Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 29


     
     1        Resource.  The People, the Threat' Catherine Caulfield,
     2        Earthscan.  1982).  In Costa Rica, for example, the rate of
     3        transformation from forest to pasture has been increasing
     4        since 1950.  In 1940 some 70 per cent of the country was
     5        covered in primary forest; but only 17 per cent remained
     6        under primary forest by 1983, and this was mostly in the
     7        mountainous areas of the country.  Deforestation has been
     8        greater in the dry when regions than in the regions..."
     9        A.  Can I just point something out.  There is a word
    10        missing there, or a couple of words missing, I cannot
    11        remember.  Certainly I think it should say "in the central
    12        and western regions", and I cannot remember whether
    13        I qualified it further by saying "upland and lowland."
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL: What shall I write into your copy of your
    16        statement?
    17        A.  Your Honour, if you could "in the central and eastern
    18        regions".
    19
    20   Q.   Where are you referring to?
    21        A. "Deforestation has been greater in the dry and wet
    22        western region than in the central and eastern regions".
    23        I am sorry about this but there is actually a further
    24        qualification.  It should be, "Deforestation has been
    25        greater in the dry and wet western regions".
    26
    27   Q.   Yes, thank you.
    28
    29   MR. MORRIS: "Deforestation has been greater in the dry and wet
    30        western region than in the central and eastern regions, as
    31        the former is comparatively easy to clear and maintain as
    32        pastureland by burning.  In 1960, only 19 per cent of the
    33        country was under permanent pasture, while by 1980 this
    34        area had risen to 31 per cent.  (UN Food and Agricultural
    35        Organisation in Leonard, HJ 1987 'Natural Resources and
    36        Economic Development in Central America: A Regional
    37        Environmental Profile'. International Institute for
    38        Environment and Development and Global Biodiverseity;
    39        Status of the Earth's Living Resources, compiled by the
    40        World Conservation Monitoring Centre in collaboration with
    41        The Natural History Museum London and with the IUCN - The
    42        World Conservation Union, United Nations Environment
    43        Programme. The Worldwide Fund For Nature and the World
    44        Resources Institute).
    45
    46        4.2.  While there are many causes of deforestation in
    47        Brazil, including logging, industrial development,
    48        settlements and mining, clearance for pasture is similarly
    49        a highly significant development pressure.  For example, it
    50        has been estimated that 72 per cent of all clearance in 
    51        1980 was for pastureland (Browder, JOB, 1988 'Public Policy 
    52        and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon', in ..."  Do we 
    53        really need to read all of that in?
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  You need not read the references unless
    56        you particularly want to.  I will take them as read.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  Yes:
    59
    60        "Overall, official figures attribute 38 per cent of all

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