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
|
|
|
Baobab trees amoung rice paddies in Madagascar. (Photo by R. Butler)
|
|
SECONDARY FOREST PRODUCTS
There is great potential for the development of secondary forest products on a large scale to contribute to local
and national income through the global market. Some forest products can be domesticated and cultivated on a widespread
basis on highly degraded and formerly forested lands. Many of these products are better suited to the tropical
environment and produce greater economic returns at less fiscal and environmental costs.
As discussed earlier, small farmers can be incorporated into the national economy and large-scale agricultural
production by the promotion of small agroforestry plots.
FOODS
There are countless rainforest products that can be harvested sustainably or at least used more efficiently in
the place of the existing products. The keys are to develop these products, bring them to market, and then actually sell them.
Cultivated Foods
Many of the foods we eat today have their origins in the rainforest, including the avocado, banana, Brazil nuts,
cassava/manioc, cashews, chocolate/cocoa, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, coffee, cola, corn/maize, eggplant, fig, ginger,
grapefruit, guava, herbal tea ingredients, jalapeno, lemon, mango, orange, papaya, peanut, pepper, pineapple, potato,
rice, squash, sugar cane, tomato, and vanilla. But there are still many more that have yet to be developed to their
fullest potential: of the 3,000 rainforest fruits, only 200 are regularly used.
Of the estimated 25,000 to 30,000 species of plants that have edible parts, only about 7,000 have been cultivated
or collected over history. Of these, only 20 species provide 90 percent of the food needs, while rice, wheat, and maize
make up more than 50 percent of cultivated foods. Tropical agriculture with conventional crops usually has proven to be
a failure because tropical forest lands are rife with pests, disease, poor soils, drought, and inconsistent rainfall.
Tropical agriculture based on these few crops rarely eases poverty for local people and does not generate a sustained
contribution to national income.
We need to experiment with other plants, especially those that would be better situated to cultivation in the tropics.
For example, the Buruti palm of the Amazon produces a vitamin-rich fruit with a bread-like pith, while two plants
from West Africa produce compounds thousands of times sweeter than sucrose and could be used as natural sweeteners.
Animal-based foods
Similarly, rainforest animals have great potential as semi-domesticated food animals for the tropics. These are
far better suited to the tropical climate and tropical ecosystems than domestic animals brought from more temperate
climates that are destructive of the rainforest lands and species. Using native animals means less environmental
impact, greater diversity of animal-based foods, and a far greater efficiency of production than cattle.
Tropical species with potential as sources of meat include Amazon river turtles (Podocnemus sp), which have long
been harvested (usually unsustainably) from their native habitat for their excellent meat. These turtles
can be easily cultivated in cement ponds located along the floodplains of tropical rivers and raised on aquatic
vegetation and fruit. The turtle produces 22,000 pounds of meat per acre (24,659 kg per hectare) more than 400
times the yield of cattle raised in pastures and in a far less costly manner to the environment.
The green iguana of Central and South America has been over-hunted for its chicken-like meat and is endangered
in some of its range. The iguana has great potential and is already being raised in farms in Central America. Iguanas
can be ten times as productive in terms of yield as cattle on the same land, reducing the need to clear additional
forest areas for pasture. The capybara (the world's largest rodent), chachalacas (like tropical chickens), and paca
(cat-sized rodents) are other New World mammals that could provide sources of tropical meat without major disruption
to the ecosystem. These are just a sampling (from the New World alone) of tropical species that could productively
replace temperate domestic animals in the tropics.
A comprehensive look at the use of animals in Brazilian medicine
PROVIDERS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY
In 1994, wheat grew on 573 million acres (232 million ha) of land around the world. With an average of 2 million
stalks per hectare, the total number of individuals exceeds 464 trillion individuals. Clearly wheat is not an endangered
species, but because of selective breeding toward genetic uniformity, wheat has lost most of its populations and
hence its genetic variability. What is the recourse if a disease breaks out in this gargantuan monoculture? Most
likely scientists will scour the few wild places left on Earth for the remaining wild strains of wheat in hopes
of finding genetic traits that will offer resistance to the pest.
Grains: Savings from Genetic Resources
Loss of livestock breeds put food supplies at risk in poor countries
|
Rotten cacao pods in Sulawesi. Sulawesi is the world's third leading producer of cacao but its crop has been hard hit by cocoa pod borer and disease. Ongoing research on the Indonesian island is looking at ways to control these agricultural pathogens.
|
In addition to food, rainforests serve as reservoirs of genetic diversity. These wild species have traits that have been inadvertently removed by selective breeding, a process which selects traits based only on their utility to man. Thus domesticated plants and animals are more susceptible to pests
and disease. To protect domestic species from these hazards, they can be bred with wild species that still retain
traits protecting them from agricultural pests.
The most famous example of the value of wild gene pools comes from Asia in the 1970s when the rice crop was struck with grassy stunt virus, threatening the rice crop across
the continent. The International Rice Institute surveyed some 6,273 varieties of rice for attributes against grassy
stunt. Of this array, only one, inhabiting a small Indian valley slated to be cleared and developed, proved to
have the desired qualities. It was crossed with the predominant form of rice, creating a resistant hybrid, and
was subsequently bred across Asia. Had it not been for this tiny reservoir of diversity, Asia would have faced
a deadly human catastrophe. Today the ICCO (the International Cocoa Organization) is seeking out new strains of
cocoa in the Orinoco and Amazon rainforests. The ICCO is searching for varieties that will improve the yield and
resistance of commercially grown cocoa, which has a very narrow genetic base. For example, the entire cocoa agriculture
of Ghana, a major world cocoa producer, is derived from a single pod brought in the 1870s by a visiting blacksmith.
Review questions:
- Why is genetic diversity important for agriculture?
[print version | spanish
Other pages in this section:
|
|
|
|
Recent news
Saving one of the last tropical dry forests, an interview with Edwina von Gal
(06/29/2009) Often we hear about endangered species—animals or plants on the edge of extinction—however we rarely hear about endangered environments—entire ecosystems that may disappear from Earth due to humankind’s growing footprint. Tropical dry forests are just such an ecosystem: with only 2 percent of the world’s tropical dry forest remaining it is one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems. A newly established organization, the Azuero Earth Project, is working not only to preserve some of the world’s last tropical dry forest on the Azuero peninsula in Panama, but also to begin restoration projects hoping to aid both the forest’s viability and the local people. Edwina von Gal, a landscape designer, is one of the founders of the Azuero Earth Project, as well as president of the organization.
Wind could power the entire world
(06/22/2009) Wind power may be the key to a clean energy revolution: a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that wind power could provide for the entire world’s current and future energy needs.
What is the crop productivity and environmental impact of too much or too little fertilizer?
(06/18/2009) While the use of synthetic fertilizer has greatly increased agricultural production globally—helping to feed a global population that is not slowing down—it has brought with it high environmental costs. Fertilizer runoff has polluted many coastal regions creating ‘dead zones’ where the ocean is starved of oxygen by the influx of nitrogen. Synthetic fertilizers have also polluted the air with ammonia, and sent emissions of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Amazon deforestation doesn't make communities richer, better educated, or healthier
(06/11/2009) Deforestation generates short-term benefits but fails to increase affluence and quality of life in the long-run, reports a new study based an analysis of forest clearing in 286 municipalities across the Brazilian Amazon. The research, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, casts doubt on the argument that deforestation is a critical step towards development and suggests that mechanisms to compensate communities for keeping forests standing may be a better approach to improving human welfare, while simultaneously sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, in rainforest areas.
Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries
(06/02/2009) Global forest covers around 30 per cent of the Earth's land surface (nearly 4 billion hectares). Forests provide valuable ecosystem services and goods, serve as a habitat for a wide range of flora and fauna and hold a significant standing stock of global carbon. The total carbon content of forests has been estimated at 638 Gt for 2005, which is more than the amount of carbon in the entire atmosphere. Deforestation, mainly conversion of forests for agriculture activities, has been estimated at an alarming rate of 13 million hectares per year (in the period 1990-2005).
More news on sustainable development
More rainforest news
|
|
|
