Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
geographical problems to be tackled in innovative ways is
provided by an investigation of the factors affecting deforestation
on Pacifi c islands by Barry Rolett and Jared Diamond in 2004.
They asked the question why, prior to European colonization,
some Pacifi c island societies, such as those of Easter Island and
Mangareva, inadvertently contributed to their own collapse by
causing massive deforestation, while other islands retained forest
cover and survived. Undoubtedly both different cultural responses
of peoples and different susceptibilities of environments were
involved. However, a comparative, multivariate analysis of nine
environmental variables measured on 69 islands enabled a clear
picture of which environmental factors predisposed towards
deforestation and, ultimately, societal collapse rather than forest
replacement and sustainability.
The extent of deforestation for agriculture, timber and fuel
was quantifi ed on a fi ve-point scale from the accounts of early
European visitors. The environmental variables measured
included: rainfall and latitude, which potentially affect forest
growth through climate; island age, volcanic ash fallout, and
dust fallout, which relate to nutrient availability; and a number
of topographic variables, which can be related to the diversity
of resources, accessibility, and other effects. The strength of the
relationships between these variables and their interactions,
revealed by the analyses, indicated that Easter Island's fragility,
predisposing it to deforestation by Polynesian people who
colonized many other islands without wreaking such extreme
impacts, can be attributed to a combination of a relatively
unfavourable climate, nutrients and topography. In other words,
Easter Island society did not collapse because the people were
unusually improvident but because they occupied a particularly
fragile environment and were unable or unwilling to adapt their
farming methods to suit its needs.
The introduction of quantitative methods into geography as
a generic skill had many repercussions. The development of
