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What Amazon do we want?
Vitor Vieira Vasconcelos
PhD in Natural Sciences
Stockholm Environment Institute Asia CentreJuly 2015
The Amazon is one of the large remaining natural areas of the world, with many ecosystems that
are shelter of a very rich biodiversity and play a significant role in global environmental processes.
However, deforestation may bring irreversible damage to its ecosystems, to its traditional inhabitants and
to the whole world. This essay aims at exploring alternative futures for the sustainable development of
Amazon.
One of the first images that may come to our minds when we thin of Amazon is the magnanimous
Amazon forest. However, a closer loo will unveil many different inds of forests, such as flooded forests,
dry land !Terra Firme" forests, cloud forests, mountain forests, mangrove swamps, palm forests !Mata de
Cocais", among other possible classifications. #esides the forests, there are areas of $avannah, divided
between Cerrado !$outh American grassland savannah" and Campinarana !swampy savannahs on
seasonal waterlogged sandy soils". The water environment, including the largest river system in the world,
can also be considered as a proper ecosystem. All these ecosystems comprise the biggest pool of species
biodiversity in the world, corresponding to approximately 1% & of the world's nown biodiversity
!(ewinsohn ) *rado, +%%", while many !or most" of it remains yet to be discovered and studied properly.
-oreover, the Amazon is not completely unpopulated. Along centuries, ative $outh Americans
and immigrants colonized small tribes and villages and learned to live sustainably with the natural
ecosystems. /uring that time, they learned how to use native plants and animals to produce their food,
traditional medicine, shelters and tools. This nowledge has been used as an entrance door for
pharmaceutics research, in order to develop new modern medicines. Typical examples are the plants
0urare ine !Curare sp." and the 2uinine !Chinchona sp.", which were initially used by ative $outh
Americans, and later allowed the development of muscle relaxants and anti3malarial medicine,
respectively. otwithstanding, despites the enormous profit of the pharmaceutics industry with these
medicines, the ative $outh Americans have not received any share of it. 4n order to change this in5ustices
and to help in the conservation of the traditional nowledge, the 0onvention on #iological /iversity of
166+, signed by 167 countries, includes rules for e8uitable sharing of the benefits provided by the
traditional nowledge of the use of biodiversity.
Another interesting aspect of the traditional communities is their function in storing a wide variety
of traditional agricultural plants. One example is the high genetic diversity of cassava cultivated by
traditional people in Amazon, that may reach more than 9 varieties !:lias et al., +%%1; :mperaire )
*eroni, +%%9". These crop varieties were selected during centuries and are adapted to the local climate,
soils, and diseases.
evertheless, the increasing global demand for natural resources, especially for food and wood,
is leading to deforestation of Amazon. 4n the deforesting cycle, the logging companies sell cleared land to
cattle ranchers, who overuse the land for cattle and, after the soil lost its fertility, then move to new
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deforested lands. The expansion of agriculture also displaces the cattle ranchers to new areas in the
border of the forests, aggravating this trend. $ince 169%, almost +%& of Amazon has been deforested
!#utler, +%1
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again. The rotation among the blocs would allow a sustainable yield of wood. One interesting result of
the rotation system is that, with constant plant colonization of the new open areas inside the forest, the
overall biodiversity of the ecosystems tends to increase !>illman, +%%6, p. 6%36". The area under
sustainable management can also be used to produce ot Timber =orest *roducts T=* 3, such as honey,
building poles, medicinal plants, and material for weaving, basetry and thatch handcraft.
:ven so, the comparison between the short term profits of deforesting versus sustainable
management options may still tempt many entrepreneurs to continue their large scale deforesting and
associated cattle raising activities. One way to counterbalance that scenario is to direct money for
sustainable management of the Amazon ecosystems in retribution to their environmental services.
ational and local governments may provide some of these funds, based in the local and regional benefits
from Amazon ecosystems, but international organizations may also help, due to the global benefits of
conserving Amazon.
4n conclusion, the benefits of conserving the Amazon ecosystems, in virtue of its intrinsic value
and the potential benefits for local people and for the global society, 5ustify the efforts for its sustainable
management. 4n order to cope with the deforestation, policies for environmental surveillance and
payment for environmental services may help to reduce the pressure for new logging areas. These policies
would help turning the balance in favor of pro5ects for sustainable management of the ecosystems,
including rotation of blocs for wood extraction and complimentary production of T=*.
References
#utler, B. A. !+%1illman, -. !+%%6" (ife in Amazon. 4nC The Open niversity. :nvironmentC 5ourneys through a changing
world. #oo and //. G, The Open niversity
(ewinsohn, T. -.; *rado, *. 4. !+%%" How -any $pecies Are There in #razilI 0onservation #iology 16,
+%%, pp. 7163+rath, /.; $himada, F.; $ticler, 0. !+%1" Jhy is Amazon /eforestation 0limbingIhttpCDDnews.mongabay.comD+%[email protected] Accessed +1 Fune
+%1
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