Why, indeed?
For those who don't already know the answer, here are a few selfish reasons why you should be interested in the fate of the rainforest.
It is all too easy to forget that most everyday foodstuffs are not native to our own country nor even to our own continent. Tomatoes are not native to the greenhouses of Jersey and Guernsey. Potatoes did not originate on Ailsa Craig. Both are natives of South America; as are Pineapples, Chocolate, Strawberry cultivars, Sweet Peppers, Passion Fruit, and Chillies; as are hundreds of other less familiar, but not necessarily less important, foodstuffs.
In the last century, potato blight struck. Ireland starved. Millions
migrated. The social effects of that tiny fungus have not, even
yet, run their course. Today there are more Irish people in America
than there are in Ireland. The memory of the famine lives on in
the folklore of dissent and contributes to "the troubles".
Potato blight may be under control at the present, but there
is no guarantee that another, perhaps even more destructive disease
will not appear and destroy one of our staple foodstuffs. The
best defence against that occurrence is the maintenance of biological
diversity.
The naturalized crops with which we are familiar, however, have been bred from a very narrow genetic base. The necessary genetic diversity does exist, but only in their natural habitats, and the natural habitats of many of our staple foods are under threat.
It is, perhaps, a cliche to suggest that the law of supply and demand is nothing but the law of the jungle. The law which rules the jungle, however, is increasingly the law of supply and demand. Nowhere is that more the case than in the timber trade.
A couple of centuries ago, tropical hardwoods such as mahogany and teak arrived in our country. They were carried as ballast but, because of their beauty, were soon found a use in the manufacture of furniture. A new world trade was born and what once had no value other than its weight acquired an economic value of its
own.
The trade in tropical hardwoods, as distinct from that of many
other timber crops, suffers from one major disadvantage: the close-grained
woods, which are the most desirable, are very slow to mature,
thus making their culture uneconomical. The exploitation of the
rainforest for its timber, therefore, is not a process of forestry
but of systematic destruction in which vast tracts are destroyed
for the yield of a few trees.
The law of supply and demand suggests that, when the price obtained
for a natural product overtakes that of its culture, then systematic
logging will cease and silviculture will begin. Conservative estimates
and experience suggest that this will not occur until the rainforests
are all but destroyed. Worse still, the ecology of the tropics
is such that, when the economics favour silviculture, the land
will be barren.
Tropical hardwoods, once worthless ballast, seem likely to acquire
the rarity value of precious metals.
Tropical rainforests are places where nature is at her most intense. The climate is ideal for life, so life abounds. The climate, however, is only one factor among many which must be right for a species to thrive. All plants and animals require food and a way to stop all the other creatures from eating them.
One way to keep from being eaten is to become poisonous. This strategy is adopted by a great many creatures the world over, but is especially common in the tropics. Common rhubarb, for example, contains oxalic acid to keep it from being eaten. So simple a defence would be next to useless in the tropics, where most grazers will have needed to become immune to a great many poisons if they were to survive. Tropical poisons, therefore, tend to be a rich cocktail of very potent chemicals.
Rich cocktails of very potent chemicals are potential sources
of new drugs. Quinine is, perhaps, the best known drug made from
a tropical plant but there are many others. Curare is a lethal
chemical when used by an Amazonian Indian to tip his blow-pipe
darts but it is an essential drug to a surgeon since it completely
relaxes the muscles of his patient. Cocaine may be a dangerous
drug but from it are derived our safest local anaesthetics. A
species of yam is used in the manufacture of the contraceptive
pill and many other steroids.
It is discomforting to consider that a species of plant which
might contain a chemical which could be used in the cure of a
fatal disease could become extinct while you are reading this.
It has probably already happened, many times over.
Climatology is a relatively new science but one which has had politicians of all shades donning green garments for as long as the headlines lasted. The headlines will come again but, unless something is done in the meantime, it is quite probable that the politicians may be wearing black by then. The main problem is that climatology is considerably more complex a discipline than is, say, economics; and everyone knows how well politicians understand that subject.
The rainforests of the world play a very significant part in
the global climate. Put simply, if they are destroyed, deserts
will replace them. This is not a prediction; it is already happening.
The rainforest is a self-sustaining system, "life living off life
in a prolific but essentially fragile manner". The second result
of the loss of the rainforest will be the release of the carbon
dioxide which is contained within its web of life.
The world's leaders came together in Rio and decided that they
should strive to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions were they
to avert the catastrophe of global warming. Were we to stop emitting
all greenhouse gases, however, but were we to ignore the loss
of the rainforests, then all our efforts would be in vain.
For more information on Ecuador's climate Click Here
