The Chocolate Forest of Brazil
Brazil Country Profile - Feature
For a time, the word cocoa was synonymous with money in the southern
part of Bahia. Since the plant was introduced from the Amazon,
it brought wealth and power to the lucky few who owned vast plantations.
To build their plantations, vast stretches of the unique Atlantic
Forest were cut. But since cocoa plants needed shade, pockets
of the original forest were preserved for the future. That is,
until world prices for cocoa collapsed.
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By Paulo Lyra
AHIA, Brazil - For many years high prices and increasing
chocolate consumption all over the world have helped to conserve
patches of primal Atlantic Forests amid the region's vast cocoa
plantations. However, the steep fall in cocoa prices may signal
the end of these forests.
Environmental organizations such as WWFWorld Wide Fund For
Nature, are taking emergency measures to save these patches of
native forest in the southern part of this state. According to
recent studies, these remnants contain the planet's greatest diversity
of trees.
The Atlantic Forest of Brazil is unique and quite distinct from
the much more extensive Amazonian Forest in the northwest. Once
stretching nearly continuously along the Atlantic coast of Brazil,
it is now the country's most endangered ecosystem.
This part of Brazil was the first to be colonized and has developed
into the industrial heart of the country. Only eight per cent
of the original forest cover remains and probably less than one
per cent is primary forest.
Agriculture was largely responsible for that loss, but there have
been exceptions - the south of Bahia, which divides the Brazilian
coastline into two, has not changed much.
Around the 1930s, Brazil's cocoa production was largely in the
hands of a few landowners with plantations of 10,000 hectares
each. As the demand for cocoa increased, more and more forests
were converted into plantations.
The hot, damp weather, good soil, and abundance of forests made
the region ideal for cocoa, a plant that originally came from
the Amazon. Brazil soon became the world's second largest cocoa
producer, after the Côte d'Ivoire.
Interestingly enough, as cocoa plantations expanded, portions
of the Atlantic Forest were preserved since cocoa plants need
the shade of larger trees in order to grow.
But the forests in the neighbouring areas considered inappropriate
for cocoa crops were quickly felled to be sold as timber and the
land was converted for cattle raising.
During the 1960s, a ton of cocoa was worth US$2,000. A steady
increase in cocoa prices contributed to creating an affluent society.
Its economic and cultural importance was acknowledged throughout
Brazil to the point that the word "cocoa" became widely
synonymous with "money". By the end of the 1970s, a
ton of cocoa was valued at US$5,000 in the world market.
Despite the conversion of the forests into farms and cocoa plantations,
the diversity of wildlife remains high. A survey by the New York
Botanical Gardens reveals that the Atlantic Forest has the highest
diversity of trees in the world. Scientists have found 450 different
species of trees in one hectare of the Atlantic Forest - the highest
recorded diversity of species found in a single hectare of land
anywhere in the world.
In the southern part of Bahia, a coastal strip 200 kilometres
long and 70 kilometres wide is the remaining native habitat for
many endangered species like Wied's marmoset and the thinspined
porcupine. Its rarest animal, however, is the goldenheaded
lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) - a small primate
of outstanding beauty symbolizing the richness of the Atlantic
Forests' wildlife.
But as world prices for cocoa collapsed starting in 1986, southern
Bahia was plunged into economic crisis. Farmers who once preserved
their patches of the AtlanticForest started logging them for sale
of timber. Although a 1990 government ban on logging in the Atlantic
Forest initially closed many sawmills, logging is again on the
rise.
"Given these conditions, we doubt the possibility of survival
for the pockets of the Atlantic Forest within the cocoa farms,"
said Dr Keith Alger, vicepresident of the Pau Brasil Foundation,
a local nongovernmental organization, and a researcher on
the cocoa economic crisis. "There is evidence that the disinterested
conservation of the forest by the landowners is coming to an end."
The situation became worsened 1989 with the appearance of the
Witches Broom, a fungal disease which is the scourge of cocoa
in the Amazon. To stop the spread of the disease, the infected
trees had to be cut with disastrous consequences for cocoa production.
The disease was also a threat to native trees. The situation required
prompt action by environmental organizations.
In 1990, the Pau Brasil Foundation began an environmental education
programme to encourage the region's inhabitants, including farmers,
to value the local animal and plant species. Also, a screening
centre was established for the goldenheaded lion tamarin
monkeys, which were confiscated from traders or private collectors
and reintroduced into the wild.
Fortunately, the largest remaining stretch of the Atlantic Forest
in Brazil has been declared the Una Federal Biological Reserve.
WWF has been supporting the establishment of this reserve since
1985 (Project BR0018: Atlantic Forest Integrated Conservation
and Development) as a first step towards a more comprehensive
conservation effort.
The reserve covers a total area of 11,400 hectares. Initially,
IBAMA, the federal agency responsible for the reserve, was only
able to buy 5,342 hectares. The remainder was in private ownership
and had been invaded by squatters.
In subsequent years, thanks to funds from WWF and other donors,
squatters moved and released their claim on 1,352 hectares of
the reserve. Another 649 hectares were bought. The land was immediately
transferred to IBAMA, whose staff played a decisive role in the
operation.
This resulted in a new model of international, local government,
and NGO cooperation for resolving land tenure problems in parks
and reserves. It has also encouraged other institutions to raise
funds for the Una reserve.
Recently, a group of NGOs have helped IBAMA to incorporate an
additional 1,100 hectares into the Una Reserve. The group included
WWF, Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, Wild Preservation TrustCanada,
Brookfield Zoo, Conservation International, and Brazil's Biodiversitas.
Preliminary data suggest that the protection of approximately
8,000 hectares of continuous Atlantic Forest - the current area
of 7,059ha plus the addition of another 1,000 hectares - would
reduce the probability of extinction of the goldenheaded
lion tamarin from 3.2 per cent to 0.4 per cent in 100 years.
"These results suggest that the acquisition of that land
will be an important step for the animal's conservation in the
longrun," says Dr James Dietz, a member of the International
Recovery and Management Committee for the goldenheaded lion
tamarin.
As more land is acquired for the Una Reserve, the cocoa plantations
will have to be abandoned and, though the chocolate forest will
die out, the native trees of the Atlantic Forest will once again
reclaim their land.
Complete List of WWF Projects in Brazil
Expenditure and Budget of Selected WWF Projects
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