To judge by the emails I have been receiving about Brazil's alleged plans to pulp half the remaining Amazon area (is this true, does anyone know?) developing countries don't need the input of 'multinational companies' or developed countries to get rid of their forests. Rather, they need help to maintain what they have left, so far as possible, while continuing to meet their forestry needs.
As discussed by others, to put together tree breeding and forestry improvement programs (with or without biotechnology) is a formidible exercise, which needs considerable resources. The inputs will be repaid handsomely (and ultimately enable more to be achieved with less, as I said before), but you have to be able to afford the investment in the first place. There will be many forest species of importance to developing regions that could be developed further and faster with help from wealthier countries, but if it is lacking for whatever reason then simpler approaches are probably recommended.
Indeed, I would advise anyone thinking of setting up a forest tree improvement program using biotechnology to consider the cost-benefits before starting out, however deep their pockets. An easy way for developed countries to help poorer countries would be for material to be made available from existing programs, where appropriate. For example, Eucalypts may not suit everyone's needs, but where they would be useful, then there's a wealth of material that could be readily utilised.
There may be intellectual property issues that need adressing too (especially where companies are involved), but if there is a will, this should not be an insuperable problem.
Trevor Fenning, Germany
[email protected]
"... Brazilian congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the amazon forest to 50% of its size. The area to be deforested is 4 times the size of Portugal and would be mainly used for agriculture and pastures for livestock... All the wood is to be sold to international markets in the form of wood chips, by multinational companies... The truth is that the soil in the amazon forest is useless without the forest itself. Its quality is very acidic and the region is prone to constant floods. At this time more than 160.000 square kilometers deforested with the same purpose, are abandoned and in the process of becoming deserts. We cannot let this happen. Copy the text into a new email, put your complete name in the list below, and send to everyone you know. (Don't just forward it cos then it will end up with rows of >>>'s ) If you are the 100th person to sign please send a copy to [email protected] Thank you."
..........Moderator]
-----Original Message-----
From: Biotech-Mod2
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2000 2:31 PM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: mature trees: 31
A small note in reply to one or two previous mails. It is perfectly possible in many cases to propagate without problems from mature trees identified as 'elite', and apply genetic engineering techniques as part of a modest program of development, if desired. This is clearly still problematic for some species (including most conifers), but it is not the universal problem it used to be.
Trevor Fenning, Germany
[email protected]
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