Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 38


     
     1        tropical deforestation in Costa Rica had occurred as a
     2        result of agricultural expansion and, as I have said
     3        earlier this morning, there have been both official and
     4        financial inducements for that.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think you are being asked about
     7        that.
     8
     9   MS. STEEL:  If you could say when the deforestation mostly took
    10        place or over what period in that particular area.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are being asked about a particular area.
    13        We have heard evidence, which I will have to assess, which
    14        may make the road line from Dominical to San Isidro
    15        important, maybe, because there is evidence that cattle
    16        were taken to be slaughtered to be processed into what
    17        became McDonald's meat patties in the area of San Isidro
    18        but not south of the line of that road.  Do you understand?
    19        A.  I do, yes.
    20
    21   Q.   I am only giving you that for general information, but what
    22        Ms. Steel is asking you to do is if you can describe what
    23        forest areas there are, if any, or have been in that
    24        general sort of area, but we are to the west of the
    25        mountains there.
    26        A.  San Isidro is the main population density of Costa
    27        Rica, main population centre of Costa Rica, and both due to
    28        colonisation pressures and due to cattle ranching, the area
    29        where I am broadly indicating on the map from here down
    30        through further south until one gets to the peninsula of
    31        Ossa down to the southwest corner, has been progressively
    32        deforested since the 1960s, and the clearance of forest
    33        throughout this area primarily occurred in the 1960s, the
    34        1970s and the very early 1980s and that is broadly
    35        summarised.  One can see that step by step clearance
    36        broadly summarised in this map from Sader and Joyce, so we
    37        would certainly characterise that as recent forest
    38        clearance.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   Thank you.
    41        A.  That land was given over in the main to cattle.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:  That was from the Puntarenas peninsula, not really
    44        a peninsula but down to the peninsula of Ossa.  That is
    45        where you indicated where you hand had your hand on the
    46        map?
    47        A.  Is this what you mean here?  From Puntarenas, yes, down
    48        to that coastal area there in the Gulf de Nicoya and that
    49        area has been one of the main stays of the cattle industry
    50        over the last 3 decades.  One of the reasons is because it 
    51        is easy forest to clear because it is lowland.  It is 
    52        easily accessible as opposed to the much more difficult 
    53        terrain in the very steep mountainous interior.  The
    54        climatic conditions are more conducive to human settlement
    55        as well.
    56
    57   MS. STEEL:  I have one further question that I want to ask
    58        about.  During your campaign to protect tropical forests
    59        throughout the 1980s, did you ever work with the World
    60        Wildlife Fund or alongside them?

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