The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers

It is ironic that if Central America's forests disappear within the foreseeable future, not only local people will suffer by way of environmental degradation, decline of watershed services, and the like. (Already Costa Rica's hydropower dams are being silted up, and Honduras has undergone undue hurricane damage due to loss of forest cover). Other human communities will suffer, notably North Americans, Central America's rainforests, with their exceptionally rich biotic diversity, contain many genetic resources of great value to modern agriculture, medicine and industry. For example, in 1978 a wild variety of perennial corn was discovered in a forest of southern Mexico. Not only could this new strain enable the corn-growing industry, through cross-breeding, to avoid the season-by-season cost of ploughing and sowing, but the wild germplasm offers resistance to several viruses which attack commercial corn. And according to a botanist from south Carolina, Dr. Monie S. Hudson, who specializes in medicinal applications of phytochemicals, a screening program to evaluate 1500 tree species in Costa Rica's forests has revealed that around 15 percent might have potential as a treatment for cancer. It is clear then that both Central Americans and North Americans are contributing to the "hamburgerization" of the rainforests, and that both will suffer from the loss of them. It is equally clear that both must cooperate if the problem is to be solved; either all will lose together, or all could gain together -a paradigm of interdependency resource relationships within the international community.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: 97988 Myers, N.
Format: biblioteca
Published: 1981
Subjects:GANADERIA, DEFORESTACION, PRODUCCION DE CARNE, DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL, AMERICA CENTRAL,
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spelling KOHA-OAI-BVE:1054092020-02-03T22:16:59ZThe hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers 97988 Myers, N. 1981It is ironic that if Central America's forests disappear within the foreseeable future, not only local people will suffer by way of environmental degradation, decline of watershed services, and the like. (Already Costa Rica's hydropower dams are being silted up, and Honduras has undergone undue hurricane damage due to loss of forest cover). Other human communities will suffer, notably North Americans, Central America's rainforests, with their exceptionally rich biotic diversity, contain many genetic resources of great value to modern agriculture, medicine and industry. For example, in 1978 a wild variety of perennial corn was discovered in a forest of southern Mexico. Not only could this new strain enable the corn-growing industry, through cross-breeding, to avoid the season-by-season cost of ploughing and sowing, but the wild germplasm offers resistance to several viruses which attack commercial corn. And according to a botanist from south Carolina, Dr. Monie S. Hudson, who specializes in medicinal applications of phytochemicals, a screening program to evaluate 1500 tree species in Costa Rica's forests has revealed that around 15 percent might have potential as a treatment for cancer. It is clear then that both Central Americans and North Americans are contributing to the "hamburgerization" of the rainforests, and that both will suffer from the loss of them. It is equally clear that both must cooperate if the problem is to be solved; either all will lose together, or all could gain together -a paradigm of interdependency resource relationships within the international community.It is ironic that if Central America's forests disappear within the foreseeable future, not only local people will suffer by way of environmental degradation, decline of watershed services, and the like. (Already Costa Rica's hydropower dams are being silted up, and Honduras has undergone undue hurricane damage due to loss of forest cover). Other human communities will suffer, notably North Americans, Central America's rainforests, with their exceptionally rich biotic diversity, contain many genetic resources of great value to modern agriculture, medicine and industry. For example, in 1978 a wild variety of perennial corn was discovered in a forest of southern Mexico. Not only could this new strain enable the corn-growing industry, through cross-breeding, to avoid the season-by-season cost of ploughing and sowing, but the wild germplasm offers resistance to several viruses which attack commercial corn. And according to a botanist from south Carolina, Dr. Monie S. Hudson, who specializes in medicinal applications of phytochemicals, a screening program to evaluate 1500 tree species in Costa Rica's forests has revealed that around 15 percent might have potential as a treatment for cancer. It is clear then that both Central Americans and North Americans are contributing to the "hamburgerization" of the rainforests, and that both will suffer from the loss of them. It is equally clear that both must cooperate if the problem is to be solved; either all will lose together, or all could gain together -a paradigm of interdependency resource relationships within the international community.GANADERIADEFORESTACIONPRODUCCION DE CARNEDEGRADACION AMBIENTALAMERICA CENTRALAmbio (Suecia)
institution IICA
collection Koha
country Costa Rica
countrycode CR
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode cat-sibiica
tag biblioteca
region America Central
libraryname Sistema de Bibliotecas IICA/CATIE
topic GANADERIA
DEFORESTACION
PRODUCCION DE CARNE
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
AMERICA CENTRAL
GANADERIA
DEFORESTACION
PRODUCCION DE CARNE
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
AMERICA CENTRAL
spellingShingle GANADERIA
DEFORESTACION
PRODUCCION DE CARNE
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
AMERICA CENTRAL
GANADERIA
DEFORESTACION
PRODUCCION DE CARNE
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
AMERICA CENTRAL
97988 Myers, N.
The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
description It is ironic that if Central America's forests disappear within the foreseeable future, not only local people will suffer by way of environmental degradation, decline of watershed services, and the like. (Already Costa Rica's hydropower dams are being silted up, and Honduras has undergone undue hurricane damage due to loss of forest cover). Other human communities will suffer, notably North Americans, Central America's rainforests, with their exceptionally rich biotic diversity, contain many genetic resources of great value to modern agriculture, medicine and industry. For example, in 1978 a wild variety of perennial corn was discovered in a forest of southern Mexico. Not only could this new strain enable the corn-growing industry, through cross-breeding, to avoid the season-by-season cost of ploughing and sowing, but the wild germplasm offers resistance to several viruses which attack commercial corn. And according to a botanist from south Carolina, Dr. Monie S. Hudson, who specializes in medicinal applications of phytochemicals, a screening program to evaluate 1500 tree species in Costa Rica's forests has revealed that around 15 percent might have potential as a treatment for cancer. It is clear then that both Central Americans and North Americans are contributing to the "hamburgerization" of the rainforests, and that both will suffer from the loss of them. It is equally clear that both must cooperate if the problem is to be solved; either all will lose together, or all could gain together -a paradigm of interdependency resource relationships within the international community.
format
topic_facet GANADERIA
DEFORESTACION
PRODUCCION DE CARNE
DEGRADACION AMBIENTAL
AMERICA CENTRAL
author 97988 Myers, N.
author_facet 97988 Myers, N.
author_sort 97988 Myers, N.
title The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
title_short The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
title_full The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
title_fullStr The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
title_full_unstemmed The hamburger connection: how Central America's forests become North America's hamburgers
title_sort hamburger connection: how central america's forests become north america's hamburgers
publishDate 1981
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