Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 28
1
2 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I am in the column of legends on the
3 right-hand side of the map. I have gone right to the
4 bottom where it says, I am not going to attempt the
5 Portuguese, where it says: "Areas of ecological tension
6 contact between types of vegetation", at least that is the
7 translation. Some of it is contact, whatever that means,
8 and the other is agricultural activities; is that right?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Can you help me? SN you see is in the first line of the
12 words under those coloured squares, rectangles?
13 A. Yes.
14
15 Q. SE, SO, SN?
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. We assume that this means a mixture, because it is an area
19 of contact. The first word is "savana" and the next word
20 is "floresta estacional"; what does that mean?
21 A. It means -- well I don't know really what it means. I
22 mean, the Portuguese means "seasonal", is seasonal.
23 Seasonal forest, but I do not know quite whether this is
24 referring to areas which are flooded, in the flooded
25 forest.
26
27 Q. I can suggest that it means deciduous?
28 A. No. Well, that would not be the way that --
29
30 Q. It is perhaps not fair, because you have said you are not
31 an expert on trees?
32 A. I would not have thought it meant that, but I really am
33 not the right person to be asking.
34
35 Q. Only two other things then, Miss Branford. First of all,
36 from your general knowledge of the, if I can call it
37 "colonisation" of the Amazon, am I right in thinking that
38 the movement of the deforestation (and this is a huge
39 generalisation, I am sure there are lots of exceptions) but
40 the movement of the deforestation has been largely south to
41 north?
42 A. It has been south to north.
43
44 Q. And westwards?
45 A. And westwards as well.
46
47 Q. But say one took Cuiaba as a starting point, just a random
48 starting point, there has been a push of deforestation
49 northwards and westwards from there; is that right?
50 A. Yes. Northwards and westwards.
51
52 Q. The earliest deforestation in that process therefore, am I
53 right, is that which is most southerly, or most easterly at
54 its starting point?
55 A. It does not happen in this very unilinear way. They
56 will open a road, create a town and then there will be
57 deforestation back southwards as the area is cleared around
58 that town. But within that kind of zigzag, you are
59 certainly right in saying the movement is south to north
60 and from east to west. But, as I said, it is a zigzag
