hidden? lol.

Wow, I hope this gets a lot of attention. Deforestation is increasing world-wide, and nothing seems to be able to slow it… if the CO2 craze could reverse deforestation, that would be huge. Has anyone tried giving the slash and burn subsistence farmers in the tropical forests a better job?

Duh, the no-brainer cause of global warming. Seems like Gore gave it some play, didn’t he?

Slash and burn subsistence farming can be sustainable and carbon neutral, and usually is. You want to worry about slash and burn biofuels farmers or the loggers, as the article points out:

International demand has driven intensive agriculture, logging and ranching that has proved an inexorable force for deforestation; conservation has been no match for commerce.

Al’s on the case:

Biofuel threat to indigenous people

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairwoman of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said the explosion of biofuel crop cultivation threatened to destroy native cultures by forcing them into big cities…Indonesia and Malaysia are among those most at risk because together they produce 80 per cent of the world’s palm oil – one of the crops used to make biofuels.

...”The speed with which this is happening – we don’t really realise in our part of the world. Because the technology we have today and the economic resources that are at stake are so big, it happens overnight.”

[End quote] Hence slash and burn farmers are kicked off by slash, burn, and plant genocidaires. They’re the buggers.

Duh, the no-brainer cause of global warming.

I’d hardly characterize it as “the” cause. There are a lot of causes. This one is a few rungs down from the heavy hitters.

Al’s on the case

Shit, that’s Aljazeera, I thought you meant Al Gore. Another no-brainer, I guess.

(I officially amend my statement to, “Duh, a no-brainer cause of global warming” and thanks for the correction.)

People have been trying to save the rainforest for some time; whether or not we knew it contributed to global warming, we knew deforestation was wrong. And even now, will anything really change? Do any of our ‘elected’ representatives give a damn? If the global warming debate in and of itself is any indication, I would venture to say no.

idk. I have no answers.

and then there are the feedback effects. deforestation increases warming and warming increases deforestation
yesterdays La Nacion (local costa rican newspaper) covered a story summarizing findings from researchers at La Selva station here in CR indicating a 3 C rise in temperature could lead to 75% loss of tropical forests.

unite – no one really has any solid answers. most tropical biologists i know are mostly just scared, attempting to remain oblivious, or pretending that their research efforts make a difference.
policy probably won’t change until the effects of deforestation and warming hit home to those who are doing the real damage.

While I’d certainly agree Szamko that we need to watch out for the commercial loggers and the biofuel industry, “the largest cause [of deforestation] as of 2006 is slash-and-burn activity in tropical forests.”

[citation needed]

Although slash and burn undoubtedly does lead to deforestation, it is also an integral part of good forest management – which presents something of a paradox.

Native Americans used burning to create game-filled garden type ecosystems, with rich edges full of berry crops. Amazonian tribes generated “terra prieta” – an extraordinarily rich form of soil, by adding charcoal to rotting organic matter over generations.

Scientists at the University of Bayreuth have been looking into this phenomenon, which produced massive increased in crop yields and, over the long term, created huge “orchards” within the rainforest.

And we have to allow burns to occur to prevent the catastrophic build-up of fuel-load in all forests.

But the question is one of scale and cultural knowledge. If the burns are regulated by an awareness of the required fallow periods, and populations in forest zones are kept at the right level, then slash and burn cultivation can enrich the forests.

Kicking people out of forests doesn’t help, as this article from IPS today makes clear. We need ways of living in and of the forests.

While I’d certainly agree Szamko that we need to watch out for the commercial loggers and the biofuel industry, “the largest cause [of deforestation] as of 2006 is slash-and-burn activity in tropical forests.” A lot of it is caused by cattle farming, which can either be subsistence or large-scale commercial.

Not sure cattle farming is often subsistence – maybe in some cultures, but not Brazil. In Sudan, sure or Ethiopia (where pastoral expansion seems to be affecting forests).

http://science.jrank.org/pages/6172/Slash-Burn-Agriculture.html

The connection between commercial logging and poor slash and burn farmers isn’t always appreciated. From your link:

Slash-and-burn agriculture often follows soon after the natural tropical forest has been commercially logged, mostly because the network of logging roads that is constructed allows access to the otherwise almost impenetrable forest interior.

“But, wait . . .

Climate Change Can Be Halted, UN Concludes”:http://www.gnn.tv/B23183

We could ban bean feeding for cows …