Delta State University

SOC 422/522 COD 522

Spring Semester 2005

Study Questions, Week 9

Topics for the Week:

Plants & Animals; Forests, Wetlands

Readings for the Week:

Kummer, David M. and B.L. Turner II. 1994. The human causes of deforestation in Southeast Asia. BioScience 44(5):323–328.

Lynch, Owen J. 1998. Law, pluralism and the promotion of sustainable community-based forest management. Unasylva 49(3):52–56.

Spangler, Adam. 2004. Wading Through Everglades Policy. Earth Island Journal 19(1):39-41.

Huffman, Alan. 1999. Dubious Days in the Delta. National Wildlife (37)2.
 

Questions:

(1)  What variables contribute to deforestation in tropical areas?  What role do government policies play in deforestation?

(2)  Describe the processes through which deforestation occurs in the Philippines, according to Kummer and Turner.  What evidence do they provide to support their model?

(3)  Identify problems researchers face when they try to model deforestation processes.

(4)  What is the relationship between law and deforestation?  Between civil society and deforestation?  Which is more likely to contribute to sustainable forest management?

(5)  What are some of the important functions that wetlands play in ecological terms?  In social terms?

(6)  Describe some of the interests that are battling over the status of wetlands in the United States.  What do the different sides want to see done with wetlands?  Why?

(7)  What are the most significant threats to wetlands in the U.S.?  What is being done to protect wetlands?