“The Orinoco Basin extends across Veneuela and Colombia. The river’s delta is covered with tropical rain forest. For many years now, colossal palm oil plantations have been encroaching on this forest.
“But the forest floor is relatively poor in nutrients and rich in oxygen, making it unsuitable for monocultures. Once the soil is depleted, the planters use artificial fertilizers to keep production going as long as they can, and then they move on. But there’s another way. Planting many diverse crops in the same ground can help balance out soil use.” Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.dw.com
GR: Forest soils are conditioned to support forests. In dense forests, large proportions of the nutrients are contained in the trees. Remove the trees and much of the natural wealth of the ecosystem is lost. Moreover, without their protective tree cover, soils wash away leaving behind little opportunity for forest recovery. The suggestion that planting diverse crops is a good option is not a good one. Remove the trees and much of the local biodiversity is lost. Even if crops can be planted that will protect the soils and maintain the amount of local biomass production, the loss of biodiversity and the loss of regional climate effects of the forest are not acceptable.
Forests are removed to produce food and desired products for human use. The process is not sustainable. We have to have the forests to maintain healthy Earth ecosystems. Thus, we have to reduce human need for food and products. We have to reduce the human population. Letting it continue to grow will bring about a terrible disaster for the Earth and all its life, including us.
See on Scoop.it – GarryRogers NatCon News
