“Save The Rainforest” Totally Not Cool Anymore, Say Scientists

Saving the rainforests has long been a pet cause of environmentalists, but now some scientists are coming forward and saying “fuck ‘em.”

A new debate on the role of ancient rainforests in world ecology and global warming has sprung up, with some sides arguing that the fast growing new-growth forests in South America are just as valuable. But what about the people actually living there?

According to one Panamanian woman who used to clear the forests near her home for farming, but now gets her food at a supermarket: “There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago.” Thanks, indigenous-person! Then there’s the ubiquitous field-worker, all sweaty and squinty from his bucolic pastimes: “Gumercinto Vásquez, a stooped casual laborer who was weeding a field in Chilibre in the blistering sun, said it had become hard for him to find work because so many farms had been abandoned. ‘Very few people around here are farming these days,’ he said.”

Ignoring the fact that approximately zero Panamanian scientists were interviewed for the study, what do other scientists think of this chic “new growth” forest? Well, there are a few camps. Two senior scientists at the Smithsonian Institute flat out disagree with each other over the importance of new-growth.

Dr. Joe Wright is excited about the new growth, because he says it’s springing up faster than the old-growth rainforest is being destroyed. He also thinks that it could soon be a viable habitat for species that normally only live in old-growth ecosystems.

Biologists were ignoring these huge population trends and acting as if only original forest has conservation value, and that’s just wrong. A botanist can look at the trees here and know this is regrowth.But the temperature and humidity are right. Look at the number of birds! It works. This is a suitable habitat.

In the other corner we have Dr. Bill Laurance, who seems adorably grouchy and like he could probably take Wright in a brawl.

Yes, there are forests growing back, but not all forests are equal. This is a caricature of a rain forest! There’s no canopy, there’s too much light, there are only a few species. There is a lot of change all around here whittling away at the forest, from highways to development.

Killjoy. But either way, the explosive growth of new-growth forest seems like a positive thing. While it’s not a perfect substitute for old-growth rainforests it can still act as a carbon-sink, which is essential to slowing global warming.

Unresolved, not surprisingly, is the question of what the eventual environmental sanctions will mean for the farming and living habits of those who actually live near the South American rainforests. Hopefully they get a chance to voice their opinion before the next Ice Age begins.

New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests [New York Times]