The Rainforest Debate Further Complicated

Elisabeth Rosenthal reports that, due to a decreased need for farmland, slaughtered rain forests are recovering__very rapidly. These "secondary forests" are expanding the amount of global rain forest at 4% annually, whereas 1990 data report that forest is being stripped at 1.2% in the same time. Meanwhile, a field of stripped rain forest will grow more in 20 years than a tree field in New York over a century. That's the good news.

But researchers aren't sure how fast the forest is being cut down now. Increased tech and global demand might mean that it's being cut down faster than in '90. It's also not known whether the secondary forest provides the same evironmental benefit as "old" forest. In a sad irony, the global recession may force industry workers back to the forest and stripping for farmland. Full-story here.