It is a dedicated conservationist and has conducted field research, primarily in South America. Now the biologist Christof Schenck has been awarded the German Environmental Prize. The managing director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society warns – and hopes.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – Christof Schenck, who will be awarded the German Environmental Prize this Sunday, calls for quick action to protect forest areas in order to stop climate change and species loss. The managing director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) warns that the situation is particularly critical in the large rainforests such as the Amazon region. “We are very, very concerned,” said Schenck of the German Press Agency, especially with a view to Amazonia. The largest contiguous rainforest on earth stretches there. The biodiversity of plants and animals is nowhere greater.
“There is a dangerous tipping point in the destruction of the rainforests,” emphasized Schenck. The rainforests produced much of the precipitation themselves through evaporation. “When there is deforestation, however, the water runs off the surface and is no longer available for evaporation precipitation. Therein lies a danger for the entire system – if the precipitation falls below a certain limit, the forest dies even without a saw and fire. We are already here unbelievably close to that.”
The effects not only affect the climate, there is also a risk of a dramatic loss of biodiversity. “By destroying the species-rich rainforests, we are blindly deleting a hard drive, so to speak,” says Schenck in view of the many animal and plant species in the region that are not yet scientifically known. “It’s absolutely dramatic. We should stop the impact on the rainforest immediately.”
Schenck sees the effects even in areas where the Frankfurt Zoological Society is involved: “In Peru, the biggest problems are, for example, gold extraction from river sediments, coca cultivation, the felling of precious woods. After China, the biggest driver of forest destruction is by the way the EU.”
Global economic routes also play a role, even if the Brazilian rainforest in the Amazon region is converted into pastureland or as planting area for soybeans. “The soy goes to Germany as animal feed, for example, and then pork is exported to China,” Schenck said. “We’re doing a lot of things wrong on this earth. It doesn’t matter what we do where, it has an impact everywhere.”
In view of the large amount of destruction, Schenck still hopes for insight: “It’s not a meteorite, it’s man-made – so we can also do something. But we have to do much more and we have to act faster.”
“Of course, as the Global North, we have accumulated a large bill through the use of fossil raw materials that contributed to our wealth, which we have to pay,” stressed Schenck. Funds would therefore have to flow primarily to the Global South to preserve these forest areas. “We in the Global North would also benefit if the global climate were to stabilize.” Schenck sees a need for action not only in the large rainforests on the Amazon or in the Congo Basin. “We also have homework to do in Germany and Europe,” he said. “People here should also understand what wilderness is and why we need wilderness and what natural forests look like – we’ve completely forgotten that.”
