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Breakfast Of Biodiversity: The Political Ecology of Rain Forest Destruction
In Breakfast of Biodiversity, John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto insightfully describe the ways in which such disparate factors as the international banking system, modern agricultural techniques, rain forest ecology, and the struggles of the poor interact to bring down the forest. They weave an alternative vision in which democracy, sustainable agriculture, and land security for the poor are at the center of the movement to save the tropical environment.
This new, fully updated edition of Breakfast of Biodiversity discusses important new developments in our understanding of rain forest biology and assesses the impacts of a decade of “free” trade on the rain forest and on those who live in and around it.
This new, fully updated edition of Breakfast of Biodiversity discusses important new developments in our understanding of rain forest biology and assesses the impacts of a decade of “free” trade on the rain forest and on those who live in and around it.
207 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 29, 2025
*3.9/5 stars*
My professor wrote this book! Can attest that she's a wonderful, kind, and very knowledgeable teacher in addition to being a thorough and insightful author. (Also, I'm choosing to review this book on my own; we only read a few chapters of this in class but I decided to go ahead and finish it for my own sake. This is a mostly unbiased review)
Although environmental science is not my strongest suit, I am always excited to learn more about our food systems and how we can work to make the world a more sustainable place—not just at home, but on a global scale. The case studies represented in this book gave me a better scope of the ecological struggles different countries have endured and are enduring. The book did feel a bit convoluted at times, but this is likely because of my aforementioned lack of a background in this subject.
My professor wrote this book! Can attest that she's a wonderful, kind, and very knowledgeable teacher in addition to being a thorough and insightful author. (Also, I'm choosing to review this book on my own; we only read a few chapters of this in class but I decided to go ahead and finish it for my own sake. This is a mostly unbiased review)
Although environmental science is not my strongest suit, I am always excited to learn more about our food systems and how we can work to make the world a more sustainable place—not just at home, but on a global scale. The case studies represented in this book gave me a better scope of the ecological struggles different countries have endured and are enduring. The book did feel a bit convoluted at times, but this is likely because of my aforementioned lack of a background in this subject.
June 28, 2007
Kind of a commodity chain analysis of breakfast stuff: bananas, coffee, sausage, etc. Takes a look at the conditions under which these goods are produced in Latin America, and the effects that production has on the natural ecosystems of the region. Very political, talks a lot about corporate ownership, labor rights, and the power dynamics behind production. Also, importantly, why the structure of the system makes it so that deforestation/destruction is the only way to make a living.
April 13, 2024
SOME ORIGINAL SUGGESTIONS FOR RAINFOREST PRESERVATION
John Harry Vandermeer (born 1940) is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1971. Ivette Perfecto is Professor of Ecology, Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.
They wrote in the Preface to this 1995 book, “The world is already saturated with books about rain forests… they all had particular analyses about causes, their analysis focused on one or another issue---overpopulation, export agriculture, peasant agriculture, etc. We can appreciate the temptation to focus on the facts of rain forest destruction, and we agree that the nature of the problem itself is quite worthy of persistent propaganda. This… is why all the books say… tropical rain forests are useful and beautiful, yet they are being destroyed… But once alerted to the problem … Causes must be addressed, and we feel that most of the popular literature on the subject does not do it adequately… in the final analysis the cause is far more complicated… it is not difficult to appreciate this analysis, if the focus is not on an individual component but rather on the complete web. That is the purpose of this book.” (Pg. xi)
They continue, “Our purpose is to elaborate… the complicated story of why rain forests are disappearing. This is mainly a social, economic, and political story, with a pinch of ecology. The story has nothing to do with overpopulation and is not about a few evil capitalists who care more for profits than trees… The only way to reverse the pattern of the past five hundred years is, first, to understand the complexity of the web that creates the problem in the first place.” (Pg. xii)
They outline, “tropical rainforests cover only 7% of the earth’s surface yet harbor at least 50% of the world’s plant and animal species… they are … eating away at the excessive carbon dioxide we have excreted from our industrial metabolism… They are also beautiful!... the sense of wonder one experiences walking through this cradle of biodiversity cannot be expressed in words.” (Pg. 3)
They explain, “banana companies have been purchasing large expanses of land and expanding banana production accordingly … It appears likely that … most if not all of the arable land not currently in either biological preserve or organized agricultural communities, will become banana plantations… the expansion of bananas is viewed as a positive event by nearly everyone… Local workers and peasants see jobs being created… Significant, yet weak, opposition is coming from a small, loosely-structured local conservation movement… It is not difficult to predict what is likely to happen next… we can expect the banana companies to… reduce the cost of labor… by laying off workers… where will those former workers go? In the past there was always that mosaic of small farms… Now, however, that area will be taken up by banana plantations, and the only remaining area … will be within the four biological preserves in the area. It would take enormous naiveté to suppose that when their survival is at stake, these landless peasants will not begin cutting forest in the biological preserves.” (Pg. 8-11)
They state, “We assert that food insecurity is the root cause of deforestation… for two reasons. First, we wish to provide an antidote to the simplistic views that either overpopulation, or avaricious capitalism, cause deforestation. Second, we will argue that … the place to begin with is food security… the food security position reveals… that peasants seek land to feed their families… because available land is occupied by other activities… the techniques for sustainable agriculture in that zone have been replaced with destructive, chemically-based ones… The international order … is implicated in a chain of events that ultimately leads to the transformation from workers to peasants who must seek out rain forest land to farm in order to provide food for their families.” (Pg. 13-14)
They summarize, “six factors---high biodiversity, pollination, herbivory, seed dispersal, light gap dynamics, and soils---are the simple elements of how tropical rain forests function… each of these six key elements will play a part in any and all proposed management schemes of tropical rain forest areas. They will be useful in understanding the enigma of poor farming potential in the most lush ecosystem on earth, the headaches of reforestation after commercial logging, and how to make good on the promise of food from the forest.” (Pg. 23)
They note, “slash-and-burn agriculture represents the first significant human activity that can be thought of as DEFORESTATION… One pattern of that evolution is a tendency to shorten… the fallow cycle… When fallow time is shortened, it is known as ‘intensification’ of agriculture. ‘Extensive’ systems involve large amounts of land in fallow and gradually give way to ‘intensive’ ones in which all the land is simultaneously under cultivation.” (Pg. 58) Later, they add, “The logged forest could easily regenerate into a tropical rain forest, were it not for the additional conversion to agriculture. So the force that creates landless peasants must be identified as a major force in the destruction of tropical rain forests. That force is the major world system.” (Pg. 89) They also suggest,
“the best way to reforest a logged rain forest is to leave it alone. Rather than focusing attention on trying to actively restore a deforested area, energy would be better spent focusing on … what happens after logging, for example, secondary agricultural incursions, and forest fires.” (Pg. 99)
They observe, “the dualism of the Third World is a functional dualism. It functions to provide an escape valve for investors from the Developed World…. In all cases, Third World people are forced to accept such arrangements, largely because of their extremely underdeveloped economies.” (Pg. 87)
They argue, “We are well aware that our analysis is at odds with much of the international community that seeks to preserve rain forests. We do not despair at this incongruity… It is an unfortunate truth that ‘empire building,’ careerism, and even economic self-interest, sometimes drive conservation programs, and foster ‘analyses’ which systematically exclude a search for the real root causes… we, like the Lorax, seek to speak for the forest.” (Pg. 107)
They acknowledge, “Stemming the tide of rain forest destruction requires not only development, but development that is sustainable… In the New World Order … development will proceed fastest for those able to ignore constraints others either cannot or will not ignore. Thus, although sustainability is required to save the rain forests, it seems unacceptable as a constraint on development, at least under conditions of the current world order.” (Pg. 123)
They say, “The agricultural activities that almost inevitably follow a logging operation are far more devastating than the logging itself… absolute loss of species as a direct result of logging is probably rare. The trees resprout, the birds hide in the resprouting trees, and who knows that happens to the insects and other smaller animals? In fact we have little evidence that the simple act of cutting the forest down does anything whatsoever to biodiversity… It may well turn out that, despite the devastated physical appearance of … logged forest, little biodiversity loss occurs due to the DIRECT effects of a logging operation itself.” (Pg. 129-130)
They suggest, “The current assumption of some conservationists that pristineness and uniqueness are the primary criteria for a proper appreciation of nature derives from a kind of romantic reductionism essentialism. It probably should be abandoned… Pristineness and uniqueness certainly enter the equation, but not necessarily as the dominant features. Similarly, making profit potential the primary criteria … should also be abandoned. Rather, the potential for nature to make a profit … should include the question of profit for whom?” (Pg. 152)
They conclude, “to ask why there are landless peasants… is, at its most basic level, the fundamental question of progressive politics… the movement to save rain forests needs to be closely linked with… the movement for social justice.” (Pg. 158-159) They continue, “Political action must eschew single-issue foci. Calls for boycotts of tropical timbers or bananas need to be coupled with actions to change investment patterns and international banking pressures… The web of causality, the landscape mosaic, and the social justice, political-action framework thus form the tripod upon which we seek to base the conclusions of this book.” (Pg. 166-167)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying rainforests, and solutions.
John Harry Vandermeer (born 1940) is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1971. Ivette Perfecto is Professor of Ecology, Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.
They wrote in the Preface to this 1995 book, “The world is already saturated with books about rain forests… they all had particular analyses about causes, their analysis focused on one or another issue---overpopulation, export agriculture, peasant agriculture, etc. We can appreciate the temptation to focus on the facts of rain forest destruction, and we agree that the nature of the problem itself is quite worthy of persistent propaganda. This… is why all the books say… tropical rain forests are useful and beautiful, yet they are being destroyed… But once alerted to the problem … Causes must be addressed, and we feel that most of the popular literature on the subject does not do it adequately… in the final analysis the cause is far more complicated… it is not difficult to appreciate this analysis, if the focus is not on an individual component but rather on the complete web. That is the purpose of this book.” (Pg. xi)
They continue, “Our purpose is to elaborate… the complicated story of why rain forests are disappearing. This is mainly a social, economic, and political story, with a pinch of ecology. The story has nothing to do with overpopulation and is not about a few evil capitalists who care more for profits than trees… The only way to reverse the pattern of the past five hundred years is, first, to understand the complexity of the web that creates the problem in the first place.” (Pg. xii)
They outline, “tropical rainforests cover only 7% of the earth’s surface yet harbor at least 50% of the world’s plant and animal species… they are … eating away at the excessive carbon dioxide we have excreted from our industrial metabolism… They are also beautiful!... the sense of wonder one experiences walking through this cradle of biodiversity cannot be expressed in words.” (Pg. 3)
They explain, “banana companies have been purchasing large expanses of land and expanding banana production accordingly … It appears likely that … most if not all of the arable land not currently in either biological preserve or organized agricultural communities, will become banana plantations… the expansion of bananas is viewed as a positive event by nearly everyone… Local workers and peasants see jobs being created… Significant, yet weak, opposition is coming from a small, loosely-structured local conservation movement… It is not difficult to predict what is likely to happen next… we can expect the banana companies to… reduce the cost of labor… by laying off workers… where will those former workers go? In the past there was always that mosaic of small farms… Now, however, that area will be taken up by banana plantations, and the only remaining area … will be within the four biological preserves in the area. It would take enormous naiveté to suppose that when their survival is at stake, these landless peasants will not begin cutting forest in the biological preserves.” (Pg. 8-11)
They state, “We assert that food insecurity is the root cause of deforestation… for two reasons. First, we wish to provide an antidote to the simplistic views that either overpopulation, or avaricious capitalism, cause deforestation. Second, we will argue that … the place to begin with is food security… the food security position reveals… that peasants seek land to feed their families… because available land is occupied by other activities… the techniques for sustainable agriculture in that zone have been replaced with destructive, chemically-based ones… The international order … is implicated in a chain of events that ultimately leads to the transformation from workers to peasants who must seek out rain forest land to farm in order to provide food for their families.” (Pg. 13-14)
They summarize, “six factors---high biodiversity, pollination, herbivory, seed dispersal, light gap dynamics, and soils---are the simple elements of how tropical rain forests function… each of these six key elements will play a part in any and all proposed management schemes of tropical rain forest areas. They will be useful in understanding the enigma of poor farming potential in the most lush ecosystem on earth, the headaches of reforestation after commercial logging, and how to make good on the promise of food from the forest.” (Pg. 23)
They note, “slash-and-burn agriculture represents the first significant human activity that can be thought of as DEFORESTATION… One pattern of that evolution is a tendency to shorten… the fallow cycle… When fallow time is shortened, it is known as ‘intensification’ of agriculture. ‘Extensive’ systems involve large amounts of land in fallow and gradually give way to ‘intensive’ ones in which all the land is simultaneously under cultivation.” (Pg. 58) Later, they add, “The logged forest could easily regenerate into a tropical rain forest, were it not for the additional conversion to agriculture. So the force that creates landless peasants must be identified as a major force in the destruction of tropical rain forests. That force is the major world system.” (Pg. 89) They also suggest,
“the best way to reforest a logged rain forest is to leave it alone. Rather than focusing attention on trying to actively restore a deforested area, energy would be better spent focusing on … what happens after logging, for example, secondary agricultural incursions, and forest fires.” (Pg. 99)
They observe, “the dualism of the Third World is a functional dualism. It functions to provide an escape valve for investors from the Developed World…. In all cases, Third World people are forced to accept such arrangements, largely because of their extremely underdeveloped economies.” (Pg. 87)
They argue, “We are well aware that our analysis is at odds with much of the international community that seeks to preserve rain forests. We do not despair at this incongruity… It is an unfortunate truth that ‘empire building,’ careerism, and even economic self-interest, sometimes drive conservation programs, and foster ‘analyses’ which systematically exclude a search for the real root causes… we, like the Lorax, seek to speak for the forest.” (Pg. 107)
They acknowledge, “Stemming the tide of rain forest destruction requires not only development, but development that is sustainable… In the New World Order … development will proceed fastest for those able to ignore constraints others either cannot or will not ignore. Thus, although sustainability is required to save the rain forests, it seems unacceptable as a constraint on development, at least under conditions of the current world order.” (Pg. 123)
They say, “The agricultural activities that almost inevitably follow a logging operation are far more devastating than the logging itself… absolute loss of species as a direct result of logging is probably rare. The trees resprout, the birds hide in the resprouting trees, and who knows that happens to the insects and other smaller animals? In fact we have little evidence that the simple act of cutting the forest down does anything whatsoever to biodiversity… It may well turn out that, despite the devastated physical appearance of … logged forest, little biodiversity loss occurs due to the DIRECT effects of a logging operation itself.” (Pg. 129-130)
They suggest, “The current assumption of some conservationists that pristineness and uniqueness are the primary criteria for a proper appreciation of nature derives from a kind of romantic reductionism essentialism. It probably should be abandoned… Pristineness and uniqueness certainly enter the equation, but not necessarily as the dominant features. Similarly, making profit potential the primary criteria … should also be abandoned. Rather, the potential for nature to make a profit … should include the question of profit for whom?” (Pg. 152)
They conclude, “to ask why there are landless peasants… is, at its most basic level, the fundamental question of progressive politics… the movement to save rain forests needs to be closely linked with… the movement for social justice.” (Pg. 158-159) They continue, “Political action must eschew single-issue foci. Calls for boycotts of tropical timbers or bananas need to be coupled with actions to change investment patterns and international banking pressures… The web of causality, the landscape mosaic, and the social justice, political-action framework thus form the tripod upon which we seek to base the conclusions of this book.” (Pg. 166-167)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying rainforests, and solutions.
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October 30, 2024Very interesting to read about concerns regarding the preservation of Costa Rica’s rainforest in the 90s before Costa Rica became the poster child for ecotourism and reforestation.
July 24, 2009
Using this book for a class on conservation I am teaching - my students really like it and it does a pretty good job of explaining historical, economic, structural, social, etc. causes of deforestation - shows some of the complexity of the issue of deforestation and food insecurity in a surprisingly easy to digest fashion. I only wish it included more specific explanations of the relationships of other industries besides the banana industry to deforestation/conservation issues in Costa Rica, and maybe contrasted with another country like Brazil presents a very different conservation/agriculture/food security situation, but that's probably just my bias speaking.
July 7, 2008
Classic analysis of interfaces between economics, politics, sociology, and ecology. Great way to develop an appreciation for the complexities of development and insights into how a systems approach is preferable.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews