Princeton Professor Warns of Cultivation Threat

Before a sea of enthusiastic spectators, Princeton Professor David S. Wilcove spoke last night about the impact of environmental practices in two developing areas of the world as part of the “Biodiversity, Ecology, and Global Change” lecture series.

Armed with a host of colorful land distribution charts and photographs from his research, Wilcove discussed the biodiversity-friendly methods of pastoralism and planned burning in Kenya, and contrasted them with the disastrous effects of oil palm cultivation in Borneo.

“This series aims to draw attention to global ecology issues, with a strong scientific bent,” said Jonathan B. Losos ’84, a Harvard biology professor who ran the speaker selection committee. “We try to bring in people doing important research on environmental issues.”

Wilcove focused his discussion on some recent studies that he conducted with his graduate students.

In Kenya, he analyzed areas which had been either intentionally burned or used as grazing pastures for livestock.

He found that both practices increased the population and variety of bird species living in the area in subsequent years.

Wilcove then discussed the harmful effects of oil palm cultivation on bird and butterfly populations in Borneo. His studies found that the conversion of forestland into plantations caused huge drops in biodiversity.

“If you want to choose one development that is likely to cause the greatest number of species to reach endangerment or extinction in the next twenty years, it is the oil palm,” said Wilcove, who teaches biology and ecology courses at Princeton.

Some of the audience members were pleased with the lecture.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” said Richard C. Stanley ’12. “I’d heard of Wilcove before and knew about his work, so it was really cool to hear him speak.”

But some disagreed with Wilcove’s environmental policy proposals.

“I thought the discussion about the relative impacts of crops on biodiversity was very interesting, but I thought the solution proposed was lacking from both a humanitarian and a pragmatic perspective,” Harvard graduate student Kaveri Rajaraman said.

In spite of this, Wilcove said he was glad that he had sparked a debate, as long as he promoted discussion of environmental issues.

“I’m happy whenever I give a talk and I have an audience and people ask questions,” he said.