Forests - biodiversity and habitat

Forests should be protected not only as the home of precious biodiversity but also because forests was and still is habitat for millions of people all over the world. The relationship of man with forest is more than commercial; not only for foods and raw materials for modern commodities or genetic pool for breeding high yielding plants and animals.

Habitat of ancestors: Ancestors as well as related biological species of today's mankind lived and living on the branches of trees, mainly trees of tropical regions with branches full of fruits that could provide food and shelter from ferocious animals on the ground. Fruits and leaves are sources of carbohydrates and vitamins. Herbs and saps of vascular plants are used as medicine.

Forest dwelling indigenous people
As many as 150 million indigenous people live in forests worldwide and rely on the forest for their livelihood e.g. almost everything from food and shelter to tools and medicines. Forests as well as plays a crucial role in people's spiritual and cultural life

The Penan -- Borneo's last nomads have flourished there as nomadic hunter-gatherers for millennia. They smell, hear and see the bounty of the forest--the source of clean water, fruits, wild game and medicines. The Penan, about 10,000, is the most traditional and nomadic of Borneo's tribes. Recent pressure has moved most of them to settle in government-mandated housing and take up agriculture. A mere 400 of them have managed to retain their completely nomadic style of life, while watching their beloved ecological niche transformed into agricultural land after being devastated by logging. The forest is converted into oil palm or paper pulp plantations bringing in migrant labourers from Indonesia, shutting out the local people, who have adapted a modern lifestyle.

Africa -Forest of Congo: The African rainforest is home to some of the most celebrated tribal people, for instance, the so-called "Pygmies" of the Ituri forest in northern Zaire. The tallest of these people, known as the Mbuti, rarely exceed five feet (1.5 m). Besides the Mbuti, there are three other major rainforest peoples of Africa: the Aka (Central African Republic and northern Congo), the Baka (southern Cameroon), and the Twa (central Zaire River basin). Together these groups account for some 130,000 to 170,000 forest dwellers distributed over a large area. The result is low population density; the Mbuti average less than one person for every one-and-a-half square miles.

Mbuti are also called Bambuti. When they establish a settlement, they clear any undergrowth, small trees, and saplings, leaving the canopy-forming trees intact. Under the cover of canopy, the pygmies are protected from the powerful tropical sun and can better harvest such things as honey and game. By leaving the canopy intact, when the group leaves, the area can quickly return to semi-primary forest. Their huts superficially resemble igloos, with a domed latticework formed with saplings and walls of shingled tree leaves.

The Bambuti people of the Congo refer to the forest as mother or father, and hold it sacred, a deity to ask for help and to thank. Bambuti live in the forest but trade with villages, providing bush meat and honey, and acquiring other produce. Egyptian records refer to people in the forests of the Congo 4,500 years ago. And scientists now suggest that at least 10 per cent of what is often regarded as virgin Amazonian rainforest was in fact carefully planted. The people there focused on establishing a diverse assortment of trees: fruits, nuts and palms.

Brazil: The Amazon forest is home to 20 million people including 400 different indigenous groups and the future of the Amazon depends on the future of those that call the forest home. The Brazilian Amazon is home to between 280,000 and 350,000 indigenous people, of which 180,000 live traditionally, heavily dependent on the ancient forest for their sustenance and spiritual and cultural life.

The Yanomami, numbering about 26,000 today are an ancient indigenous people living in the Amazon regions of Brazil and Venezuela in the fertile lands of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. They are "semi-nomadic, agricultural labourers, or hunters-gatherers."The Yanomami are also known for their close relationship with nature, relying on their territory for subsistence purposes and attributing cultural significance and myths to their surroundings.

The Waimiri Atroari of the Brazilian Amazon use 32 plant species in the construction of hunting equipment alone. Each plant has a specific role according to its physical and chemical properties. The Waimiri Atroari have long held a special place in the Brazilian imagery as a warrior people who confronted and killed any outsiders who tried to enter their territory. The invasion of their lands intensified when a mining company began excavations and when a hydroelectric dam was constructed, which flooded part of their territory. But the Waimiri Atroari faced up to these challenges and negotiated with national Brazilians, so that, today, they enjoy secure reservation boundaries, cultural vigour, and population growth.


Source: thedailystar.net

And Now... these habitats of the African Pygmies are threatened by rampant logging, forcing the pygmies to begin mobilizing for their survival. We should encourage interforest communications between these groups.

Logging increasingly detrimental to pygmy habitat in forests

Aka pygmy habitats threatened by logging

In the late 1980s I had the good fortune to drive through the forest in Central African Republic and interact with the pygmies there.

There was one sedentary village where the pygmies were gathered as there was the hope of sedentarizing them and integrating them into mainstream society.

Pygmies are by nature forest nomads and have been so for hundreds of years. Their division of labor is clear - men responsible for fauna, women for flora. They usually move around the forest, settling in one area until it no longer can accomodate their waste, etc., and move into another area - this is done in a regularized fashion so that when they return to a given area it is usually regenerated and they can live there again.
The Aka “Pygmies” have been named the world’s best fathers, dedicating the most time of all the globe’s peoples to active fathering. For more information read here

That was when the forest was the forest, with trees and animals within, with the music that is known as pygmy music lilting through the atmosphere.

Fast forward to 2007 - the forest is disappearing, many of the trees are cut down, and as such the nomadic nature of the pygmy is forced to undergo a radical cultural change to a sedentary lifestyle, with the attendant disease, lack of sanitation, and other socio-economic issues that they have not had the capacity to understand, much less overcome.

In addition, being different, they are mocked and ridiculed by the larger population and have lost the forest cover which held them intact over the years.

What can be done to help this group of people?

The men know the animals of the forest intimately; the women know the plants of the forest intimately and could treat any disease that might have occurred. Now they are thrust into a sedentary lifestyle without the cover of the forest, they are at a total loss as to how to regain the dignity that was theirs under cover of the forest.

The destruction of a habitat for gentle, non-threatening people is forcing them to undergo scorn, ridicule, hate - they have no idea how to interact with sedentary people, how to do societal work. They kept the forest intact and helped keep us intact. Now that they are thrust into a space in which they have no idea how to behave, they have become the scorned, despite all the knowledge they have about the flora and fauna of the forests, about the plants necessary to treat illnesses - no one is caring about this knowledge. The only concern is how to get them added to a workforce and treat them as slaves and third-class citizens.

Help the Aka pygmy! How? I do not know - maybe someone out there does. Their security assures our security.