Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 34


     
     1
     2        "All such forests can provide to a greater or lesser
     3        extent certain products like fuel, fuel wood or timber, and
     4        environmental services such as soil erosion control.
     5        Generally, it is true to say that the most valuable
     6        tropical forest types are primary forests, given the range
     7        of species, and environmental goods and services which they
     8        uniquely provide in combination. Any land use, such as
     9        pasture for cattle ranching on formally tropical forested
    10        land which prevents natural regeneration or reforestation
    11        occurring, can be described as environmentally damaging for
    12        these reasons.  It should also be noted that soil erosion
    13        rates, for example, in pastures on formerly tropical
    14        forested areas soar.
    15
    16        5.  In conclusion, McDonald's Corporation, as a global
    17        supplier of beef products to mass markets, must accept some
    18        responsibility for encouraging development and land use
    19        pressures that result in the clearance of tropical
    20        forests."
    21        A.  Your Honour, I think that it would be important to
    22        point out in relation to that final paragraph 5 that the
    23        political and economic and social forces that lead to
    24        tropical forest degradation and destruction to a greater or
    25        lesser extent interweave and are dependent on each other.
    26        So, for example, a typical sequence of development
    27        pressures that we would see in tropical forest areas is for
    28        the first incursions to be made by logging or mining
    29        companies that remove certain products from the forest,
    30        minerals or timber, but that the roads, the access roads
    31        that they leave in place are then used by other development
    32        interests to further clear and degrade the forest and these
    33        would typically be in Central America and Brazil, landless
    34        peasants or settlers and cattle ranchers, and those
    35        development pressures invariably lead to the virtual or
    36        complete eradication of forest cover.  This is, as my
    37        statement points out, very definitely the case in countries
    38        like Costa Rica.
    39
    40   Q.   When?
    41        A.  Sorry.  My conclusion was, therefore, that the
    42        McDonald's Corporation in helping to stimulate markets for
    43        beef from formerly tropical forested lands have to bear
    44        some responsibility for their clearance and degradation.
    45
    46   Q.   Do you, having read that second statement, stand by what
    47        was read?
    48        A.  Yes, I do.
    49
    50   Q.   Just a couple of questions about maps.  I do not know 
    51        whether the witness has these maps.  The Cotter maps, I am 
    52        not sure where they have been put, the two Cotter maps. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let me find mine.
    55
    56   MR. MORRIS:  You have not been to Guatemala; have you?
    57        A.  No, I have not.
    58
    59   Q.   Regarding Brazil and Costa Rica.  In Brazil, do you have
    60        any comment about the map of Brazil by Dr. Cotter.

Prev Next Index