Slash, burn, slide

What caused the deadly landslide in the Philippines that killed 1,800 people last February--besides 10 days of heavy rains on steep-sided mountains? Blame logging and mining practices three decades ago, said Roger Mercado, a member of the Philippine Congress, in an interview with Reuters shortly after the disaster.

Most of the country's forests have vanished due to legal and illegal logging and to "slash and burn" agricultural methods. Logging, mining and unsustainable farming all can destroy the forest cover that helps maintain soil stability, creating a "classic landslide scenario," David Petley, PhD, a professor at Durham University's International Landslide Centre in the UK, told the BBC.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Vegetarian Times, Inc. All rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

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