Rainforests doomed unless world adopts ‘development without destruction’, warn scientists

Tropical forests face a dire future unless humans adopt a radically different approach to protecting and managing them, warns a review published last week in the journal Science. The paper, published as part of a special series on global forests ahead of climate talks to be held in Paris, provides an overview of the past, present and future of tropical forests, including laying out the familiar pathway by which people transform diverse natural ecosystems into ecological wastelands. The path begins with selective logging, which opens up intact forest landscapes to hunters and additional impacts. Once the valuable timber has been stripped from the forest, specialist logging companies give way to generalist loggers that less discriminately harvest wood. Once timber stocks are depleted, concessions may be turned over to industrial plantation developers or agribusiness, which convert degraded — but still natural — forest for oil palm, rubber, soy, or stands of monoculture hardwoods. Or the land is stripped completely for cattle pasture, urban areas, or mines. Growing human population and affluence is increasing demand for raw materials and commodities produced in the tropics. Logging in Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Another trail toward degraded landscapes is blazed by subsistence farmers, who follow roads that bisect forest areas or nibble away at the edge of forests for small-scale agriculture, ranging from maize to oil palm. The fate of these plots depend on local conditions — they may be sold to commercial commodity producers in high deforestation regions…