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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.
"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.
