MadSci Network: Environment/Ecology |
Lissa Keigwin:
What are the pros of cutting down the rainforest?
By the "pros" Lissa means "the arguments in favour of cutting down the rainforest".
So what are "the arguments in favour of cutting down the rainforest"?
...um, well, I'm not sure I can think of any...
Well, yes I can, but I'm not too sure how convincing they are.
Let's think generally for a moment... You might cut down some rainforest because:
The timber from some rainforest species is very valuable for building and furniture. Also we are discovering more and more compounds which can be obtained from rainforests which are of medicinal value (I think taxol, a drug used in treating cancer, is one). So some things we can get from rainforests are valuable for different purposes.
These products can be sustainably harvested if two things occur.
If the ecosystem is damaged, then the harvesting activity is not ecological sustainable in the long-term and we are making a profit now at the expense of future generations. This is probably unethical.
Harvesting in rainforests does not necessarily have to be destructive and unsustainable, but much probably is.
If the land is going to be used for something else, then the rainforest is going to be damaged to a greater or lesser extent for some time, perhaps permanently. In this case the key question is: Do we get more than we lose?
What we lose is a unique, high diversity ecosystem, possibly containing undescribed and unknown species and resources.
What we gain depends on what we do with the land. It may be land for farming, for housing, for mining or some other activity. In some cases it may be possible to rehabilitate, or restore, the rainforestfor instance, after miningalthough people argue about how successful this is (or can be).
Again, to be sure that we are acting ethically, we need to be sure that the gain in the long-term will exceed the loss.
There probably are situations in which the gain does outweigh the cost, but many past decisions have not been made on this basis.
There may be arguments in favour of cutting down some rainforest in some places. Each case does, however, have to be examined on its own merits and alongside other cases. As the amount of rainforestor any other habitatdiminishes it becomes harder and harder to justify disturbing the remaining bits.
Keith A. McGuinness
School of Biological & Environmental Sciences
Northern Territory University
Darwin, Australia
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