Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Rainforest Resurgence:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_02_01-2009_02_07.shtml#1233526274
Farmland is beginning to revert back to tropical forest in many
countries. The NYT [1]reports:
new �secondary� forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and
other tropical regions at such a fast pace that the trend has set
off a serious debate about whether saving primeval rain forest � an
iconic environmental cause � may be less urgent than once thought.
By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year,
more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land
that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.
�There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago,� said
Ms. Ortega de Wing, 64, who remembers fields of mango trees and
banana plants.
The new forests, the scientists argue, could blunt the effects of
rain forest destruction by absorbing carbon dioxide, the leading
heat-trapping gas linked to global warming, one crucial role that
rain forests play. They could also, to a lesser extent, provide
habitat for endangered species.
The idea has stirred outrage among environmentalists who believe
that vigorous efforts to protect native rain forest should remain a
top priority. But the notion has gained currency in mainstream
organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the United
Nations, which in 2005 concluded that new forests were �increasing
dramatically� and �undervalued� for their environmental benefits.
The United Nations is undertaking the first global catalog of the
new forests, which vary greatly in their stage of growth.
This could be a very positive trend.
The United States had a very similar experience. Throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries, net forestland declined dramatically, but began to
grow back in the earth 20th century. The United States has experienced
net forest growth for most of the past century. Whole regions of the
country that were largely denuded, including much of the northeastern
United States. Areas in the east that are designated "wilderness"
actually consist of second-growth forest on lands that had been
cleared for farming. The shift of agriculture to the midwest combined
with increases in agricultural productivity, along with other factors,
including the displacement of draught animals with motorized vehicles
and farm equipment, combined to facilitate dramatic forest
regeneration with dramatic ecological benefits.
References
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/science/earth/30forest.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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