The Destruction and Survival Of The Forest
There are three main types of Amazon forest : the varzea or flood-plain zones, regularly flooded by the rivers; the igapos, which are occasionally flooded; and the terra firma, generally unflooded land which forms the majority of the surface area. Each forest type differs in the nature of its vegetation and the potential of its land use. Much of the terra firma is high forest where life exists as much in the upper canopies as it does on the ground. In the extreme northern and southern limits of the Amazon Basin, and to some extent taking over where mankind has caused most devastation, there are extensive coverings of wooded and scrubby savannas. When the forest is destroyed the land generally remains productive for only a few years before turning to scrub. The destruction of the Amazon forest obviously takes a severe toll on the area's unique flora and fauna . There are believed to be as many as 15,000 animal species in the Amazon - thousands of which have still to be identified - and untold numbers of so far unclassified plants. Since they remain unknown, it is impossible to say quite what damage the destruction of the rainforest is doing, but there can be no doubt that many animal and plant species will be lost before anyone has had a chance to study them. The loss of this gene pool - with its potential use for medicines, foods and other unknown purposes - is serious; perhaps only the indigenous people of the forests will really know what has been lost - if they survive. The Brazilian riposte, of course, is that the Western nations have no right to occupy any moral high ground, or to stand in the way of what they see as the essential economic development of their country. And they generally further add that the area being lost is insignificant compared to what survives. For all the damage to the ecology and the peoples of the Amazon, it is hard to argue that Brazil should be denied the right to utilize the mineral and natural resources by people who have already exploited so much of the rest of the world. The deforestation of the Amazon forest reached a peak in the late 1980s; large-scale ranching was mainly to blame, along with the huge number of small-scale subsistence and cash-crop farmers. In the following decade the destruction continued but at a slower pace, in part due to an increased awareness of the importance of the forest, but primarily because the world's large lumber companies were concentrating their efforts elsewhere - on the more accessible rainforests of Southeast Asia. Today, as forest cover in Southeast Asia dwindles, there is once again mounting pressure on the Amazon forest, this time from global lumber companies. There are hopeful signs, however. People are increasingly discovering that cultivation - particularly cattle ranching - is not an efficient way to use the jungle, and that the productivity of the land decreases rapidly after the first few years. Scientists are just beginning to demonstrate (and developers to accept) that the virgin forests - with their fruits, roots, nuts, rubber trees, medicinal plants, dyes, game etc - are an endless resource that can actually be more profitable than cleared land. Another good sign is the growth of interest, among tourists and Brazilians alike, in ecotourism . This pursuit, properly managed, brings money into the region and provides employment for its inhabitants, through an industry which conserves rather than exploits the natural environment.
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