2nd generation Amazonian rain forests?!

From Mark Bergin in World...

Rainforests are worth protecting. The dense jungles of vegetation cover only about 7 percent of the world's land surface but house, according to some estimates, about half of all plant and animal species.

So it was that a New York Times story last month questioning the importance of old-growth preservation set off a firestorm in the environmentalist community....

The story quoted Smithsonian senior scientist Joe Wright, who believes that "secondary" forests emerging on the abandoned farmland of once agrarian societies can largely serve to replace the acreage of pristine forests lost each year to fire, logging, or palm oil extraction....the UN and Smithsonian Institution have recognized the environmental benefits of new growth since 2005.

But the presence of such a controversial idea on the front page of one of the nation's most-read newspapers triggered more than a little outrage....