Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-20-Speech-3-116"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000920.10.3-116"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, my feeling is that the conservation of tropical forests should certainly be brought about through funding, contributions etc., but above all – and this is why the report appealed to me – it should involve the participation of the local peoples, providing them with ideas for a future for the forest and genuinely sustainable forest management. A few years ago, the magazine ‘Nature’ featured a study into a Peruvian forest and the best way to exploit it. This forest, like all tropical forests, boasted remarkable biodiversity: it contained a good 270 plant species in a single hectare, whereas a European forest can have as few as six or seven species per hectare.
Now, this rich biodiversity – which, moreover, is not confined to plant species – has a financial consequence which is in itself truly impressive. However, there are different ways of accessing this potential source of revenue: for example, it is possible to cut down all the trees and sell the wood, which would bring in FF 5 000 plus another FF 15 000 from using the land as pastureland – which is what usually happens – or for crops. In this scenario, the land becomes poor in humus and desertification soon follows.
On the other hand, another approach could be to exploit the produce of the land, such as fruit and the produce of the underwood, and to operate a system of controlled tree felling, which would produce an annual income of FF 2 000. In this case, the income would be regular, practically perennial.
This is just one example to illustrate that I am a firm believer in the principle of providing services, technical information and advice on a modus operandi to these peoples, so that they can sustain their forests themselves, for I am sure that it is in their interest to operate in this way rather than conducting mass tree-felling operations and laying waste to vast numbers of these areas which are so valuable for our planet’s atmosphere.
I would like to end by quoting an aphorism from Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book – which, although it is no longer popular can still be useful on occasions. It reads: “Do not give a fisherman fish; teach him how to fish better”."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples