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.
