Roots of the Anthropocene in tropical forests date back 10,000 years

Madrid. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology have identified three key thresholds in human land use in tropical rainforests over the past 10,000 years.

The first two mark the beginning of food production and the emergence of new forms of settlement.

Many foods we take for granted in the world, such as corn, chicken and chocolate, originate in the tropics. The expansion of rice and water buffalo into rainforests was often accompanied by increased levels of deforestation, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas emissions.

It can also be assumed that the onset of urbanisation in the tropics around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago, and its associated exchange networks and resource demands, introduced new pressures on these ecosystems. New information and technologies were put into circulation and invasive species spread, the Max Planck Institute reports in a statement.

The third threshold refers to the expansion of European and, later, American colonialism and imperialism in the tropics. While Europe and the Americas had previously been isolated from each other, the arrival of the Iberian colonial powers directly connected them and integrated them into a global system of economic exploitation.

As a result, wild and domesticated plant and animal species were traded and introduced on a large scale, permanently changing landscapes around the world. In addition, the spread of disease, the slave trade and violence practised by colonial powers had a drastic impact on indigenous people and their use of the land.

The feedback mechanisms of the Earth system may have already been permanently altered by that time. The marginalisation of indigenous land-use practices and the spread of the colonial system, based on clearing for profit as well as forced and slave labour, continued into the 20th century. The effects this had on global inequalities and tropical sustainability can still be felt, according to research.