The Artful Roger

Globally, including in the tropics, we are losing amphibians at an alarming rate; many species are headed to extinction. Other than habitat loss, a key factor may be a fungus that is killing frogs. Some research is suggesting that global warming may be a factor at work here by enhancing the proliferation of the fungus. In the Andes, the spectacled bear is in serious trouble due to rapid habitat loss as forests are cleared for agriculture.

There are so many good examples here ... I have seen magnificent trees being cut in the Amazon to be made into disposable chopsticks for fast-food restaurants in Asia. Did you know that when a large 150-foot-high tree like the kaypok is cut, it will often result in up to 1,000 other, smaller trees being felled as it falls? Yet these other 1,000 trees have no commercial value and are left to rot. Some studies have shown that even decades later, areas subjected to heavy timbering -- while appearing to have regrown -- are still devoid of the original biodiversity that characterized the forest prior to cutting. Imagine how important recycling becomes if we can reduce the number of wild species we cut. Other strategies include substituting abundant species of trees for those more rare (for example, seeking substitutes for mahogany) and promoting plantations on already disturbed lands rather than continuing to rely on wild species in intact ecosystems.

Wow ... impossible to really answer. I've been there over 50 times and still haven't seen all the shades of green there! One of the most humbling, inspirational experiences I and others have had is atop a canopy walkway system. The Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research pioneered the first in the Western Hemisphere in the rainforest of northern Peru. At one tree platform over 110 feet above the forest floor, you can look to the horizon in all directions and see nothing but pristine forest. It blows you away. The canopy is where the vast majority of life in the rainforest is found. I remember taking a group of Peruvian school teachers up there. They were born and raised in the forest, yet broke into tears at the sight. They said they would never think about or view the rainforest the way they used to. They saw its majesty and its fragility and were literally transformed by that experience. They are not alone; it happens to so many.

Our new canopy walkway in the cloud forest will not require the cutting of any trees. The system will consist of aluminum towers connected by suspended bridges. The system is to be located on one of the largest tracts of protected cloud forests in the region, and is designed to permit study -- and, frankly, a sense of awe -- without harming the forest. The system's footprint will be very small, but we hope the impact is as large as the cloud forest itself.

The ACEER does not have a resident staff of researchers. Rather, we host researchers from around the world and provide dedicated lab/field space for them. At times, we also provide funds for applied research. We created the first fully integrated system of natural resources data maps using a Geographical Information System, and provided training to Peruvian universities and research institutes to build their technical capabilities that they in turn apply to their work. We created a mathematical computer model to predict where certain medicinal plants would grow best, and this has been used to foster government-funded pilot projects. We showed them, for example, where a high-vitamin-C fruit, camu-camu, would grow best. The result was a pilot import/export project that now sees sustainable harvests of wild camu-camu being exported to the U.S. as an ingredient in sports drinks.

I think it is always valuable to show how the rainforest is more valuable standing and used sustainably rather than clear-cut for short-term gain but long-term erosion and loss of productivity and biodiversity. ACEER's work with modeling the habitats of medicinal plants speaks to your question. When projects like acai and others, like the camu-camu fruit, first begin, there is often not a problem with relying on wild stocks of the plants. But as the practice continues, I have seen problems with keeping it sustainable when relying on wild crafting. This is true, for example, with the Irapy palm used for roof thatching. In the north, people now travel in some cases days to find wild stands, whereas in the past, it was common everywhere. That's why you sometimes see efforts at plantation growing. The key example here is with hearts of palm, a wonderful, flavorful salad. But to secure a serving means cutting the whole tree down. This is not sustainable and has led to a certification program verifying that the hearts of palm are collected from plantation trees. Make no mistake about it -- the Amazon is a treasure trove of medicinal plants and represents a significant alternative to logging, but even here we need to understand and work with the carrying capacity of the ecosystem.

Actually this is being done, though more could be done. The Nature Conservancy is a good example of an organization that brokers such deals. To Peru's credit, there are vast tracts of protected land in their part of the Amazon -- hundreds of millions of acres. But it is sometimes the staggering poverty in some South American and African countries that forces governments to open large areas for development.

As an international organization, we can bring funds, donors, technology, and collective wisdom from around the world to partner with locals, though never forgetting their key role in participatory decision-making. This is an advantage. However, centuries of exploitation by foreigners makes some local people understandably leery of what the underlying motives really are. After many, many years of abuse and neglect, one village could not believe that we wanted to help them simply because we cared and it was the right thing to do. Even now, we see problems with some enterprises that come into an area supposedly to help, yet a small minority benefits while the majority is unchanged. This sows seeds of suspicion. Fortunately, ACEER enjoys a good reputation thanks to our dedicated Peruvian staff and a commitment to making the people we work with full partners.

We began by offering workshops for North Americans so they would be inspired to help with conservation through donations and/or action. We then used the revenue generated to begin helping rural Amazonian schoolchildren with materials, books, pencils, etc. It soon became apparent that teachers were the other half of the equation in Amazonia, so we developed the first culturally sensitive, Amazon-based environmental education curriculum. Our initiatives have now grown to include teaching Latin American university students and U.S. children and teachers. Since we are all stakeholders in rainforest conservation, our efforts are far-reaching. To date, more than 1 million lives worldwide have been touched by ACEER programming.

We always remember that it is their village, their lives, and that they are the local stakeholders. We do not use a monolithic approach to working, but rather employ a village-centered strategy. Our Peruvian staff is skilled at building trust, explaining who we are and what we do, and determining if and how we can be of assistance. We always make sure projects are respectful of the decision-making structure of the village and that the project is grassroots, rather than top-down. Too often, villages are told what is best for them by a central authority and aren't asked what they want/need. We've had great success by empowering local peoples to articulate their needs and seeing how we can partner with them to make it a reality. Education and the support of village community projects -- i.e., medicinal-plant gardens, libraries, and small-scale farm projects -- are what we typically focus on. In northern Peru, we are working with a consortium of villages in the Itaya watershed to help the villages create a conservation reserve.

We certainly discuss how poor a resource choice it is to convert the nutrient-poor rainforest into agriculture, and there is ample evidence of the negative impact of vast cattle operations in former rainforest habitats. We don't serve rainforest beef at our facilities, and we provide opportunities for people to visit both vegetable and meat markets to see how their food is prepared and where it comes from. But we do not specifically promote vegetarianism as a conservation strategy. In our health-related workshops conducted with West Chester University, we have more opportunities to discuss the environmental pros of a vegetarian diet.

Excellent question. What's important to keep in mind is that our propensity for thinking that we are separate from nature seems strongest in Western cultures and is not necessarily shared by all cultures. Isn't it ironic that we can heavily pollute our air, water, and food, and when we get sick from them, we are so surprised? Our reliance on and inseparability from our environment is as close as our next breath; we take so much for granted here. To break through this effectively cannot really be done through edicts, laws, or even market pressures, though these are used in the short term. Edicts and laws create an us/them mentality without challenging each person to fully understand their role as stakeholders in a clean environment.