Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 35


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Are you familiar with it, Mr. Secrett?
     3        A.  Yes, I am, my Lord.  The map broadly and accurately
     4        describes the main remaining areas of tropical rainforest
     5        in Brazilian Amazonia.  This would include all moist and
     6        wet forest types, and the only thing ----
     7
     8   Q.   Could you just pause there?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   You were going to add something?
    12        A.  Yes, my Lord. I was going to add that the map is not a
    13        complete picture of all tropical forest types in Brazil,
    14        and certainly there is tropical forest, or used to be
    15        tropical forest, that extends further South than on the
    16        areas delineated in the map and further East, and also that
    17        there are coastal forest types known as Atlantic
    18        Rainforest, up much of the tropical eastern seaboard that
    19        are also not delineated on this map.
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  If you just go to the other map, which is the
    22        Central America map.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would like you to pause there, please.
    25        What Dr. Cotter appears to be referring to is near tropical
    26        tropical rainforest and then he just refers in the code for
    27        the lighter shading of surviving tropical rainforest.  You
    28        take that as rainforest or moist forest; do you, the areas
    29        covered?
    30        A.  Yes, I do.
    31
    32   Q.   Yes, my Lord. I think this is another example of where the
    33        term "tropical rainforest" is being used in a generic sense
    34        to cover all tropical moist wet and rainforest types.
    35
    36   Q.   Yes, but not dry?
    37        A.  In this particular case, in this particular country,
    38        no, though, having said that, I would not be at all
    39        surprised that one could find patches of dry forest or of
    40        climate and soil types that would support dry forest if
    41        development pressures were not there in some small parts of
    42        that area.
    43
    44   Q.   I am not suggesting, for instance, that just as an example,
    45        I am not suggesting that it would be so, but where "Brazil"
    46        is written, one might find an area where the soil is quite
    47        sandy for instance as an area within the much greater area
    48        of tropical moist forest or rainforest, but that is what he
    49        is designating on the map?
    50        A.  Yes, my Lord, and recognising that type of 
    51        characteristic is very important because at the smaller 
    52        scales, one can frequently find totally unexpected tropical 
    53        forest types within an area that climatically, and as far
    54        as the general soil or physical conditions, would support
    55        another forest type.  There is huge diversities throughout
    56        the tropical forest range.
    57
    58   Q.   I understand that.  If you look at the other page, the one
    59        which goes down from Mexico and Guatemala through Colombo
    60        to Equador, Dr. Cotter is using the same terms?

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