tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/our-tropical-future-11184/articlesOur tropical future – The Conversation2014-07-02T20:36:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/272162014-07-02T20:36:01Z2014-07-02T20:36:01ZBurma emerges from a shadowy past, but real progress lies ahead<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51733/original/kcrvx52j-1403241220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is more freedom and more reasons to smile in Burma than in the past – but will this girl and others in her generation share the spoils of the nation's resources boom?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dietmar Temps</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics</a> has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the final in a four-part series about the new report, based on the work of <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/leadership-group-institutions">12 universities and research institutions worldwide</a>, which shows the challenges facing diverse nations such as Burma/Myanmar to manage those changes.</em></p>
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<p>As a visitor to Burma 20 years ago, being followed by military intelligence officers, having your phone tapped and your room searched were all considered normal.</p>
<p>Today, the obvious military shadows have lifted: so much so that a friend of mine from a Burmese democratic party has commented that, after so many years, it felt strange not being followed from home by military intel.</p>
<p>Walking the bustling, traffic-filled streets of Burma’s biggest city Rangoon (also known as Yangon), you could mistake it for somewhere else, like Jakarta or Bangkok. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=989&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=989&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52809/original/trwmq7dm-1404257928.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=989&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi launching the State of the Tropics Report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>The most visible sign of progress is opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi: no longer shut away, with people afraid to even go near her street or look at her house. Now she is free to travel the country and the world again, and sits as a member of parliament, including chairing the rule of law committee.</p>
<p>On the weekend, Suu Kyi launched the <a href="http://www.stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics Report</a>, which showed that in Burma – like many other fast-growing tropical nations – life is getting better in many respects.</p>
<p>But could Suu Kyi be <a href="http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2014/06/30/burma-myanmar-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-president-Odds-lengthening.aspx?COLLCC=4241170749&">president after the 2015 general elections</a>, as the people desire? Not yet, say the military. </p>
<p>As Suu Kyi <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/keep-the-pressure-on-myanmar-says-aung-san-suu-kyi/story-fn59nm2j-1226971451724">warned over the weekend</a>, there is little more than a “veneer” of democracy in the country, and foreign visitors should not see her nation “through rose-tinted glasses”. So how much has changed in this culturally and resource-rich nation?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51734/original/8ytg5rzn-1403241269.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Old Bagan, looking towards the Ayeyarwady River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/deepblue66/13267298953/in/photolist-7kxVzJ-7nCCQZ-648jXz-7fhE3w-6v4oms-7qfybm-7p6dnj-kuz6YG-mdoxhX-mdonKF-mzVRfK-kux9Cp-fr7bVS-ko4vcT-nx2Woq-e4YMHo-5hDUdT-7nDDix-mm8Drn-n8N8ER-ko4MHg-eiuzBe-nANE4M-nhJkk8-kfyeFF-fnfH3E-mXRZZz-992t8X-nu5vaS-kfzykJ-mm791T-8ZQFgr-n8Nape-mzVoWc-5rF4tA-dREzg1-e1K9zp-dUwp7E-njiND1-k9i4BQ-5rHd22-943x5w-egd1nu-kfyxrR-nfGxBh-mHZ5z6-7ktNcn-npeHrs-ncS1yj-kfyo6X">Dietmar Temps/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Hit and miss progress</h2>
<p>Burma is now coming out of a cocoon after more than half a century of government-imposed isolation, and there has been some progress – but it is hit and miss. The political progress that is necessary for good governance is slow off the mark. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51731/original/st3bhxp8-1403240880.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rangoon street life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nhd-info/8615459971/in/photolist-e8ju6i-97rDAx-dRExaC-2fNAt-e2nHFq-iGofSG-7jxyKD-aAhUpG-iTcHpn-b71kGz-aAfbq4-eeeGLk-eSuqE-iTbojT-2ivYyj-npesUR-kuy3Q8-e1J3x7-e5rAXG-gTcsPD-s1kQW-67MY2j-fr77WL-fhsHik-2ivyus-dpn7DR-74Hb1-7SW8CU-e2SdBa-aAhT2u-5PK4gh-dM7yhW-9Y5V94-dM7vtj-nfFcP3-2iqdcB-fje56Q-8KNZ8S-dagoqg-dXEbnp-hNgxQf-mm7xfB-fhckkZ-dXxHMA-adEqaq-97rzLK-2iqdcV-eg7gka-aAfb9R-e8jx3p">Trond Viken/NHD/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Burma’s military government has attracted worldwide condemnation for its human rights violations of political actors as well as ethnic nationalities, who comprise more than 30% of the people.</p>
<p>For too long, the people of Burma have been condemned to living with extreme poverty, shockingly high infant and maternal mortality and poor health, endemic corruption, an education system in name only, a state without a proper legal system, and a bankrupt economy. </p>
<p>Since World War Two, there have been <a href="http://www.conflictmap.org/conflict/myanmar_rebels">constant civil wars</a> raging, while what was once Asia’s rice bowl became a dust bowl.</p>
<h2>A resources boom, but who benefits?</h2>
<p>Burma is also a nation blessed with abundant natural resources. And those resources are attracting many foreign investors, as shown on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2014/s4034645.htm">ABC TV’s Foreign Correspondent</a> this week.</p>
<p>But with greater openness to the rest of the world comes a new set of political, social and environmental challenges, including managing that foreign investment and sharing the spoils of increased development, which up until now have been tightly controlled by the military, some government members and cronies.</p>
<p>As the State of the Tropics Report warns, current rates of deforestation in <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/wp-content/uploads/State-of-the-Tropics-Section-2_The-Ecosystem.pdf">Burma’s Ayeyarwady Delta mangrove forests</a> could see them lost entirely <a href="http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/mangroves-irrawaddy-delta-gone-decades.html">within decades</a>. </p>
<p>And that would have devastating human and environmental impacts: the mangroves currently provide fertile farmland and fisheries for an estimated 7.7 million people; are home to 30 species of endangered animals, including the Ayeyarwady dolphin; and provide crucial coastal protection against erosion and extreme weather events. </p>
<p>After the 2004 Asian tsunami, researchers concluded ]that dense mangrove and coastal forests greatly reduced wave damage in many areas and gave people a better chance of surviving, by trapping deadly debris and providing cushioned landing areas for those caught in surging water.</p>
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<span class="caption">Life along the Ayeyarwady River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Franc Pallarès López</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Some glimmers of hope</h2>
<p>In the late 1990s, I was once the only guest in <a href="http://www.hotelthestrand.com/">The Strand Hotel</a>, as famous as Singapore’s Raffles in its heyday. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52701/original/4m6bcnd5-1404183075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Kipling Bar at the Strand Hotel in Rangoon, 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/73542590@N00/10153442775/">Jeremy Weate/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>My newspaper would arrive promptly each morning – but any articles that offended Burma’s draconian censors were clipped out before it was delivered. Even articles about the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were chopped out, despite Burma becoming a member in 1997.</p>
<p>Such overt censorship, along with the deliberately intimidation of military spies following pro-democracy supporters, is now a thing of the past, even if less overt censorship survives that still sees people self-censor to avoid trouble.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the past taxi drivers were simply too afraid to take passengers near Aung San Suu Kyi’s house.</p>
<p>Once, in a fleeting period when Suu Kyi was supposedly free from house arrest and I sought to visit my friend of more than 15 years, a major guarding her home’s entrance demanded my name, asked for my passport and more. When I remarked “How strange, Major”, he replied, “Madam, I live in a strange country”.</p>
<p>For so long, Burma’s generals decided what happened in all sectors across government, meaning that those who knew least were dictating what had to happen to those who knew best. It was a command and control approach to government, policy, and law making. Good ideas were swallowed by bad government.</p>
<p>Fast forward to today, and there has been some changes for the better. There is a government, though a quasi-military one; there is a constitution, though decreed by the military and not designed by the people despite a referendum; and there is a parliamentary system, though 25% of seats at all levels are occupied by hand-picked serving military (Tatmadaw) officers.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51736/original/g2xs9kzv-1403241840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<h2>The power of ideas</h2>
<p>International support can help. Some of the projects I’ve been involved with, such as the <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/law/about/international/myanmar/people.shtml">Myanmar Constitutional Reform Project</a> and the International Party Development Committee, give me some hope, because I’ve seen firsthand the hunger for real change. Many Burmese parliamentarians are keen for faster reform and some have visited Australia. </p>
<p>Universities were closed in Burma for many years. Students were considered dangerous, simply because they had ideas. My first visit to Rangoon University in the late 1990s was to an institution abandoned, with the gates chained. </p>
<p>Last year, that same university proudly hosted US president Barack Obama. One professor joked that they wished Obama could visit every month, so that the Rolls-Royce level of maintenance at the university would continue.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51730/original/mtx8n7bg-1403240586.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Traffic is becoming a headache for Rangoon’s five million residents, like so many other cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leigh Griffiths/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Given how much has changed in one generation, I am cautiously hopeful for Burma’s future. But we must also heed the warnings of Suu Kyi and others, in demanding that the rush to capitalise on the country’s wealth leads to real change for its people. </p>
<p>Launching the State of the Tropics Report on the weekend, <a href="http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/suu-kyi-launches-overwhelming-report-tropics.html?PageSpeed=noscript">Suu Kyi said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is so much that we can learn from this report, to make us better carers. To care for our environment, to care for one another, to care for those who are different from us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The political, social and environmental challenges facing Suu Kyi’s nation and the rest of the Tropics will not be quick or easy to resolve. But as <a href="https://twitter.com/OakeMedia/status/483140948763746305">she rightly declared</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we all decided not to proceed because of difficulty, the world would stop.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Further reading:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-is-turning-tropical-before-our-eyes-26973">How the world is turning tropical before our eyes</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-generation-next-will-be-wealthier-but-not-always-healthier-27187">Earth’s generation next will be wealthier, but not always healthier</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wild-creatures-of-the-tropics-are-being-lost-before-theyre-found-27188">Wild creatures of the tropics are being lost before they’re found</a><br></em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janelle Saffin is a long-time Burmese campaigner, and has previously lectured on constitutional law within Burma/Myanmar. She is the Chair of the Australian Labor Party's International Party Development Committee and a former chair of the Australia–Myanmar Parliamentary Group. She has visited Burma many times over the past 20 years and has been a member of the Burma Lawyers Council for many years. She co-founded the website Gateway to Burma and has helped hundreds of Burmese refugees relocate worldwide. From November 2007 until September 2013, Janelle represented the federal electorate of Page for the Australian Labor Party, and previously served as a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1995 to 2003. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party. She was an Honorary Adviser on Burma for the State of the Tropics Report.</span></em></p>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the State of the Tropics has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the final in a four-part series about…Janelle Saffin, Honorary Adviser on Burma for the State of the Tropics, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/271882014-07-01T19:10:59Z2014-07-01T19:10:59ZWild creatures of the tropics are being lost before they’re found<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52179/original/d8nv85kd-1403674121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like many animals in the tropics, tree kangaroos are facing threats to their survival in the wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics</a> has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the third in a four-part series about the new report, based on the work of <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/leadership-group-institutions">12 universities and research institutions worldwide</a>, which shows the challenges facing diverse nations such as Burma/Myanmar to manage those changes.</em></p>
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<p>With smoke from forest fires filling the air and a chainsaw roaring in the distance, a Huon tree kangaroo clambers anxiously above us in the tree-tops. Will this spectacular animal — an endangered inhabitant of New Guinea’s highland rainforests — have a home in the future?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52129/original/3bvmvtxj-1403656754.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tree kangaroo at the Bronx Zoo, New York. Will zoos be the only place to see them in future?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matschie's_tree-kangaroo#mediaviewer/File:Matschies_tree_kangaroo_Dendrolagus_matschiei_at_Bronx_Zoo_1_cropped.jpg">Fred Hsu/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49759/original/5rwj7cqg-1401344976.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young men at a village ceremony in Papua New Guinea wearing traditional costumes, including headbands made of tree kangaroo tails.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These endearing animals, along with other local wildlife, are of great cultural importance to the local indigenous people and have sustained people living in the region for thousands of years. But their numbers are dwindling, as the pressures of a rapidly growing human population, habitat loss and over-hunting have taken a severe toll.</p>
<p>Across the tropical world, wildlife are facing similar perils. The Tropics account for 40% of the Earth’s surface area, but host more than 80% of its terrestrial <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-biodiversity-and-why-does-it-matter-9798">biodiversity</a>, 21 of 35 global <a href="http://www.conservation.org/How/Pages/Hotspots.aspx">“biodiversity hotspots”</a> (threatened areas with unusually high diversity and many unique species), and more than 90% of the planet’s coral and mangrove diversity. </p>
<p>Much of this extraordinary natural diversity is in danger. </p>
<p>The new <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics Report</a> found that for all major groups assessed, the Tropics have the highest number of threatened species. Some regions have more species at risk than others, with especially high numbers under threat in tropical Asia, the Amazon and island nations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52186/original/7qgyhn6d-1403675623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Threatened animals and plants across the Tropics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics Report 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Threats to tropical biodiversity</h2>
<p>Species in the Tropics are inherently more vulnerable to changes in their environment because they tend to occupy small geographic ranges, be naturally rarer and be specialised to deal with a narrow range of environmental conditions. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=680&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51505/original/94rjvy2c-1403069058.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Found in Borneo’s rainforests, the Western Tarsier is threatened by logging, conversion of forests into palm oil plantations, and trapping for the illegal pet trade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tropical biodiversity is affected by a range of threats, often acting in different combinations to affect species differently. Habitat loss and degradation are among the most significant. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52188/original/txmv2ft5-1403675947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Average annual change in primary forest cover in the Tropics in the ten years to 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics Report 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The loss of <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/reports/primary-forests">forests</a> is particularly concerning, as they are home to so many species. Although deforestation rates have slowed in most tropical regions since 2000, losses remain large and are ongoing. Most are due to land use change, including conversion of <a href="http://bit.ly/1s4zzd7">forests to agriculture</a> and resource extraction, particularly from forestry and mining. </p>
<p>The establishment of new transport networks associated with such activities, <a href="http://alert-conservation.org/roads-imperil-worlds-last-wildernesses/">especially roads</a>, also opens up large areas to other destructive impacts such as hunting and illegal logging, as well as facilitating the spread of introduced species.</p>
<p>But the threats to tropical animals and plants aren’t just happening on land. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52190/original/6pbfd3h2-1403676109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild marine catch in the Tropics and worldwide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics Report 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/reports/wild-marine-catch">Exploitation of marine food resources</a> in the Tropics has grown rapidly over the past 60 years, due to greater demand for seafood from a growing and increasingly wealthy population, as well as increased fishing by international ships. Threats to coral reef systems have also increased, with more than half the world’s reefs considered to be at medium or high risk of damage.</p>
<h2>Known unknowns</h2>
<p>A lack of knowledge of tropical biodiversity is a major obstacle. We haven’t yet found most species, let alone studied their biology or assessed their <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">conservation status</a>. </p>
<p>A recent analysis suggests current extinction rates of species are <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6187/1246752.abstract">1000 times greater</a> than the “natural” background rate. Even this is likely to be an underestimate, given that rates of extinctions are likely to increase with improved knowledge, because species we’re yet to discover are more likely to be rare or have a restricted range to begin with.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51743/original/ycjpcg6s-1403243270.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The conservation status of only 4% of the 1.9 million species described by science has been assessed according to IUCN criteria. Among the least known are groups such as insects, crustaceans, molluscs, fungi and most plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not only is tropical biodiversity least known and most imperilled, but relative annual investment allocated to its study and protection in developing tropical countries is up to <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sowb/casestudy/208">20 times lower</a> than in developed nations. </p>
<p>As well as benefitting from the global goods and services that tropical biodiversity provides, an increasing proportion of land in the Tropics is used to produce goods such as timber, biofuels, palm oil, beef and mining resources for export markets to developed nations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51744/original/r4vr68kx-1403243500.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fallen forests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So while many developed nations may boast of improvements in their own national conservation efforts, their ecological footprints are in fact growing as they export their impacts to poorer nations in the tropics.</p>
<p>Overlaying these threats and challenges is the spectre of climate change. Never mind polar bears: tropical biodiversity is much more likely to be impacted by climate change, which will also exert greater pressures on tropical communities through impacts on human and food security, renewable water supplies, rising sea levels and <a href="http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2014/vector-borne-diseases/en/">vector borne diseases</a>.</p>
<h2>Conservation of tropical biodiversity</h2>
<p>Protected areas are the backbone of biodiversity conservation efforts worldwide. They provide refuges that protect species and habitats, sustain key natural processes and maintain ecosystem services essential to human well-being. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=211&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52193/original/vzbsxfvx-1403676453.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Percentage of land and territorial waters allocated to protected areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics Report 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Globally the area allocated to protection has increased significantly in recent decades, with the greatest growth in the Tropics. But are protected areas alone enough to maintain biodiversity? At present, probably not. The current protected area system is <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001891">unevenly distributed and not ecologically representative</a>. </p>
<p>Protected areas don’t always adequately protect biodiversity either. Take Kakadu National Park, one of Australia’s biggest and best resourced national parks. In the last couple of decades, Kakadu has seen a rapid and extensive <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2011.00164.x/abstract">decline in native mammals</a>, suggesting that even well-resourced protected areas in rich countries may not suffice.</p>
<p>It points to the critical need to not just set aside land, but to monitor and manage protected areas for biodiversity far more intensively and effectively, particularly in places prone to illegal encroachment and exploitation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52625/original/wr7dsgns-1404114009.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A baby northern quoll, a native Australian mammal battling for survival against introduced species. Scientists are training quolls to be ‘toad smart'and avoid eating poisonous cane toads, before releasing them back into Kakadu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/parksaustralia/9264409297/in/photolist-nknPcv-aq8fzr-f7Ew7M-bUtnM-5di6T-48nwyq-48nwAY">Parks Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Local conservation champions</h2>
<p>Close collaboration with local communities is essential. Such partnerships need to align conservation goals with local people’s aspirations and economic realities. This “bottom up” approach typically costs more and involves more work in the short-term, but tends to be more effective in delivering lasting outcomes that work for people and for nature.</p>
<p>Encouragingly, there are a growing number of examples of <a href="http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=818&Itemid=1031&lang=en">effective community-based intiatives</a> worldwide, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-tree-huggers-can-save-forests-with-science-20093">YUS Conservation Area</a>, Papua New Guinea’s first major protected area, and the winner of the Equator Prize 2014 for conservation and sustainable community development.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51745/original/prxj6bsq-1403243611.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Local rangers leading the way to protect wildlife in PNG’s YUS Conservation Area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki/markzphoto.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The world faces enormous population pressures in coming decades. Through the alleviation of poverty and improved health and education outcomes – particularly for women – <a href="http://www.gapminder.org/tag/population-growth/">population growth rates have been declining</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the UN predicts the world population will peak at 11 billion this century, with most people living in the Tropics. By 2050, the region will be home to about half the world’s population, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-is-turning-tropical-before-our-eyes-26973">60% of the world’s children</a>.</p>
<p>Meeting the food and energy needs of a larger and increasingly wealthy population will put unprecedented pressures on biodiversity and natural resources. Developing sustainable practices – including improving agricultural technologies and policies, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, limiting destructive road expansion and establishing an effective protected area system – are all priorities. </p>
<p>Tropical nations can play a leading role in developing sustainable pathways. But effective progress will require addressing current imbalances in resource allocation to developing nations, and greater recognition of the role of the entire global community in limiting impacts on tropical nature.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>_Further reading:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/burma-emerges-from-a-shadowy-past-but-real-progress-lies-ahead-27216">Burma emerges from a shadowy past, but progress lies ahead</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-generation-next-will-be-wealthier-but-not-always-healthier-27187">Earth’s generation next will be wealthier, but not always healthier</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-is-turning-tropical-before-our-eyes-26973">How the world is turning tropical before our eyes</a><br>
_</strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27188/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Ziembicki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the State of the Tropics has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the third in a four-part series about…Mark Ziembicki, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/271872014-06-30T20:29:37Z2014-06-30T20:29:37ZEarth’s generation next will be wealthier, but not always healthier<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51506/original/n4ym2gfq-1403069207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reason to smile: far fewer children are growing up in poverty in tropical regions of the world than 30 years ago.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics</a> has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the second in a four-part series about the new report, based on the work of <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/leadership-group-institutions">12 universities and research institutions worldwide</a>, which shows the challenges facing diverse nations such as Burma/Myanmar to manage those changes.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>If you’re looking for a good news story about the health of the world, then consider taking a trip to the Tropics.</p>
<p>An end to world poverty is still a long way off, but poverty is falling in the Tropics. Among people living in the 130-plus tropical nations and territories, shown below, the proportion living in extreme poverty has almost halved since the 1980s. </p>
<p>The rates of infectious diseases are also declining, along with maternal and child mortality rates. Life expectancy is on the rise.</p>
<p>All of those trends for the better have global significance, given that by 2050 three out of every five children will be living in a tropical part of the world.</p>
<p>However, it’s not all good news on human health, according to the inaugural <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics Report</a>, launched this week by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tropical areas of the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://stateofthetropics.org">State of the Tropics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As more people have emerged from poverty, obesity is on the rise, increasing even faster than global trends. And with it comes a growing burden of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.</p>
<p>Even with poverty falling, 99% of the tropical population today still live in a low- or middle-income nation. Rates of infectious diseases are still much higher in the Tropics, leading to a new and debilitating double burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases in many nations. </p>
<p>The coming generations of children in the Tropics are likely to be wealthier, but we clearly need to do more to give them a better chance at growing up healthier than before.</p>
<h2>Emerging from poverty into a new world</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics Report</a> highlights two particularly important region-wide trends in human health.</p>
<p>The first is significant progress across a range of social determinants of health, including poverty. The proportion of the tropical population living in extreme poverty dropped from 51% in 1981 to 28% in 2010. </p>
<p>Along with the improvements already mentioned in infectious diseases,
maternal and child mortality rates and life expectancy, there are a number of causes for optimism. </p>
<p>However, the other important region-wide trend is more worrying.</p>
<p>Obesity rates are increasing at an alarming rate. Between 2002 and 2010, the proportion of obese adults in the Tropics jumped from 4.4% to an estimated 6.8%. That’s an average annual growth rate of 5.5%.</p>
<p>Compare that with the global obesity increase from 10% of the population in 2002 to 12.8% in 2010 (a growth rate of 3.6%).</p>
<p>Within the Tropics, there is huge regional variation. </p>
<p>The greatest increases occurred in Central America (23.1% to 31.6%), the Caribbean (14.7% to 22.9%) and South America (13.9% to 21.4%).</p>
<p>In Oceania, the island nations of Samoa, Tonga and Micronesia had obesity rates of 51%, 71% and 72% respectively in 2010. These are the highest national rates in the world. The obesity crisis in some regions in the Tropics has already reached epidemic proportions – and the problem across the Tropics is growing fast.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52047/original/zb5zr3zy-1403592027.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Army Captain Amanda Crawford examines a happy Tongan baby at Prince Wellington Ngu Hospital in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command/5641100535/in/photolist-9hvCVh-9Au7E4-9KXxoC-9Fs23N-hM2jD-9Vx3cB-9GesaW">Airman First Class Haleigh Greer/U.S. Pacific Command/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘The new smoking’</h2>
<p>Obesity – defined as a body mass index greater than or equal to 30 – has been dubbed <a href="http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/winter13/html/newsmoking/">“the new smoking”</a>.</p>
<p>Although long recognised as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, chronic kidney disease and dementia, obesity has received little attention as a <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/3/388.long">threat worthy of grass-roots change</a>. Action to address it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-two-billion-people-worldwide-are-overweight-or-obese-27264">still sporadic and disconnected</a>.</p>
<p>The new <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673614604608">Global Burden of Disease Study</a> has shone new light on the scale and complexity of the problem. </p>
<p>There has been a remarkable increase in the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese. In developed nations, nearly one in four children was overweight or obese by 2013, while in developing nations the proportion has risen to more than one in eight children. And in the past 33 years, no countries have reported success in reducing obesity rates. </p>
<p>However, a few communities have produced some small signs of progress. In the United States, for example, a raft of initiatives to promote healthy eating and greater physical activity in the state of Mississippi saw <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-for-australia-from-us-reversal-of-childhood-obesity-17895">obesity fall among some schoolchildren</a>. </p>
<p>And in Oklahoma City, which had been ranked as one of America’s fattest cities, residents <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/mick_cornett_how_an_obese_town_lost_a_million_pounds/transcript#t-835637">collectively lost half a million kilograms</a> over five years, as a result of a redesign based on promoting physical activity: towards a city for people, not cars. By 2012, it had become one of the USA’s fittest cities.</p>
<h2>Raising tomorrow’s children</h2>
<p>Based on median population growth and life expectancy assumptions, by 2050 the Tropics will be home to 60% of the world’s children under 10 years old. Half of these children will live in the tropical region of Central and Southern Africa, shown on this map.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Different regions identified in the State of the Tropics report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics 2014</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52042/original/mdv28g59-1403591515.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A little girl in Ethiopia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Evgeni Zotov/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is cause for both optimism and concern about those children’s future. </p>
<p>On the one hand, poverty and rates of infectious diseases are decreasing. On the other, increasing obesity rates will fuel growth of non-communicable diseases worldwide, which already disproportionately affect <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/">low-and-middle-income nations</a>.</p>
<p>And despite significant progress over the past few decades, infectious diseases and under-nutrition, to which children are particularly vulnerable, remain major public health concerns. This places a huge burden on already fragile health systems and budgets especially in tropical nations. </p>
<p>Like developing nations worldwide, many nations in the Tropics are witnessing the co-existence of under-nutrition and obesity within their borders, and <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/">even within the same household</a>.</p>
<p>Giving those children a brighter future will require new ways of delivering health care that match the changing disease profile. And it will require new approaches to tackling the complex causes of obesity. </p>
<p>There are small signs, at least in some parts of the USA, that progress can be made to reduce obesity levels. It’s time to adapt some of these solutions to improve health in our tropical neighbourhoods.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>_Further reading:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/burma-emerges-from-a-shadowy-past-but-real-progress-lies-ahead-27216">Burma emerges from a shadowy past, but progress lies ahead</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wild-creatures-of-the-tropics-are-being-lost-before-theyre-found-27188">Wild creatures of the tropics are being lost before they’re found</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-world-is-turning-tropical-before-our-eyes-26973">How the world is turning tropical before our eyes</a><br>
_</strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Edelman does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article. She is a contributing author of the State of the Tropics Report. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn McDermott receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Queensland Department of Health and the Australia Research Council. She is affiliated with the National Heart Foundation (Board member in Queensland) and Apunipima Cape York Health Council (Board Member).</span></em></p>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the State of the Tropics has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the second in a four-part series about…Alexandra Edelman, Policy and Development Officer, James Cook UniversityRobyn McDermott, Professor of Public Health Medicine and Director of the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/269732014-06-29T21:24:10Z2014-06-29T21:24:10ZHow the world is turning tropical before our eyes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51476/original/gk57gf9r-1403062948.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This Vietnamese school girl is growing up in a new era: by the time she is middle-aged, 60% of the world's children will be living in a tropical region.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/5136205797/">UN Photo/Mark Garten</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics</a> has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the first in a four-part series about the new report, based on the work of <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/leadership-group-institutions">12 universities and research institutions worldwide</a>, which shows the challenges facing diverse nations such as Burma/Myanmar to manage those changes.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51483/original/8bvxy4j9-1403064291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1009&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A marble bust of Aristotle, copied from a Greek bronze original from 330 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle#mediaviewer/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg">Jastrow/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle declared that there were three zones of the world – the Frigid Zone, the Temperate Zone and the Torrid Zone – and only one of these, the Temperate Zone, was a place where civilised human beings could live. </p>
<p>Fast forward to 2014. The Tropics are now home to four out of every 10 people alive on earth today, as well as 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Some of the most pressing issues of our time – including rapid population growth, rising obesity rates, reducing poverty, and the need to preserve vital freshwater and forests – are all playing out in Aristotle’s Torrid Zone.</p>
<p>As our new report on the <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/">State of the Tropics</a> reveals, by 2050, 60% of the world’s children will be living in a tropical part of the world, shown in the map below. Whether you live in the Tropics or not, it’s a vast and diverse region that no one can afford to ignore any more.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51471/original/4vftp6jz-1403061813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tropical areas of the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://stateofthetropics.org">State of the Tropics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Launched by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar over the weekend, with simultaneous events in Singapore, Townsville and Cairns, the State of the Tropics report shows where life is getting better, but also where the biggest challenges for the future lie. Its findings include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Life expectancy has increased across all regions of the Tropics in the past 60 years, but is still well below that of the rest of the world.</li>
<li>The rate of adult obesity in the Tropics is lower than the rest of the world, but increasing at a faster rate.</li>
<li>Globally, extreme poverty has declined by almost 50% since the early 1980s, but more than two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in the Tropics.</li>
<li>Education is patchy: adult literacy rates have increased faster in the
Tropics than the rest of the world, but are still considerably lower. And despite those improvements, the number of illiterate adults in the Tropics is growing.</li>
<li>The Tropics has just over half of the world’s renewable water resources (54%), yet almost half its population is considered vulnerable to water stress.</li>
</ul>
<h2>A race around the world’s centre</h2>
<p>The Tropics are an extraordinarily diverse region, covering an area surrounding the equator between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer that includes parts or all of countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51034/original/5sxnrzmm-1402634947.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Countries that fall within the Tropics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State of the Tropics 2014</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It also takes in parts of nations that often don’t see themselves as belonging to the Tropics, including southern China. </p>
<p>Of all the world’s developed countries, Australia has the largest tropical landmass. That places Australia at the intersection of two great axes of global growth: the Asian axis that everyone recognises as vitally important to the world’s future, and the Tropical axis that is now being revealed. </p>
<p>Three years ago, <a href="http://stateofthetropics.org/leadership-group-institutions">12 universities and research institutions</a> from around the world, dedicated to the Tropics through either their location or their mission, determined it was time to take a fresh look at the Tropics.</p>
<p>With this in mind, our group set the parameters of an historic report on the State of the Tropics. </p>
<p>Our main aim was to answer a very simple question: is life in the Tropics getting better? But we also had a geopolitical goal in mind too, which was to change the way the world views itself. </p>
<h2>Seeing the world anew</h2>
<p>In viewing the world more recently as a set of dichotomies – north/south, east/west, developing/developed, Asian/the rest – Aristotle’s powerful lateral notion of the world in general and the Tropics in particular have been consigned to obscurity.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51488/original/v4vkgyvy-1403064823.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An engraving by Gustave Doré for an 1876 edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It depicts a sailor with water-serpents in the sea around him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Hatley#mediaviewer/File:Dore-I_Watched_the_Water-Snakes.jpg">Gustave Doré/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But even today, among many people living outside the Tropics the word still evokes some of the negative sentiments that Aristotle popularised all those years ago. </p>
<p>Directly or more subtly influenced by Aristotle, Western philosophers and explorers over the centuries have overwhelmingly portrayed the Tropics as a place of pestilence: inhospitable, disease-ridden and backward. </p>
<p>Writing some centuries after Aristotle, Pliny the Elder riffed on these themes. The Torrid Zone was full of human troglodytes who ate vipers and men who moved like serpents. Ancient Indian geographers described the Tropics as a place inhabited by evil daemons, as a gulf like that between the living and the dead. </p>
<p>Later literature reflected these themes as well. Consider Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner">Rime of the Ancient Mariner</a>. Becalmed in the tropics, the sea boiled like a pot, throats were parched, and slimy things crawled upon the slimy sea.</p>
<h2>Beyond pestilence and paradise</h2>
<p>Yet some Iberian explorers saw the Tropics as places of great wonder. For them, the Tropics represented the completion of the world: it was the Garden of Eden, a world lost when Adam and Eve were cast out. </p>
<p>You can hear and see the wonder of exploring paradise in 18th century poet <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Land%C3%ADvar">Rafael Landivar</a>’s exultation of plants and animals, and a century later in the beautiful art works of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gauguin">Paul Gauguin</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51485/original/x6bqbxh3-1403064524.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arearea by Paul Gauguin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_d'Orsay#mediaviewer/Fichier:Arearea,_by_Paul_Gauguin.jpg">Musée d'Orsay/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is much more to the rich history of the Tropics and it is fascinating to dwell there. But given 21st century statistics, it is well past time that we rediscover the Tropics, and the power of Aristotle’s lateral conception of the world. </p>
<p>To do so means charting the Tropics, not in ships, but through data on the region’s power and potential. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51507/original/sj8x6c4f-1403070192.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A boy at a sing-sing village ceremony on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Ziembicki</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And we need to understand it not through an outdated Western lens that lurched between pestilence and paradise, but to consider it as a vitally important place where most of the world’s children will be living by 2050. </p>
<p>The trends we have identified in this State of the Tropics report demand the attention of global policy makers, as they show how the Tropics will, to a large extent, determine our global future.</p>
<p>The world is changing: we all know that. The news is it is changing in ways that defy current conceptions of our world. There is every good reason to be gripped by the power and potential of the Tropics, and what it means for global development.</p>
<p>The Tropics was lost, but now is found.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Further reading:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-generation-next-will-be-wealthier-but-not-always-healthier-27187">Earth’s generation next will be wealthier, but not always healthier</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wild-creatures-of-the-tropics-are-being-lost-before-theyre-found-27188">Wild creatures of the tropics are being lost before they’re found</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/burma-emerges-from-a-shadowy-past-but-real-progress-lies-ahead-27216">Burma emerges from a shadowy past, but progress lies ahead</a><br></em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Sandra Harding is Chair of Universities Australia and Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University, which produced the State of the Tropics report together with 11 other universities and research institutions worldwide.</span></em></p>Our Tropical Future: A new report on the State of the Tropics has revealed rapid changes in human and environmental health in the Earth’s tropical regions. This is the first in a four-part series about…Sandra Harding, Vice-Chancellor, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.