Day 239 - 23 Apr 96 - Page 36


     
     1        forest in a more scientific way.  So we, you know, you
     2        cannot try to be too restrictive about that term.
     3
     4   Q.   I suppose the people who thought that dry tropical forests
     5        were rainforests would be about as silly, in your view, as
     6        you think Mr. Cesca is.  Am I right?
     7        A.  This is the popular perception, as I understand it,
     8        which I am trying to report to you, that people perceive
     9        rainforest as the belt of woody vegetation going around the
    10        tropics and that is how people talk about rainforest.  That
    11        is how they perceive it, and it covers all matters of
    12        different habitats and types.  I am not saying that it is
    13        my definition.  I do not have a definition of rainforest.
    14        It is not a useful term as far as I am concerned.
    15
    16   Q.   Then I do not understand why you say in the statement, the
    17        addendum, that you could accurately describe any bunch of
    18        trees as rainforest?
    19        A.   Because its fits into what people would recognize as
    20        rainforest.  If someone saw the types of vegetation I am
    21        talking about, if you were to take just about anyone from
    22        Britain and dropped them by helicopter in one of those
    23        places and say:  "What are you in?",  they would say: "I am
    24        in the rainforest."   So that accurately describes the way
    25        that people would describe that area of rainforest.
    26        Whereas, if you dumped them next door in a place which was
    27        largely of grassland with a few low shrubs then they would,
    28        if they knew the term, say:  "Oh, this is savanna," or they
    29        would use some other term, and that is a distinction which
    30        you could definitely make.
    31
    32   Q.   You tell us in one of your statements, the one of the 1st
    33        November, 93 that as far as you are aware cattle eat soya
    34        beans.  Did you mean that or not?
    35        A.  I beg your pardon?
    36
    37   Q.   You tell us that cattle eat soya beans.  Did you mean that
    38        or not?
    39        A.   Soya bean, it is definitely used as a component of
    40        cattle feed.
    41
    42   Q.   May I suggest that you are mistaken about that and what you
    43        actually mean, if you did not know it, is that cattle in
    44        some parts of the world at some time of the year, eat soya
    45        meal?
    46        A.   Which is produced from soya beans.
    47
    48   Q.   And do you know the primary purpose of growing soya beans?
    49        Do you know what they are primarily used for?
    50        A.  There is a huge range of uses.  Many of them are 
    51        industrial.  It is used for oil.  It is used for soap, but 
    52        it is also used for the livestock industry and significant 
    53        quantities are exported from Brazil for that purpose and
    54        this has been well documented.
    55
    56   Q.   Certainly, but the meal is a by-product, once the bean has
    57        been squashed, is it not?
    58        A.   It is a valuable by-product which adds to the value of
    59        the soya crop and has, therefore, got to be seen as an
    60        incentive to grow the soya beans.

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