The world’s longest running and large scale ecological experiment is being carried out in the vicinity of Manaus, a Brazilian city. The project is known as Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments(BDFF).
The experiment started back in 1979 and is still going on! The project cleared off fragments of forests in Amazon. Data was gathered before and after to study the changing patterns of the forest environment. Amazon is undoubtedly the largest and the most biodiverse rainforest of the world. So it makes perfect sense to conduct the experiment here.
Lately, it seems like the BDFF project is threatened by the proposed colonization of the study area. An organization that looks into the economic interest of the people of the region SUFRAMA (Superintendencia da Zona Franca de Manaus)is planning on settling thousands of Brazilians in the study area.
The scientists involved in this project are trying to work out some kind of deal with the SUFRAMA. Recent incidents happening in the project area are witnesses of the SUFRAMA colonizing plan. Project gear have been stolen from the camps. Hunters have started to kill animals in the project area.
This is making things harder for scientists. The team members have always wanted to partner with the SUFRAMA, so that it would be mutually beneficial for bother SUFRAMA and the project itself. Laurence and his college Regina Luizao have been working on this research in tandem with the Brazilian authorities. Luizao said:
We are hoping that SUFRAMA can partner with us to help promote a real vision for sustainable development in the central Amazon.
Luizao further adds:
This is a cry for help.We believe that economic progress can proceed without causing irreversible harm to science and the environment.
Colonizing this area would definitely undermine the goals of the scientific research and the years of effort will be useless.
This project would not have been possible without the help of SUFRAMA. So, the people of BDFF are asking SUFRAMA to further cooperate with them so that scientists can finish the long term project.
I think SUFRAMA should think about colonizing some other locations of Amazon and leave the project area as it is. The message is clear and simple: this kind of study helps nature and ecosystems. So it should be protected and continued.
Image Credits: Wikipedia, Mongabay [2],[3]
