THE WORLD’S great rainforests as we like to picture them from television
documentaries will soon be gone.
Many people fondly imagine the forests’ vast size and almost sacred
ecological status will buy them enough time for environmentalists to work
miracles. They should take a look at the international plan to “save” the
world’s largest rainforest, the Brazilian Amazon, which was clinched last month
in Brasilia.
After ten years of discussions with Western governments, Brazil agreed to
preserve just 10 per cent of the forest that remains in return for cash from the
World Bank’s Global Environment Facility. At the same…
