[Aroid-l] Philodendron spiritus-sancti and Brazilian Conservation


Well, it appears my attempt to submit this with the attachment did not work. So if anyone would like to read the described article, they will have to contact me off-list:

ted.held@us.henkel.com



This posting refers to an article from Science magazine. It is 0.5 MEGs as an Acrobat file. The article appeared in the 23 February 2007 edition and describes some efforts by the government of Brazil to reforest sections of the Atlantic rainforest. It looks like they anticipate eventual money needs on the order of $2 billion US. But the article meshes with the discussions here on conserving habitat and plants of P. spiritus-sancti on a private reserve and the idea of using revenues from plant sales to assist.

It looks like the plan described in the article may include such a plant sale both as part of the funding and as part of the economic trade-off for taking farmer land away from normal crops. If this is true it means that the Brazilian government may be amenable to the idea of tapping into the interest of plant enthusiasts for specimens to further a cause which they both seem to share.

In any event, the ideas discussed in the article are interesting to me because they hint at the complexity of the restoration effort. Those of us that live in the species-impoverished northern latitudes need to be reminded about how many species are represented in a tropical rainforest and how many are probably needed to keep it going. And the article discusses some efforts that have failed since restoration is not just a matter of hiring a couple of college students to plant a few thousand saplings. The other reason I submit this is because it is a glimpse of optimism, refreshing to a person like me who is fatigued by endless apocalyptic jeremiads with which our news is filled. Fingers crossed.

At the same time it is obvious that there is a possible contradiction here with the proposed expansion of ethanol production from Brazil. One of the target restoration areas happens to be prime sugarcane cropland.

OK, enough windiness. Commentaries aside, this does relate to aroids and their conservation.

Ted
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