据6月12日的《科学》杂志报道说，一项对巴西亚马逊雨林周围近300个城市的研究显示，毁林造地（即：将森林转变为农田和养牛牧场）通常会在开始的时候带来经济的荣景，但接着则会发生衰败，这表明存在着一种对当地居民来说的“荣盛 – 衰败”的模式。 该地区是巴西最穷困和最不发达的地区之一，许多背景极为不同的人群迁徙到那里寻找新的工作和机会。 但是，这些发现表明，总的来说，清除了森林的城市中人的境遇并不比那些没有清除森林的城市中人要更好。
Ana Rodrigues及其同僚应用由联合国开发计划所制定的Human Development Index（这是将预期寿命、文化水平以及生活标准进行综合平均后所计算出的指数）来评估整个巴西亚马逊地带的286个城市社区的福利情况，这些城市社区中的每一个都处在不同的毁林造地阶段。 他们发现，这些城市社区的相对福利状况在毁林开始的时候会有所增加，但随着毁林前沿的推进，他们的福利情况会衰减，因而，其毁林前后的福利水平之低实际上是相似的。 由于巴西的亚马逊地带有着地球上仍然存在的热带雨林中的40%，因此该雨林对全球的生物多元性保存、气候调节和生物地球化学循环起着至关重要的作用。 研究人员提出，针对创造更能持续性发展的机会而制定的新的财政刺激方案和政策将会给所有各方带来更大的裨益，而这些政策不应该是基于对生态系统和自然资源的耗竭的基础之上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science 12 June 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1174002
Boom-and-Bust Development Patterns Across the Amazon Deforestation Frontier
Ana S. L. Rodrigues,1,2,3,* Robert M. Ewers,4 Luke Parry,5 Carlos Souza, Jr.,6 Adalberto Veríssimo,6 Andrew Balmford1
The Brazilian Amazon is globally important for biodiversity, climate, and geochemical cycles, but is also among the least developed regions in Brazil. Economic development is often pursued through forest conversion for cattle ranching and agriculture, mediated by logging. However, on the basis of an assessment of 286 municipalities in different stages of deforestation, we found a boom-and-bust pattern in levels of human development across the deforestation frontier. Relative standards of living, literacy, and life expectancy increase as deforestation begins but then decline as the frontier evolves, so that pre- and postfrontier levels of human development are similarly low. New financial incentives and policies are creating opportunities for a more sustained development trajectory that is not based on the depletion of nature and ecosystem services.
1 Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
2 IN+, Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Environment and Energy Section, Mechanical Engineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal.
3 Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CNRS UMR5175, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier, France.
4 Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.
5 School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.
6 IMAZON–Amazon Institute of People and the Environment, Belém, PA, Brazil.
