The invaluable biodiversity of the rainforests and cloud forests is under severe threat. There is intense pressure to exploit them: deforestation for tropical timber, slash-and-burn farming to create palm oil plantations or cattle pastures, the patenting of plant substances, and urbanization.
Can we even afford to permanently damage the vital life-support systems of our “spaceship” Earth, given that rainforests serve as a crucial “circulating pump” in the global water cycle? They are also the habitats of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom—the great apes—which have already been driven back to small forest islands in Africa (chimpanzees, gorillas) and Southeast Asia (orangutans). Not to mention other rare animal species, such as the night monkeys in Colombia’s cloud forest or the myriad of insects, plants, and microorganisms that these ecosystems harbor.
Unimagined treasures face destruction before we can even begin to explore their value for the survival of humanity. For example, as-yet-unknown plant compounds or the metabolic products of microorganisms could play an important role in combating drug-resistant pathogens.
But such considerations are not the only ones that should matter here, for the cultural wealth of indigenous peoples—who have been sustainably managing these forests since time immemorial—is also under threat.
NGOs are striving to halt the loss of biodiversity. The smaller they are and the more locally they operate, the more important our support is to them. This is especially true of “Dapa Viva,” which works in Colombia to educate the local population about the value of the region’s cloud forest through environmental education, in order to protect it from the encroachment of urbanization.
Venue: Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Görlitz Campus, Building G I; lectures in Room 0.01; evening event in the auditorium, Furtstraße 2, 02826 Görlitz
Lecture Program I:
2:30–2:45 p.m. Official Welcome
Vice President for Education and International Affairs, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences
2:45 – 3:00p .m. Introduction to the topic
Prof. Dr. Christa Maria Heidger, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences
3:00 – 3:45 p.m. Impact of Palm Oil Cultivation on biodiversity
Diplom (FH) Denis Kupsch, M.Sc. , Georg August University of Göttingen,
Department of Conservation Biology, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Institute of Zoology
3:45–4:15 p.m. A Lost World on a Knife’s Edge – Protection and Threats to the Rainforests of the South American Guiana Shield
Dr. Rafael Ernst, Curator of Herpetology, Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Natural History Collections, Dresden
Break
4:30–5:00 p.m. Experience Rio Negro – Sustainable Tourism in the Amazon Basin
Prof. Dr. Annette Drews,Zittau/GörlitzUniversity of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences
Lecture Program II:
5:00–5:30 p.m. Dapa Viva – An NGO Introduces Itself:
The Mountain That Moved and the River That Disappeared – Environmental Protection in the Colombian Andes
Ana Ocampo and Armin Hirche
5:30–6:00 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderator: Dr. Christian Düker, Press and Public Relations Officer, Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Görlitz
A shuttle bus service from Zittau to Görlitz and back is available for students and staff.
Due to limited seating, we ask that you register in advance by sending a binding confirmation to a.bulcsu@hszg.de no later than October 30, 2015. Information regarding any remaining seats for last-minute participants can beobtained by calling 03583 61-1461 .
Departure for Görlitz: 1:30 p.m. in front of Building Z III (Theodor-Körner-Allee 16)
Return trip to Zittau: 9:15 p.m. from Furtstraße
Accompanying program:
Special exhibition: OROVERDE – The Tropical Forest Foundation
Presentations: DapaViva
Photo exhibition “Indigenous Art” by Prof. Dr. Christoph Althaus, Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences
Evening program:
Salsa workshop for everyone with Michael Wolf and a fundraiser for DapaViva
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Contact for inquiries:
Andreas Bulcsu
03583-611461