The Development and Management of Tropical Rainforests

The Development and Management of Tropical Rainforests

The primary reason for the rapid reduction in the size of the worlds

greatest natural resource, the Tropical Rainforest, is mainly due to

economic incentives, placed on developing countries be it by the World

Bank, TNCs or just private investors. This is well illustrated, in

Gunung Palung in Indonesia where illegal logging activity is occurring

in the this national park because wealthy local merchants and members

of the local police, military, and national park staff have been

financing small groups of villagers to log, for them. Exploitation of

this resource is common throughout the world this is due to the great

demand for hardwoods such as mahogany in MEDCs e.g. Japan which uses

large amounts of hardwoods for plywood to make casts for concrete and

chopsticks which a great many are used and thrown away in Japan.

The activities which cause the greatest amount of deforestation are;

logging and farming plantations, using the slash and burn technique

for creating colossal plantations with a short life of two to three

years and leaving a thin laterite soil which has formed due to the

initial ferralitic soil suffering extensive leaching due to the heavy

rainfall of the tropics (2'000mm+). This is the way that the

commercial use of land causes deforestation in the topics, as though

the land is very fertile, having the highest, net primary production

of any biome on our planet of around 2'200NPP in oppose to a deciduous

forest, unlike those found in Britain which has an average of around

1'200NPP, and provides 40% of the worlds net primary production of

terrestrial energy, once the co...

... middle of paper ...

... the amount of extinction and has

almost know effect on the ground surface, apart from that of human

activity gathering the crop from the top of the trees which range from

30-50m now and than

Also fighting on the front on conserving the forest, but in its truly

natural state are the indigenous people, by means of ecotourism, as by

this way, apart from the slight human interference of people

appreciating and experiencing tours through this very beautiful

ecosystem there is a low ecological risk with high returns from the

proportionally wealthy tourists.

Therefore it can be ascertained that the methods of sustaining the

Tropical Rainforest are many, and are increasing with mans

understanding of this amazing resource which is dwindling from the

Earth, due to mismanagement and lack of care by MEDCs and LEDCs alike.