation of living conditions from local people. This final section focuses on the mechanisms through which we can preserve some remaining areas of forest. There are two main components: prioritizing, through research and valuation, what areas to conserve, and organizing the conservation effort..


Reducing the environmental impact of oil extraction in the rainforest
(3/1/2005) The oil industry has a less-than-stellar environmental record in general, but it becomes even worse in tropical rainforest regions, which often contain rich deposits of petroleum. The most notorious examples of rainforest havoc caused by oil firms are Shell Oil in Nigeria and Texaco in Ecuador. Both companies have degraded the local environment and affected local and indigenous people by their activities. The Texaco operation in Ecuador was responsible for spilling some 17 million gallons of oil into the biologically rich tributaries of the upper Amazon, while Shell Oil sometimes lent cooperation to the former oppressive military dictatorship in Nigeria in the suppression and harassment of local people..



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