The government of the state of Pará, Brazil announced recently that it will set aside 37 million acres of Amazonia for conservation. Conservation International participated in the effort, along with the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (IMAZON), the World Wildlife Foundation WWF and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.This is one of the largest areas ever designated for ecological preservation. For perspective, the media compared the size of the protected area to various territories familiar to readers -- England, Portugal, Denmark and Switzerland combined, Illinois or Alabama.
The deforestation of Amazon forests in the past few decades has been unprecedented and alarming. The average rate of deforestation in the 1990's was 7,000 square miles per year, but jumped 40% after 2000. More than 230,000 square miles, 17% of the forest, have been destroyed since 1970 -- an area larger than France, according to reports.
Conservation International notes that two of the areas will be strictly protected, while the others will permit limited logging and development. Such a compromise is not without controversy in an area where economic stakes in development are high and political controversy over the fate of the forests is heated. Pará is the same state where Dorothy Stang, a nun advocating on behalf of Brazilian landowners, was shot to death last year.
The UK Telegraph reported that some local communities are opposed to all logging, while others are protesting the loss of potential income. Some policy advocates say that forests should be incorporated into the economy of border communities. Other sectors argue that large corporations are ruthlessly destroying the forest, and that farmers carelessly slash and burn to cultivate land for commercial soya and cattle farming. Soy demand is up worldwide, as it is increasingly used as filler in the fast food industry, as a protein alternative, and for animal feed. Organizations like Greenpeace have long protested the destruction of the forests for soya farming. But as soya farming provides income for economically depressed areas such disagreements about economics and preservation and control of resources are inevitable.
This week's announcement is good news from the government, and this type of large scale effort is needed to turn the tide on deforestation. Earlier this year the journal Nature published a report, "Modelling conservation in the Amazon basin", predicting the outcomes of various Amazon forest conservation scenarios. (Soares-Filho, et al Nature 440, 520-523, March, 2006). According to the article, if current forest management trends continue, with the historically lax enforcement of protected areas and continued paving of new roads in forest regions, only 53% of the original area (which in Brazil, is larger than India) will be intact by 2050. The report's authors dubbed this the BAU model (business as usual). Under a stricter "governance" model, where among other things protected areas would be expanded and paving would end, only about about 74% of the original forest (which has already by reduced to 85% of it's original size) would remain by 2050.
The report stressed that in order to maintain the global benefits of the Amazon, including species diversity and the carbon retaining qualities of the forests, governments need to act decisively, beyond defining protected areas. Forest protection is critical, but in addition, watersheds and regions outside of the protected areas need to be included in the conservation strategy. Planning is essential, as is governance -- such as forcing landowners and corporations to follow existing legislation. Finally, preserving the ecology of the Amazon needs support from developed countries, the authors said. If "international markets impose higher environmental standards on beef, soy and other food commodities", then farmers might be motivated to practice land management principles in order to access to international markets. This was a landmark announcement from the Brazilian government that hopefully signals a future for these all-encompassing conservation efforts.
