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TROPICAL RAINFORESTS:
References
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About this site
Providing tropical forest news, statistics, photos, and information, rainforests.mongabay.com is the world's most popular rainforest site. [more] |
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Chapter 8: War
Wolanski, E. ("Rwanda National Parks Dying." 1/5/96) accounts for wildlife loss and forest destruction caused by refugees and the military in and around Virunga National Park, Rwanda. Reuters reports on similar wildlife losses in Garamba N.P. at the hands of Sudanese refugees (Reuters, "Sudan's War Threatens Zaire Wildlife with Extinction," 2/14/96).
Hart, T.B. and Hart, J.A. ("Zaire: new models for an emerging state," Conservation Biology Vol. 11 No 2. (308-309) Apr. 1997) document the impact of the Congo civil war on parks and park facilities in the former state of Zaire (today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo).
Attacks on oil pipelines are a popular means of protest for disgruntled groups. Recently attacks in Colombia (Inter Press Service (IPS) "Environment-Colombia: Garbage, Guerrillas and Animal Smugglers," 1/7/98.) and Ecuador ("Ecuadorean Oil Pipeline Cut by Dynamite Blas," Reuters 11/16/99.) have made news.
The outlaw mentality of illegal logging operations is conveyed in S. Rosse "Thai Forestry Rangers at Work," The Christian Science Monitor, 8/2/93.
Agriculture
Nigel J.H. Smith, Emanuel Adilson S. Serro, Paulo T. Alvim, and Italo C. Falesi in Amazonia - Resiliency and Dynamism of the Land and its People (The United Nations University, 1995) discuss the suitability of some vàrzea floodplain forests for agriculture.
Several authors including Fowler, G. and P. Mooney (Shattering: Food, politics, and the loss of genetic diversity, Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1990) and Gentry, A. H. and J. Lopez-Parodi ("Deforestation and increased flooding of the Upper Amazon," Science 210: 1354-1356, 1980) have suggested that widespread deforestation of the Andean foothills has altered Amazonian flood cycles. However this is disputed in Richey, J. E., C. Nobre, and C. Deser ("Amazon River discharge and climate variability," Science 246: 101-103, 1989) using statistical analysis of past flood cycles.
Cattle Pastures
Fearnside, P.M. ("Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: The Effect of Population and Land Tenure," Ambio, vol. 22 no. 8 (537-545), Dec. 1993) provides a detailed study of deforestation for cattle pastures in the Amazon. Among other statistics, he provides government figures for large scale cattle ranching and discusses the importance of inflation in clearing for land speculation. Dore, M.H.I. and Noguiera, J.M. ("The Amazon Rain Forest, Sustainable Development and the Biodiversity Convention: A Political Economy Perspective," Ambio Vol. 23 No. 8 (491-496), December 1994) further detail the role of inflation and high interest rates in Amazonian deforestation.
According to Gradwohl, J. and Greenberg, R., Saving the Tropical Rainforests, Island Press, Washington D.C., 1988, cattle pastures in Honduras take up more than 40% of the nation's fertile land.
Nigel J.H. Smith, Emanuel Adilson S. Serro, Paulo T. Alvim, and Italo C. Falesi in Amazonia - Resiliency and Dynamism of the Land and its People (The United Nations University, 1995) discuss why cattle are an attractive investment in the Amazon.
Pollution
Lovejoy, T. E. in "Biodiversity: What is it?" In Biodiversity II. Reaka-Kudla, Wilson, Wilson, eds. Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C. 1997. notes that the Brazilian Atlantic forest was widely damaged by air pollution in Cubatao during the 1970s and 1980s.
Rodhe, H., and R. Herrera, eds. (Acidification in the Tropics, Chichester, England: Wiley, 1988) predict 15% of the world's remaining tropical forests may soon be affected by acid rain.
Gates, D.M. Climate Change and its Biological Consequences, Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates 1993.
warns that a vast area of forest may be adversely affected by UV-B radiation, should the ozone depletion continue.
Hunting/Poaching
Davis, K. ("Goodall: Illegal Hunting is Biggest Threat to Chimpanzees" A.P. 12/10/97) and McRae, M. ("Road Kill in Cameroon." Natural History. Vol. 107, No. 1, Feb 1997.) provides an overview of the African bushmeat trade.
Wildlife harvesting in logged tropical forests is surveyed in Robinson, J.G. et al. "Wildlife harvest in logged tropical forests," Science Vol. 284 (5415): 595, 1999
In "Strapped for Cash, Asians Plunder their Forests and Endanger their Future," Effects of the Asian Economic Crisis series, AsiaPacific Issues No. 39, April 1999, Donovan examines the effect of the Asian economic recession on wildlife harvest and concludes that the depressed market conditions spurred an increase in hunting and wildlife collection.
Epstein, J. ("For sale: creatures great and small," SF Chronicle 10-7-99) and Saunders, J. ("S.African Police Crack Reptile Smuggling Syndicate," Reuters 10/20/97) explore the illegal pet trade.
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Recent news
Amazon deforestation rate falls to lowest on record
(8/10/2007) Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon for the previous year were the lowest on record, according to preliminary figures released by INPE, Brazil's National Institute of Space Research.
Lowland rainforest less diverse than previously thought
(8/9/2007) While rainforests are the world's libraries of biodiversity, species richness may be more evenly distributed in some forests than in others, reports an extensive new study by an international team of entomologists and botanists. The work, published in the current issue of the journal Nature, has important implications for forest management and conservation strategies.
Experts: parks effectively protect rainforest in Peru
(8/9/2007) High-resolution satellite monitoring of the Amazon rainforest in Peru shows that land-use and conservation policies have had a measurable impact on deforestation rates. The research is published in the August 9, 2007, on-line edition of Science Express.
More rainforest news
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