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Logging.......Amphetamine Style
Loggers in Asia have long used Asian elephants to assist in log transport. Actually, using elephants is more ecologically
sound than using tractors. However, a disturbing trend is developing in Thailand, involving forest elephants and
the powerful stimulant, amphetamine.
Though logging was banned in Thailand by royal decree in 1988, you would not know it because of the thriving illegal
timber trade. Illegal loggers are now feeding elephants amphetamine-laced bananas in an effort to keep the animals
working non-stop to harvest as much wood as possible before the rainy season. The elephants are now addicted to
the drug and as many as 10 have died from exhaustion. A commentator noted that the practice will probably continue
until all of Thailand's forests are gone.
Continued: Economic Restructuring
"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. Same for "rainforests" and "rain forests". "Jungle" is generally not used.
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.
