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October 24, 2005

Caught On Camera: Stealth Logging In The Rainforest

Ultra-high resolution satellite photos have recently shown that selective logging is taking place in the Amazon rainforests and key old-growth trees are disappearing in record numbers. Until now, the damaage caused by this kind of logging was hidden beneath the forest canopy, but now new technology is shedding some light on the problem, but the news isn't good.

Damage to the Amazon rain forest has been underestimated by half, according to new high-resolution satellite images, which have revealed long-hidden logging activities.

Scientists say a new satellite imaging system that can penetrate the rain forest canopy shows that "selective logging," the singling out and cutting of commercially prized trees, poses a far bigger threat to the Earth's largest tropical forest than previously thought.

More at: Amazon Logging Twice as Heavy as Thought, Images Show

Logging companies have defended selective logging as a low-impact method compared to clear-cutting, especially considering soil erosion concerns. Friends of the rainforests claim the damage done is still too great. It's not just that old-growth trees are targeted, but that the roads and clearing done to reach each tree causes a lot of additional damage. Having seen some terrible clear-cutting in the Pacific Northwest, I can see why it's a taboo word for the rainforests, but I can also see how clearing a small section of forest completely might have less of an impact on the whole. It would need only one road, one sectioned off area, leaving the majority of the forest intact and pristine. Building roads and pulling individual trees would weaken the entire forest, making it more vulnerable to disease and invasive species. Ideally, the logging would stop altogether, but that doesn't seem likely at the moment...

Posted by sorsha at October 24, 2005 10:11 PM