– I don’t know why folks have a hard time getting the point of The Perfect Storm Hypothesis. This story is a perfect example of the interdependencies the hypothesis talks about.
– Over population and poverty drives people to settle in forested land – clearing it as they go. World food shortages drive growers to grow food where previous trees stood. Less trees mean less water retention which dries the remaining forest making it less resilient. Less forest means less CO2 uptake. More CO2 in the atmosphere leads to warmer weather. Warmer weather means less winter snow pack. Less winter snow pack means less summer water. Less summer water means less ability to grow food using ‘wet agricultural methods’. Less food grown means more pressure to cut the forests to grow the food where they stood. Societies deeply dependent on diminishing oil resources and now trying to avoid the fact by promoting biofuel growing and use. Biofuels, the growth of which, takes the same fields we used to grow human food on. And as a result, we have less food and need more room to grow it and we all turn again to the land the forest stand upon.
– And around and around it goes in branching causal relationships and positive feedback cycles. And behind it all, human greed, ignorance, rapaciousness and leaders who talk but do not act. Leaders who see the truth but do not believe.
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The Brazilian government has announced a huge rise in the rate of Amazon deforestation, months after celebrating its success in achieving a reduction.
In the last five months of 2007, 3,235 sq km (1,250 sq miles) were lost.
Gilberto Camara, of INPE, an institute that provides satellite imaging of the area, said the rate of loss was unprecedented for the time of year.
Officials say rising commodity prices are encouraging farmers to clear more land to plant crops such as soya.
The monthly rate of deforestation saw a big rise from 243 sq km (94 sq miles) in August to 948 sq km (366 sq miles) in December.
“We’ve never before detected such a high deforestation rate at this time of year,” Mr Camara said.
His concern, outlined during a news conference in Brasilia on Wednesday, was echoed by Environment Minister Marina Silva.
Expensive soya
Ms Silva said rising prices of raw materials and commodities could be spurring the rate of forest clearing, as more and more farmers saw the Amazon as a source of cheap land.
“The economic reality of these states indicate that these activities impact, without a shadow of a doubt, on the forest,” she said.
The state of Mato Grosso was the worst affected, contributing more than half the total area of forest stripped, or 1,786 sq km (700 sq miles).
The states of Para and Rondonia were also badly affected, accounting for 17.8% and 16% of the total cleared respectively.
The situation may also be worse than reported, with the environment ministry saying the preliminary assessment of the amount of forest cleared could double as more detailed satellite images are analysed.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is due to attend an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss new measures to tackle deforestation in the Amazon.
More… ➡
The surge in deforestation is being inspired in large part by rising international demand for animal feed (as meat consumption rises in Asia) happening at a time when existing feed crops are increasingly being used to produce ethanol. Perfect storm indeed.
Yes, and in a world with very few things to be happy about, the fact that much of the food we produce is used inefficiently to produce meat for consumption means that if we slow down on eating meat, there is additional food capacity built into our current food production capabilities.