The Tropical Rainforests: What we are doing to save them.

We know that rainforests are valuable, but how can they be saved? This question requires two answers.

For previously undisturbed rainforest it is very simple, leave it alone! This policy also applies to indigenous people who have utilized the rainforest for generations; many are living in harmony with the forest and should be left as undisturbed as they wish.

For lands already cleared the opportunity to save the trees has passed, but a question arises, "what is the best use for the land?" That solution is complex. To answer we must begin with the reason the forest were and are being cut. While there are many reasons, two are prominent. First, industrial companies seeking to satisfy the demand for wood products clear-cut and bulldozed most rainforests. Second, some rainforests were cleared to provide land for agricultural purposes. The need for wood and agricultural products is real, so the solutions must take them into consideration.

Wood products

The practice of destroying rainforests by logging can be stopped. Alternative, renewable wood sources need to be developed and used to save this precious resource. The need for wood products can be met in many ways including reduction of waste; wise use of logging practices that do not harm or destroy the forest and, most significantly, by supplying the need for wood by tree farming of lands not suitable for other agriculture. El Bosque Nuevo is using these practices in practical ways.

Agricultural products

Production of crops following slash and burn has been done over thousands of years on small village plots that do not deplete the forests. However, when the land is cleared and burned on a wide scale and the land turned into farms and ranches, there is slow but progressive deterioration of the land. The irony here is that the participating farmers or ranchers do not realize that by cutting the forest to provide for their immediate needs they are sacrificing the long-term use of the land. In a few years the land loses productivity. These people have needs and are only trying to survive. But to do that, they need to destroy more forest to get a few more years of productive land use. This destructive cycle should be altered with deforested lands utilized by replanting to create new habitat. El Bosque Nuevo is making the change through integrated agro-forestry.

El Bosque Nuevo

We can provide some answers to rainforest problems. Let us begin with the history of our present operation.

Location

El Bosque Nuevo has ninety-one hectare of land. When originally purchased, in 1995, it consisted of forty-one hectares of clear-cut pasture and fifty hectares of virgin rainforest. The farm is located in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica; the nearest town is Santa Cecilia. It is in the Northwest corner of the country and from the highest hills one can see the Pacific Ocean. The area is mountainous with sharp elevation changes.

Facilities

When this farm was purchased it contained a two-story house, a barn, and a hand-dug well. The land was too isolated for the government to provide services so there was no electricity or running water for several years. Recently an alternative energy system was installed and a deep well drilled.

The electrical system consists of a number of solar panels; a DC battery bank; a converter that produces AC electricity and a generator (seldom used) for times of low sunlight. The farm is self-sufficient for energy and environmentally friendly. The generator and cooking stoves run on LP gas for cleaner emissions.

The deep well provides water for domestic use, the greenhouses and agriculture.

Land use

Ninety one hectares was purchased. Fifty hectares of rainforest was set aside as a preserve that has remained untouched except as required by law. Forty hectares of the clear-cut land was planted with over 70,000 trees. This was done utilizing good agroforest standards and with knowledge and approval of the Costa Rican government. We left one hectare around the house for outbuildings, fruit trees and household garden. Roadways run through parts of the farm to allow use of agricultural vehicles.

Results

We have improved the quality of life for our residents, farm workers and guests. They now have clean, dependable running water and reliable electricity to help with their day-to-day tasks.

Experience

With a slow growing crop such as lumber trees, harvest and income is delayed for at least 25 years after planting. We have had our farm operating for little over seven years and through that time we have had workers tending the newly planted trees. There has been a continual outflow of income as far as the trees production is concerned.

As soon as the farm was operating, we realized that we needed a source of income if it was to remain financially viable. When the trees were too small to produce significant shade, beans and other legumes were grown for food and coil development. Later we studied and tried different plants that could be grown in varying degrees of shade under the canopy without disturbing the trees. We planted and have had varying financial success with several crops including cut flowers, ornamentals, spices and medicinal herbs. Their development, production and sale is ongoing.

Butterfly farming

We read about and studied butterfly farming. We compared the list of host plants needed for adult butterflies and of their pupae (caterpillars) with the plants that grew well between the rows of trees. Many were the same and others were closely related. We studied this idea extensively including the methods for production of pupae, methods for transportation to the market, and the prospects for sale. We realized that we could produce butterfly pupae on the farm and sell them profitably.

Getting started

We consulted with butterfly experts and then began to set-up in 2002. We erected two greenhouses in the already cleared space beside our farmhouse. These provide a clean, predator free area for our butterflies to fly, feed, mate, and lay their eggs. These flight areas contain all of the live plants that our butterflies need to thrive.

The host plants for our larvae are planted under the established trees. Newly hatched larvae are put on these plants where they remain until they pupate, at which time they are harvested for sale or for restocking the greenhouses. This use of the area under the canopy does not retard the growth of our trees and is quite efficient. Wild butterflies from the area are not sacrificed or their life cycles altered.

Results

Our staff has been successful in producing butterfly products and they have been sold.

El Bosque Nuevo S.A., San Jose, Costa Rica, Phone: 011 506 8 824 2682, Fax: 011 506 2 234 9574, E-mail: info@elbosquenuevo.org
Mailing address: El Bosque Nuevo, P.O. Box 997471, Miami, FL 33299
All Material Copyright © 2003-2004 El Bosque Nuevo

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