Re: Tropical forest dreams and nightmares

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2001.05.12 at 21:33:47(6431) Dear Eduardo, Well said! I think that there is 'something' way above 'CITES' going on in other countries, I hear that it has something to do with a World Bank offer of a BIG cash 'loan' to a Country, and in return the Country in question must agree to what on the surface appears to be a rather 'harmless' law, the prohibition of the export/import of ANY plant or wildlife item. Goverments in their ignorance and greed for the loan quickly sign on the dotted line, and it is only later (as in the case of Brazil and other countries) does the negative side show up, the complete isolation of a country to any outside 'interference' in their research, and without outside 'interference' by foreign experts the research does suffer in a BIG way. It certainly sems like a 'loose-loose' situation to the scientific community, but I am not aware of all the aspects to this situation, and would welcome more information from anyone more knowledgable than I am at these type of 'loans' and 'deals' which have had such a negative impact on the world scientific community, both the scientific and hobby 'sides'. "Cut and burn it all down, but don`t you DARE collect any of these doomed plants/animals!!!" A little bit of enlightenment would certainly go a long way in some of these 'closed' countries. Cheers to all, Julius +More >>Dear Neil, Just a few commentaries... >OK Eduardo, so we have your extremely negative 'nightmare' and you >ellucidate all of the negatives. You even seem to have something against >human beings. Are we talking about people who need a place to live, food to >eat, and shelter over their heads....or just a bunch of plants as being >important. Yes, I know....no plants= no animals....but there is probably >enough plankton, seaweed and algae in the world to provide food and air for >animals. Well, I have to confess that I am not so fond of humans, but I need them (mainly from endochrinological reasons)! I was just trying to say that native people in South America is more than smiling field guides! Maybe my poor Tarzan-like English wasn?t enough for an efficient communication... > >So do you have any solutions or just a lot of griping. Really, let's hear >what you would have us all do about the rainforests of the world. What about voluntary auto-extinction? Just kidding... > >RON, there are many ways to obtain plants from around the world including >the New World. Obtaining plants in spite of the obstacles is the fun part >of >plant collecting. > >We really don't speak much on this topic with this list because Aroids, for >the most part are not listed as endangered and are therefore not covered by >CITES. If you were an orchid, cactus or cycad officianado this "what to do >about the rainforest" discussion would be much more in the forefront of >this >list. > Neil... Right now, in Brazil, ALL PLANTS (including weeds like Xanthosoma pentaphyllum or even naturalized species like Colocasia esculenta and Alocasia macrorrhizos) needs special permits to be sent out legally. CITES is obsolete around here. In fact, until a second authorization from the government, NO MATERIAL from the biodiversity can be sent out, including dryied specimens. All authorizations are temporarly blocked. You can put them in an envelope and nobody cares if nobody knows, but it is not a legal act. I have heard that Colombia is in the same way. How long the Bio-paranoia virus will take until contaminate all of the tropical countries? Cheers, Eduardo. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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