Air pollution above São Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by R. Butler)
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IMPACT OF POLLUTION IN THE RAINFOREST
By Rhett Butler | Last updated July 27, 2012
Forests around the world are affected by air and water pollution, produced from industrial and commercial activities. Besides the pollution caused by oil spills, toxic by-products, and mining accidents, rainforests are seriously degraded by air pollution. Brazil's Atlantic forest was widely damaged in Cubatão (São Paulo state) by pollution during the 1970s and 1980s.
Acid rain, which has been increasing in the tropics in recent decades due to growing industrialization, also takes its toll on tropical forests.
Dumping of trash and human waste into tributaries from overcrowded cities has resulted in serious pollution in many tropical countries. In some areas, rivers are no longer safe for human use, while plant and animal life suffers.
Fertilizers and pesticides used in agricultural areas adjacent to forests can take a toll on rainforest wildlife, including critical pollinators and seed dispersers. Overuse and misapplication of nitrogen fertilizers can cause "dead zones" of low oxygen content in river deltas and the ocean.
Since chemicals tend to accumulate up the food chain, top predators are likely to be most affected by any toxic substances used in pesticides and fertilizers. For example downstream of mining areas in the Amazon scientists have found high concentrations of mercury.
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Recent news
Prince Charles: take the war to the poachers
(05/22/2013) Prince Charles has warned that criminal gangs are turning to animal poaching, an unprecedented slaughter of species that can only be stopped by waging war on the perpetrators, in the latest of a series of increasingly outspoken speeches about the environment. Addressing a conference of conservationists at St James's Palace in London, the Prince of Wales announced a meeting of heads of state to take place this autumn in London under government auspices to combat what he described as an emerging, militarized crisis.
Gabon steps in to help protect elephants from ivory poaching at Central African Republic site
(05/18/2013) Gabon has agreed to help battle poaching in protected areas in the Central African Republic following an elephant massacre at a renowned World Heritage site, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
NGO: conflict of interests behind Peruvian highway proposal in the Amazon
(05/16/2013) As Peru's legislature debates the merits of building the Purús highway through the Amazon rainforest, a new report by Global Witness alleges that the project has been aggressively pushed by those with a financial stake in opening up the remote area to logging and mining. Roads built in the Amazon lead to spikes in deforestation, mining, poaching and other extractive activities as remote areas become suddenly accessible. The road in question would cut through parts of the Peruvian Amazon rich in biodiversity and home to indigenous tribes who have chosen to live in "voluntary isolation."
Elephants massacred for ivory in Central African Republic
(05/10/2013) Dozens of elephants have been slaughtered in the Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic just days after conservationists warned about an impending threat from the movement of 17 heavily armed poachers. The massacre occurred at a site renowned as 'village of elephants', where tourists and scientists have for decades observed wild elephants congregating at a large clearing to feed on minerals.
17 poachers allegedly enter elephant stronghold in Congo, conservationists fear massacre
(05/07/2013) Local researchers and wildlife guards say 17 armed elephant poachers have gained access to Dzanga Bai, a large waterhole and clearing where up to 200 forest elephants visit daily in the Central African Republic (CAR)'s Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. WWF, which works in the region but has recently evacuated due to rising violence, is calling on the CAR government to rapidly mobilize its military to stop another elephant bloodbath in central Africa. Elephants are being killed across their range for their ivory, which is mostly smuggled to East Asia.
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