Seven years ago, almost to the day, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to spend some time in the Peruvian Amazon, near a place called Puerto Maldonado.
It was my gap year and I travelled to Peru to teach English with an organisation called Teaching and Projects Abroad.
As well as arranging teaching placements, TAPA also had ties to a jungle lodge where you could spend time volunteering to help catalogue the wildlife in the surrounding area and generally lend a hand to maintaining the property as well as caring for animals that they had rescued from poachers.
I’ve always been fascinated with nature and in particular rainforests. As a young boy, I remember watching David Attenborough explore some of the farthest reaches of the Amazon and immediately knew that I had to go and see it for myself. So when I found out I could travel out to the lodge once my teaching placement had finished, I jumped at the chance.
I still vividly remember flying into Puerto Maldonado, looking out the window and seeing the jungle unfold beneath me. Then there was the intense, wet heat that hit you as soon as you left the plane. It was very much like stepping into a greenhouse on a hot summer’s day – the humidity and the clamyness of the air.
And then there’s the rain. I was there at the beginning of the rainy season and it would pour at around four each day for about an hour. Always on time, never ever late. I remember the first time I was caught in one of the downpours. The rain was so warm. Like nothing I’d experienced before. Not at all like the spine chilling cold rain that we get in the UK. This stuff was like taking a shower.
When the rainy season really started to kick in it would rain and rain. In one afternoon, all it took was a couple of hours for the river to rise about a metre. After a particularly stormy night, we woke to see huge trees floating down the river, uprooted by the force of the rain.
Anyway, I spent a pretty interesting two weeks working out there and came away in love with the Amazon. The sights and the sounds. Seeing parrots fly overhead was a daily occurrence. Monkeys swinging from tree to tree each day…check. Caimen..check. Piranhas..check. The list goes on and on.
So, I’ve always found it to be very depressing opening up the papers to find yet another story about the deforestation and destruction of such an amazing and magical place. We are cutting down one of the planets most precious resources.
The ‘Lungs of the planet’, as people call the Amazon, it is home to countless animal and plant species making it the most diverse and bio-active natural phenomenon on the planet.
Yet each year we are losing an estimated 50,000 plant, animal and insect species. Rainforests used to cover 14% of the planet’s surface. This figure now stands at a mere 6%. 150 acres are lost every minute.
The rainforests are also home to a considerable number of medicinal plants. Currently, 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rain forest plants. Yet, it is estimated that scientists have tested a tiny 1% of tropical trees and plants. Scientists have identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rain forest.
Add to this the impact deforestation has on tribal populations and you have a cultural and environmental genocide. There were around 10 million Indians living in the Amazonian rain forest five centuries ago. Today, there are fewer than 200,000.
It is agreed that by leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting it’s many nuts, oil-producing and medicinal plants, the rain forest has far greater economic value than if they are cut down to make way for grazing land or for timber.
So, news that deforestation is at a record low is extremely welcoming. Indeed, the BBC reported this week that the rate has dropped by 45% and is at its lowest since records began 21 years ago according to figures released by the Brazilian government. Just over 7,000 square kilometres was destroyed from July 2008 to August 2009. It must make President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva very proud. He has put green issues at the top of his government’s agenda as he seeks to boost his country’s eco-credentials. The government’s attempts to stem Amazonian deforestation are at the heart of their climate change strategy.
Lula da Silva’s government wants an 80% reduction in destruction by 2020 so these latest figures are a sign that the country is moving the right direction.
Next month, Copenhagen welcomes delegates to the climate change conference. It is thought that the event will see the Brazilians pledge a 38% to 42% voluntary reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions. Half of those cuts will come from the reduction in deforestation. Their chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, says that this is about sending a political message. They want to press developed nations into making similar pledges. Will the pressure have an effect? So far, offers of greenhouse reduction fall well short of the required amount to have an impact on climate change. We shall see.
Anyway, back on topic. I have my doubts that the fall in deforestation is completely the result of Brazilian governmental efforts. I suspect that it is mostly, if entirely tied to the dismal economic climate which has seen world manufacturing and industrial output fall over the past year or so. Demands for raw materials has declined. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rate of deforestation was to rise again once we come out of the recession. Hopefully I’m wrong. Only time will tell.
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