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| RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION |
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The destruction of the Rainforest can be stopped and you can help. Millions of acres are being burned and cut down for economic motives. Cattle ranchers and plantation owners want land to graze cattle and plant export crops. International logging companies want to strip the forests for timber. Third World countries, in desperate need of funds, are often willing to allow the wholesale destruction of their rainforests and fragile environments, in the name of economic development. However, as we have so often seen, this near-sighted policy inevitably results in tragedy. Witness the massive forest fires, raging out of control, in Malaysia and Indonesia, during 1998, which resulted in toxic poisoning to the atmosphere and harmful effects to the health of local populations. All this was started by the indiscriminate and reckless burning of the Rainforests by a handful of ruthless and greedy businessmen, with ties to the Government, who sought to clear millions of acres so they could establish vast plantations growing export crops. So, how can we stop this relentless march to destruction? The answer is the development and promotion of economically viable and environmentally safe alternatives to wholesale deforestation. These alternatives include Ecotourism, Alternative Rainforest Agricultural Initiatives, the Ethno-Botanical Study of Medicinal Rainforest Flora and Conservation through Progressive Forest Management. Plantation owners, Cattle Ranchers and Logging Companies should not be demonized as the Enemy. They should be able to co-exist with the Rainforest, the preservation of which, in the long term, is in their best interests. By educating Plantation owners, Cattle Ranchers, Peasants and Logging Companies, in ecologically sensitive methods and techniques of Organic Farming, Soil and Water Conservation, Low Density Agriculture, Natural Harvesting and Progressive Forestry Management, instead of merely being confrontational, we can make these powerful forces into part of the solution, instead of part of the problem. The Rainforest is everyone's concern. We must put aside the finger-pointing and unite in a common effort to save our Rainforest. We all have a stake in the matter. Third World countries can have economic development and improve the lives of their people, without the wholesale burning and destruction of the Rainforest. There are alternatives. Take a look at the projects we have underway and please help us by sponsoring one of them. |