Still, by now, in the big coca-growing area the tropical Chapare region, inland from the Andes three times as much land is used for these crops as for coca.

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Moderating the tropical climate of the region, it presents one of the best examples of the monsoon system in the planet.

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One picture from that Greenpeace link in particular says it all: a region of tropical Sumatran forest cleared with as much wide-scale devastation as if a tsunami had taken out every last tree.

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New Zealand's high commissioner in Apia, Nick Hurley, said the cyclone was bigger than other tropical storms he had experienced in the region, and its strength was unexpected.

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These include the tropical Andes, the Brazilian Atlantic forests and Africa's Cape floristic region.

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So it's out near the dateline and in the central Pacific, and that moves a lot of tropical storm activity, thunderstorm activity, away from where it normally is north of Australia in the Monsoon region and the Indonesian region.

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