About this site
Providing tropical forest news, statistics, photos, and information, rainforests.mongabay.com is the world's most popular rainforest site. [more]
Weekly Newsletter
Mongabay will never distribute your email address or send spam.
Share
Case Study: Mahogany
Mahogany has long been logged from tropical America to fill the demand for tropical wood products like decorative
paneling and furniture. The species has been logged so extensively that it is now endanger of extinction. The logging
of mahogany, like other large tropical trees, is difficult, because trees are widely dispersed. In addition, the
process of taking out a single mahogany tree results in the destruction of an average of 28 other trees and 3000
square feet of forest damage due to lianas connected to other trees and clumsy use of machinery. Recently Brazil
banned the felling of mahogany, but the effect of this action is controversial since most mahogany is illegally
harvested in from areas in Brazil and Bolivia set aside for indigenous peoples where mahogany still grows. It is
estimated that 80% of the trade in Mahogany is illegal. However, just a week after Brazilian president Cardoso
signed the decree, the Brazilian press uncovered evidence of bribes (US$5000 per month per official) to continue
with the logging practice.
Most environmental groups say that the best way to end the mahogany trade is to ban importation of the wood into
major consumer countries like the United Sates and Japan. Consumption of mahogany in the UK has plummeted since
an aggressive Friends of the Earth campaign against its use. In 1992, the US imported 45,775 cubic meters (1,616,315
cubic feet) of mahogany, or about 12,600 mahogany trees.
"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. "Jungle" is generally not used.
Recent news
Beef consumption fuels rainforest destruction (02/16/2009)
Nearly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results from cattle ranching, according to a new report by Greenpeace. The finding confirms what Amazon researchers have long known – that Brazil's rise to become the world's largest exporter of beef has come at the expense of Earth's biggest rainforest.
How to save the Amazon rainforest (01/04/2009)
Environmentalists have long voiced concern over the vanishing Amazon rainforest, but they haven't been particularly effective at slowing forest loss. In fact, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor funds that have flowed into the region since 2000 and the establishment of more than 100 million hectares of protected areas since 2002, average annual deforestation rates have increased since the 1990s, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 square miles) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004. With land prices fast appreciating, cattle ranching and industrial soy farms expanding, and billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure projects in the works, development pressure on the Amazon is expected to accelerate. Given these trends, it is apparent that conservation efforts alone will not determine the fate of the Amazon or other rainforests. Some argue that market measures, which value forests for the ecosystem services they provide as well as reward developers for environmental performance, will be the key to saving the Amazon from large-scale destruction. In the end it may be the very markets currently driving deforestation that save forests.
Amazon rainforest damage surges 67% in 2008 (12/20/2008)
The area of rainforest in the process of being deforested — razed but not yet cleared — surged in the Brazilian Amazon during 2008, according to new figures released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The announcement comes shortly after the Brazilian government reported a 4 percent increase in forest clearing for the year. Using an advanced satellite system that tracks changes in vegetation cover INPE found that 24,932 square kilometers of Amazon forest was damaged between August 2007 and July 2008, an increase of 10,017 square kilometers -- 67 percent -- over the prior year.
Cutting deforestation can fight climate change, reduce poverty and conflict (09/24/2008)
Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty, said a prominent group of politicians, development experts, and environmental NGOs meeting in New York City to discuss U.S. climate policy.
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest (07/31/2008)
Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This is a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
