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News articles on Rainforests

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

Impact of Deforestation - Species Loss, Extinction, and Disease
(3/1/2005) A fully functioning forest has a great capacity to regenerate. Exhaustive hunting of tropical rainforest species can reduce those species necessary to forest continuance and regeneration. For example, in Central Africa, the loss of species like gorillas, chimps, and elephants reduces the ability of seed dispersal and slows the recovery of damaged forest. Loss of habitat in the tropics also affects the regeneration of temperate species. North American migratory birds, important seed dispersers of temperate species, declined 1-3 percent annually from 1978-1988..


Role of Developing Nations in Rainforest Conservation
(3/1/2005) Increasingly, developing nations are adopting environmental plans both to look good in the eyes of international financing organizations, and in finally realizing the adverse affects of deforestation for their own economies and peoples. In 1996, Mexico announced its first national environmental program aimed at saving the last remaining 10 percent of its forests. Other countries have initiated such projects, but still a fair number are quite ecologically backwards. Malaysia, which claims to have the best conservation program in Southeast Asia, recently appealed a high-court decision that tried to hold up construction of a huge hydroelectric project in Bakuin, Sarawak (Bornean Malaysia). The court decided that the dam construction company, Ekran, must comply with regulations established by Malaysia's Environmental Quality Act of 1974--which holds that Malaysian citizens have the right to examine and comment upon environmental studies before construction. The Malaysian government appealed this decision to Malaysia's Court of Appeals so the hydroelectric project could proceed as quickly as possible.


Rainforest Canopy - Vines and Lianas
(3/1/2005) Creepers, vines, and lianas (woody vines) are abundant in the canopy and make up a significant proportion of the vegetation in tropical rainforests. There are over 2,500 species of vines from about 90 families [liana distribution]. They range from small, indiscrete vines that grow against the tree to giant lianas thick as trees that seemingly hang in the middle of the forest independent of trees. Some of the larger woody lianas may exceed 3,000 feet in length. Rattan, a liana, is well known for its use in furniture and ropes. Rattan also produces large, edible fruits--a favorite of primates..


Rainforest Canopy - Epiphytes
(3/1/2005) There are well over 15,000 epiphytes in the neotropical realm alone, and over 30,000 worldwide as well as numerous uncatalogued species. The term epiphytes describes a plant which, like a parasite, grows on a host, but unlike a parasite, takes no nutrients from the tree itself and relies on nutrients from the air, falling rain, and the compost that lies on tree branches. Their epiphytic way of life gives these plants advantages in the rainforest, allowing them access to more direct sunlight, a greater number of canopy animal pollinators, and the possibility of dispersing their seeds via wind. Epiphytes may be familiar to people in temperate climates because many house plants and "air-plants" are actually epiphytes from the rainforest.


Rainforest Canopy - Bats
(3/1/2005) The most abundant mammals in the rainforest are not large ground-dwelling creatures, but bats. The tropics have the greatest variety of bats, and accordingly, the most diverse mammalian group of the tropical rainforest is bats, making up over 50 percent of mammal species. Bats range in size from the giant flying foxes, with wingspans of six feet (1.8 m), to the tiny bumblebee bat of Thailand, the world's smallest mammal, weighing less than an American penny. Equally diverse are the feeding habits of tropical bats, which include fruit, nectar, blood, and carnivorous feeders; and the places bats choose for shelter..


Impact of Deforestation - Extinction
(3/1/2005) The greatest loss with the longest-lasting effects from the ongoing destruction of wilderness will be the mass extinction of species that provide Earth with biodiversity. Although great extinctions have occurred in the past, none has occurred as rapidly or has been so much the result of the actions of a single species. The extinction rate of today may be 1,000 to 10,000 times the biological normal, or background, extinction rate of 1-10 species extinctions per year..


Impact of Deforestation - Local and National Effects
(3/1/2005) The local level is where deforestation has the most immediate effect. With forest loss, the local community loses the system that performed valuable but often underappreciated services like ensuring the regular flow of clean water and protecting the community from flood and drought. The forest acts as a sort of sponge, soaking up rainfall brought by tropical storms while anchoring soils and releasing water at regular intervals. This regulating feature of tropical rainforests can help moderate destructive flood and drought cycles that can occur when forests are cleared.


Rainforest People
(3/1/2005) Tropical rainforests have long been home to indigenous peoples who have shaped civilizations and cultures based on the environment in which they live. Great civilizations like the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs developed complex societies and made great contributions to science. Living from nature and lacking the technology to dominate their environment, native peoples have learned to watch their surroundings and understand the intricacies of the rainforest. Over generations these people have learned the importance of living within their environment and have come to rely on the countless renewable benefits that forests can provide.


Reduced Impact Logging
(3/1/2005) Although numerous companies claim to practice "sustainable logging", virtually none actually do. Few companies even replant seedlings after logging, especially when forestry regulations require a 35-year fallow period after logging, a length of time much greater than their 15-20 year concessions. However, damage to the surrounding forest and the forest ecosystem can be tremendously reduced by adopting certain reduced-impact logging practices including: 1) cutting climbers and lianas well before felling; 2) directional tree felling to inflict the smallest impact on the surrounding forest; 3) establishing stream buffer zones and watershed protection areas; 4) using improved technologies to reduce damage to the soil caused by log extraction; 5) careful planning to prevent excess roads which give access to transient settlers; 6) reducing wood waste for cut areas (anywhere from 25-50 percent of the wood from a given cleared patch is wasted); 7) limiting the gradient of roads to prevent excess erosion. These steps can limit damage to the surrounding forest, cut erosion of topsoil, enable faster recovery of the forest, and reduce the risk of fire. The biggest drawback to such harvesting methods is the great management expense, because more supervision, planning, and training are required and fewer trees can be removed, reducing output and income. Nonetheless, it seems clear that some short-term sacrifices will have to made to establish new forest management for long-term benefits. The big question is whether it is in the economic interest of timber operators to adopt these methods without prodding from government agencies or specific market demand for "greener" products..


Sustainable Logging in Rainforests - Timber certifation, trade restrictions
(3/1/2005) Although as much as 80 percent of tropical timber is consumed internally by producing nations, consumption of tropical timber by the U.S. and other industrial countries plays a significant role in tropical deforestation. The U.S., with less than 5 percent of the world's population, consumes 17 percent of the world's output of timber and is the third largest importer of tropical timber, shelling out more than $800 million annually for 1-1.5 million cubic meters. The best actions to reduce the damage caused by logging activities are to impose strict restrictions, even banning, imports of certain tropical hardwoods; developing more sustainable means of extracting rainforest timber; certifying timber with regards to its origins and whether it was sustainably harvested; and beginning to use alternatives to tropical wood products..



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