Forests Under Threat

Goal: After this lesson you can name the main threats to these forests and the models that protect them. Subject: Geography | Run time: about 6 minutes

Quick recall

Last time we learned that chemistry is relationship. Two quick questions. One: how much potency does guayusa lose outside intact forest? About half (Lewis et al., 2003). Two: what is the forest-garden farming model called? Agroforestry (Lewis et al., 2003).

Why this matters

If these plants need an intact forest to be themselves, then the threat to them is simple to name. The forests are being cleared. And when a forest goes, it does not just take the trees. It takes the chemistry, the knowledge, and the home all at once.

The idea

The threats differ by region. In the Ecuadorian Amazon, the biggest driver of guayusa habitat loss has been cattle ranching, which has cleared a large share of the forest (Lewis et al., 2003). In West Africa, the biggest threat to kola forest has been palm-oil plantations, which have replaced a large share of the rainforest in places like Nigeria (Pendergrast, 2013). Add mining, which poisons soil and water, and climate change, which shifts the rainfall and elevation zones these plants depend on, and the pressure is serious. But there is a hopeful side, and it comes from the communities themselves. In Ecuador, the Achuar people hold and protect a vast territory, around 700,000 hectares, through Indigenous land rights, and they have kept the great majority of that forest standing (Lewis et al., 2003). In West Africa, a tradition of sacred groves, tens of thousands of small forest patches protected by religious practice, has preserved some of the last primary forest in the region. In both cases, the people who hold the traditional knowledge are also the people keeping the forest alive. That is the link to the rest of the episode. Protect the forest and you protect the plant, the chemistry, and the knowledge together. Lose the forest and you lose all three.

Picture it

Picture a satellite view of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Around the edges, pale squares of cleared cattle pasture push in. But in the middle sits a huge block of unbroken green, the Achuar territory, held by the people who live there. The green is not an accident. It is a decision, made and defended.

Remember this

The fact to carry out: cattle ranching threatens guayusa forest and palm oil threatens kola forest, but Indigenous land rights like the Achuar territory and West African sacred groves keep much of it standing (Lewis et al., 2003; Pendergrast, 2013). The people who hold the knowledge are the people protecting the forest.

Quick check

Quick check. Name one way these forests are being protected. Either Indigenous land rights, like the Achuar territory in Ecuador, or sacred groves in West Africa (Lewis et al., 2003).

Key Takeaways

Cattle ranching is the main threat to guayusa forest in Ecuador; palm-oil plantations are the main threat to kola forest in West Africa (Lewis et al., 2003; Pendergrast, 2013).
Mining and climate change add further pressure on both.
The Achuar people protect around 700,000 hectares through Indigenous land rights, keeping most of it forested (Lewis et al., 2003).
West African sacred groves protect tens of thousands of forest patches, some of the last primary forest in the region.

Sources

Lewis, W. H., Kennelly, E. J., Bass, G. N., Wedner, H. J., Elvin-Lewis, M. P., & Fast, D. M. (2003). Ritualistic use of the holly Ilex guayusa by Amazonian Jivaro Indians. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 33(1-2), 25-30.
Pendergrast, M. (2013). For God, country, and Coca-Cola: The definitive history of the great American soft drink (3rd ed.). Basic Books.