December 31, 2007

Not even new jobs are needed, just a little income support would do

Sir Prof Jacob Borne makes a well argued case for to "Give the tree choppers more profitable jobs than logging" December 31 but I would add that since chopping logs is really not that profitable we should just give some income support to all those who live in the tropical rainforests and engage in traditional and environmentally sustainable non-logging activities.
We actually do not need to produce new high tech manufacturing jobs in the Amazon; a couple of hundred dollars per family a month, for them to improve their living conditions, while they keep an eye on their forest for all of us would do wonders.
The problem is that though we quite easily find ways to support our local parks and national forest reserves this seems so much harder when it comes to maintaining the health of our global common goods like our lungs in the Amazon.