The Economics of Biodiversity Conservation: The Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon rainforest houses 10% of the Earth’s biodiversity and boasts an invaluable catalog of positive externalities for people located near and far. Not only is it a natural marvel that is home to 11 national parks, over 300 different spoken languages, and millions of different species, but it is also a beacon for the pollination, growth, and cultivation of an innumerable amount of fruits, vegetables, and animals (World Bank 2019). Together, they create an entire market of trade and commerce (World Bank 2019). The Amazon rainforest is perhaps Earth’s greatest breathing mechanism, with whom we trade toxic carbon dioxide for precious oxygen. The exchange rate of oxygen for carbon dioxide, however, is a function that changes depending on the climate and increasingly, not one in our favor. Our nefarious and short-sighted treatment of the Amazon rainforest has real life implications on biodiversity and beauty, but also immense economic implications that affect local and foreign economies. The lungs of the Earth need to breathe but we are stepping on them.
To begin, it is first instrumental to understand the size of the Amazon and what the breakdown of land use is. Then, having an idea of its vastness, it is vital to understand just how important the biodiversity of the Amazon is for human well-being. However, something we must not forget is how many historical extractive practices have and continue to create devastation in the Amazon. One country in particular that comprises hugely of this forest, is Brazil. Since its “discovery,” Brazil has been a country whose rich natural resources have always been extracted. From the Brazilwood tree from which the country’s name is derived, to açai berries used for smoothie bowls, the Brazilian Amazon has been seen as a place of economic transaction for foreign entities who gravely underestimate the effects of their extractive practices. Brazil is a country that covers 851 million hectares, 10% of which are used for crop production, just over 20% in both native and managed pasture, and 65% in native forests, indigenous reservations, national reserves, protected areas, and national parks (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service 2022). Due to the size and quality of its land, “Brazil ranks as the number one worldwide producer for soybeans, sugar, coffee, and frozen concentrated orange juice... and is second-largest producer of beef and chicken products…” (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service 2022) It’s such a hefty portion of the economy that in 2016, crop production made up 5% of the entire country’s GDP (IBGE n.d.). Intuitively, if that much of the country’s GDP is gained from crop production, and the majority of land in Brazil is actually not being used for growth, then production should expand into untapped areas so as to bolster GDP through crop production and extraction, right? I’m afraid that’s how many people approach looking at the Brazilian Amazon–as a growth opportunity rather than a complex ecosystem of plant, animal, and human life that, together (when healthy) allow the machine we call Earth to propel forward. These leechlike ways of having a relationship with the environment ignore the value of pollination services, particularly observed in the Eastern Amazon. Pollination services refer to “insects, such as bees, flies, butterflies, moths, wasps, and beetles, but also include perching birds, hummingbirds, bats and other mammals” (e.g., Buchmann and Nabhan 1996; Kevan 1999). The effects of climate change coupled with ignoring the importance of cross crop pollination create a massive hindrance to production, a hindrance that isn’t tolerated but rather solved in ways that perpetuate deforestation and extraction. According to Giannini et al. nearly 60% of crops in Brazil are pollinator dependent, accounting for ⅓ of the country’s agricultural market value (Giannini et al. 2015). Of all the food that Brazilians consume, 60% of it comes from pollinator dependent plants. Pollination is a step that cannot be shortened, side stepped, or ignored in supplying human food resources. By downplaying the devastating effects of deforestation, we are reflecting our ignorance towards the gravity of the circumstances we currently face and ignore the undeniable need for healthy crop pollination. According to Armenteras et al. the two most glaring things driving deforestation are agricultural expansion for crops and cattle (Armenteras et al. 2017). Poor practices aren’t the only threat to biodiversity. In addition, due to current and projected population growth in Brazil, agricultural production in the Amazon will have to increase by at least 70% by 2050 (Food and Agriculture Organization 2009). Climate activists, policymakers and common folk alike find themselves at an inflection point: provide for the growing population of Brazil and other South American countries at the expense of a healthily functioning forest, or prioritize the health of the forest perhaps at the expense of economic prosperity. While opinions of what should happen are just that, there is no denying the gravity of the situation at hand.
On the other hand, while exploring the economics of biodiversity conservation involves understanding the economic rationale for preserving biodiversity, it also begs us to consider the trade-offs involved between economic development and conservation efforts. Soybeans, sugar, coffee, frozen concentrated orange juice, beef, chicken, açai, etc. are all commodities whose growth and cultivation relies on the land occupied by the Amazon. But, at what rate are we willing to rationalize the destruction of the Amazon to produce just one more unit of any one of them? Other than readily consumable commodities like those just mentioned, it is worth considering the pharmaceutical and biotechnological potentials that lie within the flora and fauna of the Amazon. Something that has been growing both in popularity and importance is drug discovery. This involves the identification, isolation, and development of bioactive compounds derived from natural sources. In the context of the Amazon rainforest, it is particularly significant due to the region's unparalleled biodiversity and the potential therapeutic value of its natural resources. Research by Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani, Marilia Valli, Marcos Pivatto and Cláudio Viegas regarding the medicinal value in the Amazon highlights the importance of particular lead compounds that are derived from a specific species of plants in the Amazon. This very lead compound has been responsible for “...the development of Salagen. This drug is a pilocarpine hydrochloride derivative and was designed as a cholinergic agonist for the treatment of dry mouth from salivary gland hypofunction caused by radiotherapy…” (Bolzani et al. 2012). In addition, there’s a popular antiinflammatory drug called Acheflan that “...was introduced to the market by the pharmaceutical company Aché Laboratórios S.A. as an herbal medicine…” (Bolzani et al. 2012). Specifically, this drug is derived from the Cordia verbenacea, a bountiful species in the Brazilian Amazon. However, it is important to note that as it stands there are still few developments made in preclinical and clinical research towards the medicinal potential of the biodiversity of the Amazon. The combination of a finite nature of rich natural resources, an ever-present demand for innovative pharmaceutical breakthroughs, and a patterned disregard that we have with the destruction of the environment worries me deeply about the way the Amazon is treated over the next 5, 10, 30 years. If its care isn’t improved upon and cherished deeply for what it is and oppositely extracted from and expanded into, then we will soon reap the consequences of our selfish and damaging behavior.
The mysterious beauty and richness that lies within the Brazilian Amazon is undoubtedly something of considerable curiosity. While the potential for biomedical and pharmaceutical innovation is littered throughout plant life and vital fruits and vegetables grow bountifully, we must never underestimate just how much to value the forest that our Earth uses to breathe and to create beautiful cycles of life.
References
Armenteras, D., J. M. Espelta, N. Rodríguez, and J. Retana. 2017. Deforestation dynamics and drivers in different forest types in Latin America: Three decades of studies (1980-2010). Global Environmental Change 46:139-147. https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.09.002.
Bolzani, V., Valli, M., Pivatto, M. & Viegas, C. (2012). Natural products from Brazilian biodiversity as a source of new models for medicinal chemistry. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 84(9), 1837-1846. https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-12-01-11.
Buchmann, S. E., and G. P. Nabhan. 1996. The Forgotten Pollinators. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA.
Food and Agriculture Organization. 2009. "How to Feed the World in 2050." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/lon/HLEF2050_Global_Agriculture.pdf.
Giannini, T. C., G. D. Cordeiro, B. M. Freitas, A. M. Saraiva, V. L. Imperatriz-Fonseca, The Dependence of Crops for Pollinators and the Economic Value of Pollination in Brazil, Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 108, Issue 3, June 2015, Pages 849–857, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/tov093.
IBGE. n.d. "Home - IBGE." Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Accessed June 3, 2024. https://www.ibge.gov.br/en/home-eng.html.
Kevan, P. G. 1999. Pollinators as bioindicators of the state of the environment: species, activity and diversity. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 74:373-393. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-50019-9.50021-2.
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. 2022. "Brazilian Economic and Agricultural Overview." USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. January 25, 2022. https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Brazilian%20Economic%20and%20Agricultural%20Overview%20_Sao%20Paulo%20ATO_Brazil_01-25-2022.pdf.
World Bank. 2019. "The Amazon's Indigenous Languages Hold the Key to Its Conservation: An Interview with Martin von Hildebrand." World Bank. August 8, 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/08/08/the-amazons-indigenous-languages-hold-the-key-to-its-conservation-an-interview-with-martin-von-hildebrand.