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?
