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NATURAL RESOURCES
Will the loss of forests and biodiversity affect mainly indigenous
peoples?
There is great cultural diversity found in indigenous tropical rain forest communities. The accelerating loss of biological diversity, upon which tropical forest dwellers depend for their livelihood, is mirrored by the extinction of these people and their predominantly oral cultures. The Native American population of the New World has plummeted from 72 million five hundred years ago to only 4 million today, in human history's greatest genocide. Forest natives have long been exploited by industrialized countries for their knowledge of the medicinal purpose of plants. As their cultures disappear, so does the invaluable resource of this ages-old wisdom. In addition to the immediate crises and displacements suffered by native peoples as their habitats are destroyed, the loss to humankind of this biological and cultural diversity would be tragic.