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CONVENTIONAL METHODS

1. Rainforest Reserves:  
This is the most popular and widely-put forward solution to preserving the rainforest.  Making and protecting these reserves are mostly taken up by large private organizations.  However, the rainforest covers a vast area and it is incorrect to believe in the first place that the greater proportion of the genetic diversity of the Amazon rainforest (where the total number of individuals of each species tends to be low, and the variety tends to be great) can be protected by limited areas of reserves.  The diversity of the Amazon makes it inevitable that large-scale projects will lead to the extinction of large numbers of species.  Only by trying to protect the greatest area of the Amazon rainforest can we preserve the gargantuan genetic diversity of organisms contained in the tropical rainforest.  In addition to being hopelessly unable to ensure the survival of the Amazon's diversity, the reserve system is widely used as an excuse by mining and timber industries to exploit the unreserved areas.

2. Sustained Yield Forestry:
 
This is a very "in-mode" term to use in questions regarding logging in the Amazon rainforest.  This basically refers to a system of logging where there is a continual maintenance of a whole ecosystem where logging is done in a fixed area, the area of the rainforest allowed to regrow, and then logged again, resulting in a "sustained yield" in a closed ecosystem.  However, as of yet, there are no examples of sustainable, industrial tropical timber operations in the world.  There are three very important reasons for this:


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3.  Displacement of Indigenous Peoples:
 
Using techniques such as rainforest reserves, the government and different organizations displace indigenous people from their land, failing to recognize their civil rights over their own lands, and disintegrating these indigenous cultures in the process.  It is undoubtedly a fact that any reforestation or preservation technique must include the assistance of indigenous people who have been living in harmony with the Amazon for thousands of centuries.  



4. The Tropical Forest Action Plan:
TFAP was the first major international attempt aimed at tackling the problems facing the Amazon rainforest.  With billions of dollars and international support, it has failed.  A few of the simple reasons for this include:
5.   The International Biodiversity Program :  

A "Biodiversity Action Program" pursued by the World Bank, it aims fails to confront the underlying causes of biodiversity loss.

  • It encourages monocultures, i.e. growing only a single kind of crop on the same land, year after year, failing to recognize that a key aspect to biodiversity loss is the replacement of traditional species-rich agriculture and forest practices with large-scale monocultures.
  • It promotes creating reserves as an important way to preserve rainforests and as explained above, it fails to protect the Amazon's diversity, and also justifies the exploitation of the rest of the Amazon rainforest.
  • Biodiversity is valued in monetary terms, and is not recognized for its own sake.  As long as money is involved, the principles of conservation cannot be fully appreciated and human values regarding preservation will not change.
  • The program places too much important and uses too many resources on protecting the genetic diversity of the Northern parts where there is more civilization and large organizations, like International Bureau for Plant Genetic Resources, are located, and  comparatively ignores the Southern portions where most of the Amazon's diversity is concentrated.





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Next: The basic requirements to a possible solution to preserving the Amazon rainforest
References:
Jennings, S.B. et. al. (2000). Ecology Provides A Pragmatic Solution To The Maintenance Of Genetic Diversity In Sustainably Managed Tropical Rainforests
World Resources Institute, NY (1997).  The Last Frontier Forests
Pictures:
1. Picture from: http://www.musikcity.mus.br/amazon.html
2. Picture from: http://www.musikcity.mus.br/amazon.html

         

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