deforestation of the amazon case study answers

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• Published: 24 June 2019

Amazonian tree species threatened by deforestation and climate change

• Vitor H. F. Gomes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3855-5584 1 , 2 ,
• Ima C. G. Vieira 1 , 2 ,
• Rafael P. Salomão 3 &
• Hans ter Steege   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8738-2659 3 , 4 , 5  

Nature Climate Change volume  9 ,  pages 547–553 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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• Biodiversity
• Biogeography
• Climate-change ecology
• Environmental impact
• Forest ecology

Deforestation is currently the major threat to Amazonian tree species but climate change may surpass it in just a few decades. Here, we show that climate and deforestation combined could cause a decline of up to 58% in Amazon tree species richness, whilst deforestation alone may cause 19–36% and climate change 31–37% by 2050. Quantification is achieved by overlaying species distribution models for current and future climate change scenarios with historical and projected deforestation. Species may lose an average of 65% of their original environmentally suitable area, and a total of 53% may be threatened according to IUCN Red List criteria; however, Amazonian protected area networks reduce these impacts. The worst-case combined scenario—assuming no substantial climate or deforestation policy progress—suggests that by 2050 the Amazonian lowland rainforest may be cut into two blocks: one continuous block with 53% of the original area and another severely fragmented block. This outlook urges rapid progress to zero deforestation, which would help to mitigate climate change and foster biodiversity conservation.

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Data availability.

All data used can be freely downloaded from GBIF ( http://www.gbif.org ) and WorldClim ( http://www.worldclim.org ) and are also available from the corresponding author upon request. A full list of species used can be found in Supplementary Table 1 .

Code availability

The R code used for calculations and analyses is available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

V.H.F.G, H.t.S. and R.P.S. were supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico grant no. 407232/2013-3—PVE—MEC/MCTI/CAPES/CNPq/FAPs. R.P.S. is also supported by Programa Professor Visitante Nacional Sênior na Amazônia—CAPES. I.C.G.V. is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico grant no. 308778/2017-0—CNPq. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001. We thank S. Mota de Oliveira for constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Ambientais, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil

Vitor H. F. Gomes & Ima C. G. Vieira

Coordenação de Botânica, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Brazil

Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, Brazil

Rafael P. Salomão & Hans ter Steege

Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

• Hans ter Steege

Systems Ecology, Free University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

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V.H.F.G. conceived the study. V.H.F.G., I.C.G.V. and H.t.S. designed the study. V.H.F.G. carried out the GBIF data collection. H.t.S checked the species list. V.H.F.G. carried out the analyses and wrote the R scripts. V.H.F.G. and H.t.S wrote the manuscript. I.C.G.V and R.P.S provided comments and feedback.

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Correspondence to Vitor H. F. Gomes .

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Gomes, V.H.F., Vieira, I.C.G., Salomão, R.P. et al. Amazonian tree species threatened by deforestation and climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9 , 547–553 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0500-2

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Received : 13 June 2018

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Published : 24 June 2019

Issue Date : July 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0500-2

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Amazon Deforestation and Climate Change

Join Gisele Bundchen when she meets with one of Brazil’s top climate scientists to discuss the complexity of the Amazon rainforest and its connection to Earth’s atmosphere.

Anthropology, Geography

High on a tower overlooking the lush Amazon canopy, Gisele Bundchen and Brazilian climate scientist Antonio Nobre talk about the importance of the rainforest and the impact of cutting down its trees.

As Nobre explains, the rainforest is not only home to an incredible diversity of species, it also has a critical cooling effect on the planet because its trees channel heat high into the atmosphere. In addition, forests absorb and store carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere—CO 2 that is released back into the atmosphere when trees are cut and burned.

Nobre warns that if deforestation continues at current levels, we are headed for disaster. The Amazon region could become drier and drier, unable to support healthy habitats or croplands.

Find more of this story in the “Fueling the Fire” episode of the National Geographic Channel’s Years of Living Dangerously series.

Transcript (English)

- Growing up in Southern Brazil, my five sisters and I ate meat pretty much every day. It's just part of the culture here. Per capita, Brazilians are one of the top consumers of beef on the planet. Now, with the world's growing appetite for beef, Brazil has also become a major exporter and is aiming to increase its market share, partly by selling to the US, the world's biggest consumer of beef, and to China, where demand for beef has grown 25% in just 10 years. I understand the need to develop and grow, but does that have to come at the expense of the rainforest and the climate? The Amazon Rainforest is about the same size as the continental United States. One-fifth of the world's fresh water runs through it, and it is home to more species of animals and plants than anywhere on Earth. The Amazon represents more than half of the remaining rainforests on the planet. This forest is so vast, but it is not indestructible. To find out what's at stake, I'm going to talk to one of Brazil's top climate scientist, Dr. Antonio Nobre. So Antonio, tell us a little bit about this amazing green carpet of heaven over here.

- Well, most people don't have the opportunity to come from the top of the forest. If you see all this many shades of green as you see here, it's because biodiversity is the essence of this type of forest. Every species of trees has thousands of species of bugs, and also if you get a leaf of one of the species, and you look to the microbes that is sitting on the top of leaf, you find millions of species, millions, and this is all below our radar screen, so to speak, because we don't realize, it's invisible. And the trees are shooting water from the ground, groundwater up high in the sky, and this goes up into the atmosphere and releases the heat out there, and this radiates to space. And this is very important as a mechanism to cool the planet. They're like air conditioners. Open air conditioning, that's what the forest is.

- So in other words, if we lose all these trees, we are losing the air conditioning that cools off the whole planet.

- Not only that.

- Not only that?

- No. The trees are soaking up carbon, you know the pollution that we produce, like carbon dioxide? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Burning gasoline in our cars, you release carbon dioxide in the air, or burning coal, and the trees use carbon dioxide as a raw material.

- So the trees are storing all this carbon, so if you come and cut it down and burn it out, does that mean that all that carbon goes up in the air?

- Absolutely. Yeah.

- What would happen if this forest was gone?

- When the forest is destroyed, climate changes, and then forest that's left is damaged as well. And then the forest grows drier and drier and eventually catch fire. So in the extreme, the whole area becomes a desert. And that's what is in store if we deforest. So we have to quit deforestation yesterday, not 2020 or '30. And there is no plan C. You know, you have plan A. Plan A is business as usual. Keep plundering with all the resources and using as if it were infinite. Plan B is what many people are attempting, changing the matrix of energy and using clean sources, stop eating too much meat, and replanting forests If that doesn't work, then we go to plan C. What's plan C? I have no idea.

- Going to another planet.

- But we can't do that.

- We don't have another planet, so either we work with plan B or we're-

- Basically, yeah. We're done, and so plan B has to work. It has to work.

- People have to take accountability, 'cause it can't just be like, I'm leaving over here and whatever happens over there, who cares?

- It's not my problem.

- It's not my problem, because it is everyone's problem.

- Yes. People should wake up. It's like when you're in the midst of an unfolding disaster, what do you do? You panic? No. You move it. Move, move, move, move. That's what we need to do.

Transcripción (Español)

- El año en que vivimos en peligro.

- Cuando era niña en el sur de Brasil, mis cinco hermanas y yo comíamos carne casi todos los días. Es parte de la cultura aquí. Per cápita, los brasileños son uno de los mayores consumidores de carne de res en el planeta. Ahora, con el creciente apetito mundial por la carne de res, Brasil también se ha convertido en un importante exportador y está buscando aumentar su participación en el mercado, en parte vendiendo a los Estados Unidos, el mayor consumidor de carne de res del mundo, y a China, donde la demanda de carne de res ha crecido un 25 % en tan solo 10 años. Entiendo la necesidad de desarrollarse y crecer, pero ¿tiene que ser a expensas de la selva tropical y el clima? La selva amazónica tiene casi el mismo tamaño que los Estados Unidos continentales. Una quinta parte del agua dulce del mundo fluye a través de ella. Y es hogar de más especies de animales y plantas que cualquier otro lugar en la Tierra. El Amazonas representa más de la mitad de las selvas tropicales restantes en el planeta. Estado Mato Grosso, Brasil Esta selva es tan vasta, pero no es indestructible. Para descubrir lo que está en juego, voy a hablar con uno de los principales científicos climáticos de Brasil, el Dr. Antonio Nobre. Antonio, cuéntanos un poco acerca de esta increíble alfombra verde de cielo que tenemos aquí.

- Bueno, la mayoría de las personas no tienen la oportunidad de venir hasta la cima de la selva. Si ves todos los diferentes tonos de verde como estos aquí, es porque la biodiversidad es la esencia de este tipo de selva. Cada especie de árboles tiene miles de especies de insectos, y también si tomas una hoja de una de las especies, y miras a los microbios en la parte superior de la hoja, encuentras millones de especies, millones, y todo esto queda por debajo de nuestro radar, porque no nos damos cuenta, es invisible. Y los árboles están extrayendo agua del subsuelo, hasta lo alto en el cielo, y esto sube a la atmósfera y libera el calor allí, y esto se irradia al espacio. Este es un mecanismo muy importante para enfriar el planeta. Son como aires acondicionados. Aire acondicionado al aire libre, eso es el bosque.

- En otras palabras, si perdemos todos estos árboles, estamos perdiendo el aire acondicionado que enfría todo el planeta.

- No solo eso.

- ¿No solo eso?

- No. Los árboles están absorbiendo carbono, ¿la contaminación que producimos, como el dióxido de carbono?

- Al quemar gasolina en los autos, se libera dióxido de carbono al aire, o quemando carbón, y los árboles usan el dióxido de carbono como materia prima.

- Entonces los árboles están almacenando todo este carbono, así que si lo cortas y lo quemas, ¿eso significa que todo ese carbono sube al aire?

- Absolutamente. Sí.

- ¿Qué pasaría si este bosque desapareciera?

- Cuando el bosque es destruido, el clima cambia, y luego el bosque que queda también se daña. Luego el bosque se vuelve cada vez más seco y eventualmente se incendia. En caso extremo, toda el área se convierte en un desierto. Eso es lo que nos espera si deforestamos. Así que tenemos que dejar de deforestar desde ayer, no en 2020 o 2030. No hay un plan C. Tienes un plan A. El plan A es seguir como siempre. Continuar saqueando todos los recursos y usarlos como si fueran infinitos. El plan B es lo que muchos están intentando, cambiar la matriz de energía y usar fuentes limpias, dejar de comer demasiada carne y reforestar bosques. Si eso no funciona, entonces pasamos al plan C. ¿Cuál es el plan C?

- No tengo idea.

- Ir a otro planeta.

- Pero no podemos hacer eso.

- No tenemos otro planeta, así que o trabajamos con el plan B o estamos-

- Acabados.

- Básicamente, sí. Estamos acabados, así que el plan B tiene que funcionar. Tiene que funcionar.

- Las personas deben asumir responsabilidad, porque no puedes nada más pensar, yo vivo aquí y lo que suceda por allá, ¿a quién le importa?

- A mí qué.

- No es mi problema, porque es un problema de todos.

- Sí. La gente debería despertar. Es como cuando estás en medio de un desastre en desarrollo, ¿qué haces? ¿Entrar en pánico? No. Lo mueves. Que se mueva. Eso es lo que necesitamos hacer.

The Amazon rain forest absorbs one-fourth of the CO2 absorbed by all the land on Earth. The amount absorbed today, however, is 30% less than it was in the 1990s because of deforestation. A major motive for deforestation is cattle ranching. China, the United States, and other countries have created a consumer demand for beef, so clearing land for cattle ranching can be profitable—even if it’s illegal. The demand for pastureland, as well as cropland for food such as soybeans, makes it difficult to protect forest resources.

Many countries are making progress in the effort to stop deforestation. Countries in South America and Southeast Asia, as well as China, have taken steps that have helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the destruction of forests by one-fourth over the past 15 years.

Brazil continues to make impressive strides in reducing its impact on climate change. In the past two decades, its CO2 emissions have dropped more than any other country. Destruction of the rain forest in Brazil has decreased from about 19,943 square kilometers (7,700 square miles) per year in the late 1990s to about 5,180 square kilometers (2,000 square miles) per year now. Moving forward, the major challenge will be fighting illegal deforestation.

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UConn Today

September 7, 2021 | Combined Reports - UConn Communications

Study Shows the Impacts of Deforestation and Forest Burning on Biodiversity in the Amazon

Since 2001, between 40,000 and 73,400 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been impacted by fires

Ring of fire: Smoke rises through the understory of a forest in the Amazon region. Plants and animals in the Amazonian rainforest evolved largely without fire, so they lack the adaptations necessary to cope with it. (Credit: Paulo Brando)

A new study, co-authored by a team of researchers including UConn Ecology and Evolutionary Biology researcher Cory Merow provides the first quantitative assessment of how environmental policies on deforestation, along with forest fires and drought, have impacted the diversity of plants and animals in the Amazon. The findings were published in the Sept. 1 issue of Nature .

Researchers used records of more than 14,500 plant and vertebrate species to create biodiversity maps of the Amazon region. Overlaying the maps with historical and current observations of forest fires and deforestation over the last two decades allowed the team to quantify the cumulative impacts on the region’s species.

They found that since 2001, between 40,000 and 73,400 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been impacted by fires, affecting 95% of all Amazonian species and as many as 85% of species that are listed as threatened in this region. While forest management policies enacted in Brazil during the mid-2000s slowed the rate of habitat destruction, relaxed enforcement of these policies coinciding with a change in government in 2019 has seemingly begun to reverse this trend, the authors write. With fires impacting 1,640 to 4,000 square miles of forest, 2019 stands out as one of the most extreme years for biodiversity impacts since 2009, when regulations limiting deforestation were enforced.

“Perhaps most compelling is the role that public pressure played in curbing forest loss in 2019,” Merow says. “When the Brazilian government stopped enforced forest regulations in 2019, each month between January and August 2019 was the worse month on record (e.g. comparing January 2019 to previous January’s) for forest loss in the 20-year history of available data. However, based on international pressure, forest regulation resumed in September 2019, and forest loss declined significantly for the rest of the year, resulting in 2019 looking like an average year compared to the 20-year history.  This was big: active media coverage and public support for policy changes were effective at curbing biodiversity loss on a very rapid time scale.”

The findings are especially critical in light of the fact that at no point in time did the Amazon get a break from those increasing impacts, which would have allowed for some recovery, says senior study author Brian Enquist, a professor in UArizona’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology .

“Even with policies in place, which you can think of as a brake slowing the rate of deforestation, it’s like a car that keeps moving forward, just at a slower speed,” Enquist says. “But in 2019, it’s like the foot was let off the brake, causing it to accelerate again.”

Known mostly for its dense rainforests, the Amazon basin supports around 40% of the world’s remaining tropical forests. It is of global importance as a provider of ecosystem services such as scrubbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, and it plays a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate. The area also is an enormous reservoir of the planet’s biodiversity, providing habitats for one out of every 10 of the planet’s known species. It has been estimated that in the Amazon, 1,000 tree species can populate an area smaller than a half square mile.

“Fire is not a part of the natural cycle in the rainforest,” says study co-author Crystal N. H. McMichael at the University of Amsterdam. “Native species lack the adaptations that would allow them to cope with it, unlike the forest communities in temperate areas. Repeated burning can cause massive changes in species composition and likely devastating consequences for the entire ecosystem.”

Since the 1960s, the Amazon has lost about 20% of its forest cover to deforestation and fires. While fires and deforestation often go hand in hand, that has not always been the case, Enquist says. As climate change brings more frequent and more severe drought conditions to the region, and fire is often used to clear large areas of rainforest for the agricultural industry, deforestation has spillover effects by increasing the chances of wildfires. Forest loss is predicted reach 21 to 40% by 2050, and such habitat loss will have large impacts on the region’s biodiversity, according to the authors.

“Since the majority of fires in the Amazon are intentionally set by people, preventing them is largely within our control,” says study co-author Patrick Roehrdanz, senior manager of climate change and biodiversity at Conservation International. “One way is to recommit to strong antideforestation policies in Brazil, combined with incentives for a forest economy, and replicate them in other Amazonian countries.”

Policies to protect Amazonian biodiversity should include the formal recognition of Indigenous lands, which encompass more than one-third of the Amazon region, the authors write, pointing to previous research showing that lands owned, used or occupied by Indigenous peoples have less species decline, less pollution and better-managed natural resources.

The authors say their study underscores the dangers of continuing lax policy enforcement. As fires encroach on the heart of the Amazon basin, where biodiversity is greatest, their impacts will have more dire effects, even if the rate of forest burning remains unchanged.

The research was made possible by strategic investment funds allocated by the Arizona Institutes for Resilience at UArizona and the university’s Bridging Biodiversity and Conservation Science group. Additional support came from the National Science Foundation’s Harnessing the Data Revolution program . Data and computation were provided through the Botanical Information and Ecology Network , which is supported by CyVerse , the NSF’s data management platform led by UArizona.

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Case Study: The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon in context

Tropical rainforests are often considered to be the “cradles of biodiversity.” Though they cover only about 6% of the Earth’s land surface, they are home to over 50% of global biodiversity. Rainforests also take in massive amounts of carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, which has also given them the nickname “lungs of the planet.” They also store very large amounts of carbon, and so cutting and burning their biomass contributes to global climate change. Many modern medicines are derived from rainforest plants, and several very important food crops originated in the rainforest, including bananas, mangos, chocolate, coffee, and sugar cane.

In order to qualify as a tropical rainforest, an area must receive over 250 centimeters of rainfall each year and have an average temperature above 24 degrees centigrade, as well as never experience frosts. The Amazon rainforest in South America is the largest in the world. The second largest is the Congo in central Africa, and other important rainforests can be found in Central America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. Brazil contains about 40% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest. Its rainforest covers an area of land about 2/3 the size of the continental United States.

There are countless reasons, both anthropocentric and ecocentric, to value rainforests. But they are one of the most threatened types of ecosystems in the world today. It’s somewhat difficult to estimate how quickly rainforests are being cut down, but estimates range from between 50,000 and 170,000 square kilometers per year. Even the most conservative estimates project that if we keep cutting down rainforests as we are today, within about 100 years there will be none left.

How does a rainforest work?

Rainforests are incredibly complex ecosystems, but understanding a few basics about their ecology will help us understand why clear-cutting and fragmentation are such destructive activities for rainforest biodiversity.

High biodiversity in tropical rainforests means that the interrelationships between organisms are very complex. A single tree may house more than 40 different ant species, each of which has a different ecological function and may alter the habitat in distinct and important ways. Ecologists debate about whether systems that have high biodiversity are stable and resilient, like a spider web composed of many strong individual strands, or fragile, like a house of cards. Both metaphors are likely appropriate in some cases. One thing we can be certain of is that it is very difficult in a rainforest system, as in most other ecosystems, to affect just one type of organism. Also, clear cutting one small area may damage hundreds or thousands of established species interactions that reach beyond the cleared area.

Pollination is a challenge for rainforest trees because there are so many different species, unlike forests in the temperate regions that are often dominated by less than a dozen tree species. One solution is for individual trees to grow close together, making pollination simpler, but this can make that species vulnerable to extinction if the one area where it lives is clear cut. Another strategy is to develop a mutualistic relationship with a long-distance pollinator, like a specific bee or hummingbird species. These pollinators develop mental maps of where each tree of a particular species is located and then travel between them on a sort of “trap-line” that allows trees to pollinate each other. One problem is that if a forest is fragmented then these trap-line connections can be disrupted, and so trees can fail to be pollinated and reproduce even if they haven’t been cut.

The quality of rainforest soils is perhaps the most surprising aspect of their ecology. We might expect a lush rainforest to grow from incredibly rich, fertile soils, but actually, the opposite is true. While some rainforest soils that are derived from volcanic ash or from river deposits can be quite fertile, generally rainforest soils are very poor in nutrients and organic matter. Rainforests hold most of their nutrients in their live vegetation, not in the soil. Their soils do not maintain nutrients very well either, which means that existing nutrients quickly “leech” out, being carried away by water as it percolates through the soil. Also, soils in rainforests tend to be acidic, which means that it’s difficult for plants to access even the few existing nutrients. The section on slash and burn agriculture in the previous module describes some of the challenges that farmers face when they attempt to grow crops on tropical rainforest soils, but perhaps the most important lesson is that once a rainforest is cut down and cleared away, very little fertility is left to help a forest regrow.

What is driving deforestation in the Amazon?

Many factors contribute to tropical deforestation, but consider this typical set of circumstances and processes that result in rapid and unsustainable rates of deforestation. This story fits well with the historical experience of Brazil and other countries with territory in the Amazon Basin.

Population growth and poverty encourage poor farmers to clear new areas of rainforest, and their efforts are further exacerbated by government policies that permit landless peasants to establish legal title to land that they have cleared.

At the same time, international lending institutions like the World Bank provide money to the national government for large-scale projects like mining, construction of dams, new roads, and other infrastructure that directly reduces the forest or makes it easier for farmers to access new areas to clear.

The activities most often encouraging new road development are timber harvesting and mining. Loggers cut out the best timber for domestic use or export, and in the process knock over many other less valuable trees. Those trees are eventually cleared and used for wood pulp, or burned, and the area is converted into cattle pastures. After a few years, the vegetation is sufficiently degraded to make it not profitable to raise cattle, and the land is sold to poor farmers seeking out a subsistence living.

Regardless of how poor farmers get their land, they often are only able to gain a few years of decent crop yields before the poor quality of the soil overwhelms their efforts, and then they are forced to move on to another plot of land. Small-scale farmers also hunt for meat in the remaining fragmented forest areas, which reduces the biodiversity in those areas as well.

Another important factor not mentioned in the scenario above is the clearing of rainforest for industrial agriculture plantations of bananas, pineapples, and sugar cane. These crops are primarily grown for export, and so an additional driver to consider is consumer demand for these crops in countries like the United States.

These cycles of land use, which are driven by poverty and population growth as well as government policies, have led to the rapid loss of tropical rainforests. What is lost in many cases is not simply biodiversity, but also valuable renewable resources that could sustain many generations of humans to come. Efforts to protect rainforests and other areas of high biodiversity is the topic of the next section.

Case Study: Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

Deforestation in the amazon rainforest.

The Amazon rainforest area spans about 8,200,000km 2 across 9 countries, making it the largest rainforest in the world. The tree coverage in 1970 was 4.1m km 2 . In 2018, it was 3.3m km 2 . Between 2001 and 2013, the causes of Amazonian deforestation were:

Pasture and cattle ranching = 63%

Small-scale, subsistence farmers = 12%

Commercial crop farming = 7%

Tree felling and logging = 6%

Other activities = 3%

• E.g. plantations, mining, road-building, and construction.

Impacts of Deforestation in the Amazon

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has the following environmental and economic impacts:

Environmental impact of Amazonian deforestation

• Photosynthesis by trees in the Amazon absorbs 5% of the world's carbon emissions each year (2bn tons of CO2).
• 100 billion tonnes of carbon are stored in the wood of the trees in the Amazon.
• If the Amazon were completely deforested, it would release the 100bn tonnes and also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere by 2bn tons each year.
• Trees anchor soil in the ground, bound to their roots. Deforestation damages the topsoil and once this has happened, the fertility of the ground is seriously damaged.

Economic impact of Amazonian deforestation

• Deforestation has fuelled the economic development of poor countries.
• In 2018, Brazil exported $28bn worth of metals. The mining industry creates jobs, exports and helps increase Brazilian people's standard of living.
• Similarly, hydroelectric power plants and cattle farms help to create jobs.
• In 2018, Brazil became the world's largest exporter of beef.
• Rio Tinto, an iron ore mining company employs 47,000 people globally and thousands of these are in Brazil.

The rate of deforestation in the Amazon

• In 2015, the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff claimed that the rate of deforestation had fallen by 83% and that actually Brazil was going to reforest the Amazon.
• However, the policies under President Temer and President Bolsonaro has reversed Rousseff's plan. In 2019, under Bolsonaro, the rate of deforestation was increasing again.

1 The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1 Natural Hazards

1.1.1 Natural Hazards

1.1.2 Types of Natural Hazards

1.1.3 Factors Affecting Risk

1.1.4 People Affecting Risk

1.1.5 Ability to Cope With Natural Hazards

1.1.6 How Serious Are Natural Hazards?

1.1.7 End of Topic Test - Natural Hazards

1.1.8 Exam-Style Questions - Natural Hazards

1.2 Tectonic Hazards

1.2.1 The Earth's Layers

1.2.2 Tectonic Plates

1.2.3 The Earth's Tectonic Plates

1.2.4 Convection Currents

1.2.5 Plate Margins

1.2.6 Volcanoes

1.2.7 Volcano Eruptions

1.2.8 Effects of Volcanoes

1.2.9 Primary Effects of Volcanoes

1.2.10 Secondary Effects of Volcanoes

1.2.11 Responses to Volcanic Eruptions

1.2.12 Immediate Responses to Volcanoes

1.2.13 Long-Term Responses to Volcanoes

1.2.14 Earthquakes

1.2.15 Earthquakes at Different Plate Margins

1.2.16 What is an Earthquake?

1.2.17 Measuring Earthquakes

1.2.18 Immediate Responses to Earthquakes

1.2.19 Long-Term Responses to Earthquakes

1.2.20 Case Studies: The L'Aquila Earthquake

1.2.21 Case Studies: The Kashmir Earthquake

1.2.22 Earthquake Case Study: Chile 2010

1.2.23 Earthquake Case Study: Nepal 2015

1.2.24 Reducing the Impact of Tectonic Hazards

1.2.25 Protecting & Planning

1.2.26 Living with Tectonic Hazards 2

1.2.27 End of Topic Test - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.28 Exam-Style Questions - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.29 Tectonic Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.3 Weather Hazards

1.3.1 Winds & Pressure

1.3.2 The Global Atmospheric Circulation Model

1.3.3 Surface Winds

1.3.4 UK Weather Hazards

1.3.5 Changing Weather in the UK

1.3.6 Tropical Storms

1.3.7 Tropical Storm Causes

1.3.8 Features of Tropical Storms

1.3.9 The Structure of Tropical Storms

1.3.10 The Effect of Climate Change on Tropical Storms

1.3.11 The Effects of Tropical Storms

1.3.12 Responses to Tropical Storms

1.3.13 Reducing the Effects of Tropical Storms

1.3.14 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina

1.3.15 Tropical Storms Case Study: Haiyan

1.3.16 UK Weather Hazards Case Study: Somerset 2014

1.3.17 End of Topic Test - Weather Hazards

1.3.18 Exam-Style Questions - Weather Hazards

1.3.19 Weather Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.4 Climate Change

1.4.1 Climate Change

1.4.2 Evidence for Climate Change

1.4.3 Natural Causes of Climate Change

1.4.4 Human Causes of Climate Change

1.4.5 Effects of Climate Change on the Environment

1.4.6 Effects of Climate Change on People

1.4.7 Climate Change Mitigation Strategies

1.4.8 Adaptation to Climate Change

1.4.9 End of Topic Test - Climate Change

1.4.10 Exam-Style Questions - Climate Change

1.4.11 Climate Change - Statistical Skills

2 The Living World

2.1 Ecosystems

2.1.1 Ecosystems

2.1.2 Food Chains & Webs

2.1.3 Ecosystem Cascades

2.1.4 Global Ecosystems

2.1.5 Ecosystem Case Study: Freshwater Ponds

2.2 Tropical Rainforests

2.2.1 Tropical Rainforests

2.2.2 Interdependence of Tropical Rainforests

2.2.3 Adaptations of Plants to Rainforests

2.2.4 Adaptations of Animals to Rainforests

2.2.5 Biodiversity of Tropical Rainforests

2.2.6 Deforestation

2.2.7 Impacts of Deforestation

2.2.8 Case Study: Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

2.2.9 Why Protect Rainforests?

2.2.10 Sustainable Management of Rainforests

2.2.11 Case Study: Malaysian Rainforest

2.2.12 End of Topic Test - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.13 Exam-Style Questions - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.14 Deforestation - Statistical Skills

2.3 Hot Deserts

2.3.1 Hot Deserts

2.3.2 Interdependence in Hot Deserts

2.3.3 Adaptation of Plants to Hot Deserts

2.3.4 Adaptation of Animals to Hot Deserts

2.3.5 Biodiversity in Hot Deserts

2.3.6 Case Study: Sahara Desert

2.3.7 Desertification

2.3.8 Reducing the Risk of Desertification

2.3.9 Case Study: Thar Desert

2.3.10 End of Topic Test - Hot Deserts

2.3.11 Exam-Style Questions - Hot Deserts

2.4 Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.1 Overview of Cold Environments

2.4.2 Interdependence of Cold Environments

2.4.3 Adaptations of Plants to Cold Environments

2.4.4 Adaptations of Animals to Cold Environments

2.4.5 Biodiversity in Cold Environments

2.4.6 Case Study: Alaska

2.4.7 Sustainable Management

2.4.8 Case Study: Svalbard

2.4.9 End of Topic Test - Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.10 Exam-Style Questions - Cold Environments

3 Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.1.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.1.2 Examples of the UK's Landscape

3.2 Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.1 Types of Wave

3.2.2 Weathering

3.2.3 Mass Movement

3.2.4 Processes of Erosion

3.2.5 Wave-Cut Platforms

3.2.6 Headlands & Bays

3.2.7 Caves, Arches & Stacks

3.2.8 Longshore Drift

3.2.9 Sediment Transport

3.2.10 Deposition

3.2.11 Spits, Bars & Sand Dunes

3.2.12 Coastal Management - Hard Engineering

3.2.13 Coastal Management - Soft Engineering

3.2.14 Case Study: Landforms on the Dorset Coast

3.2.15 Coastal Management - Managed Retreat

3.2.16 Coastal Management Case Study - Holderness

3.2.17 Coastal Management Case Study: Swanage

3.2.18 Coastal Management Case Study - Lyme Regis

3.2.19 End of Topic Test - Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.20 Exam-Style Questions - Coasts

3.3 River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.1 The Long Profile of a River

3.3.2 The Cross Profile of a River

3.3.3 Vertical & Lateral Erosion

3.3.4 River Valley Case Study - River Tees

3.3.5 Processes of Erosion

3.3.6 Sediment Transport

3.3.7 River Deposition

3.3.8 Waterfalls & Gorges

3.3.9 Interlocking Spurs

3.3.10 Meanders

3.3.11 Oxbow Lakes

3.3.12 Floodplains

3.3.13 Levees

3.3.14 Estuaries

3.3.15 Case Study: The River Clyde

3.3.16 River Management

3.3.17 Hydrographs

3.3.18 Flood Defences - Hard Engineering

3.3.19 Flood Defences - Soft Engineering

3.3.20 River Management Case Study - Boscastle

3.3.21 River Management Case Study - Banbury

3.3.22 End of Topic Test - River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.23 Exam-Style Questions - Rivers

3.4 Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.1 The UK in the Last Ice Age

3.4.2 Glacial Processes

3.4.3 Glacial Landforms Caused by Erosion

3.4.4 Tarns, Corries, Glacial Troughs & Truncated Spurs

3.4.5 Types of Moraine

3.4.6 Drumlins & Erratics

3.4.7 Snowdonia

3.4.8 Land Use in Glaciated Areas

3.4.9 Conflicts in Glacial Landscapes

3.4.10 Tourism in Glacial Landscapes

3.4.11 Coping with Tourism Impacts in Glacial Landscapes

3.4.12 Case Study - Lake District

3.4.13 End of Topic Test - Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.14 Exam-Style Questions - Glacial Landscapes

4 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.1 Urbanisation

4.1.2 Factors Causing Urbanisation

4.1.3 Megacities

4.1.4 Urbanisation Case Study: Lagos

4.1.5 Urbanisation Case Study: Rio de Janeiro

4.1.6 UK Cities

4.1.7 Case Study: Urban Regen Projects - Manchester

4.1.8 Case Study: Urban Change in Liverpool

4.1.9 Case Study: Urban Change in Bristol

4.1.10 Sustainable Urban Life

4.1.11 Reducing Traffic Congestion

4.1.12 End of Topic Test - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.13 Exam-Style Questions - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.14 Urban Issues -Statistical Skills

5 The Changing Economic World

5.1 The Changing Economic World

5.1.1 Measuring Development

5.1.2 Limitations of Developing Measures

5.1.3 Classifying Countries Based on Wealth

5.1.4 The Demographic Transition Model

5.1.5 Stages of the Demographic Transition Model

5.1.6 Physical Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.7 Historical Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.8 Economic Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.9 Consequences of Uneven Development

5.1.10 How Can We Reduce the Global Development Gap?

5.1.11 Case Study: Tourism in Kenya

5.1.12 Case Study: Tourism in Jamaica

5.1.13 Case Study: Economic Development in India

5.1.14 Case Study: Aid & Development in India

5.1.15 Case Study: Economic Development in Nigeria

5.1.16 Case Study: Aid & Development in Nigeria

5.1.17 End of Topic Test - The Changing Economic World

5.1.18 Exam-Style Questions - The Changing Economic World

5.1.19 Changing Economic World - Statistical Skills

5.2 Economic Development in the UK

5.2.1 Causes of Economic Change in the UK

5.2.2 The UK's Post-Industrial Economy

5.2.3 The Impacts of UK Industry on the Environment

5.2.4 Change in the UK's Rural Areas

5.2.5 Transport in the UK

5.2.6 The North-South Divide

5.2.7 Regional Differences in the UK

5.2.8 The UK's Links to the World

6 The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1 Resource Management

6.1.1 Global Distribution of Resources

6.1.2 Uneven Distribution of Resources

6.1.3 Food in the UK

6.1.4 Agribusiness

6.1.5 Demand for Water in the UK

6.1.6 Water Pollution in the UK

6.1.7 Matching Supply & Demand of Water in the UK

6.1.8 The UK's Energy Mix

6.1.9 Issues with Sources of Energy

6.1.10 Resource Management - Statistical Skills

6.2.1 Areas of Food Surplus & Food Deficit

6.2.2 Increasing Food Consumption

6.2.3 Food Supply & Food Insecurity

6.2.4 Impacts of Food Insecurity

6.2.5 Increasing Food Supply

6.2.6 Case Study: Thanet Earth

6.2.7 Creating a Sustainable Food Supply

6.2.8 Case Study: Agroforestry in Mali

6.2.9 End of Topic Test - Food

6.2.10 Exam-Style Questions - Food

6.2.11 Food - Statistical Skills

6.3.1 Water Surplus & Water Deficit

6.3.2 Increasing Water Consumption

6.3.3 What Affects the Availability of Water?

6.3.4 Impacts of Water Insecurity

6.3.5 Increasing Water Supplies

6.3.6 Case Study: Water Transfer in China

6.3.7 Sustainable Water Supply

6.3.8 Case Study: Kenya's Sand Dams

6.3.9 Case Study: Lesotho Highland Water Project

6.3.10 Case Study: Wakel River Basin Project

6.3.11 Exam-Style Questions - Water

6.3.12 Water - Statistical Skills

6.4.1 Global Demand for Energy

6.4.2 Increasing Energy Consumption

6.4.3 Factors Affecting Energy Supply

6.4.4 Impacts of Energy Insecurity

6.4.5 Increasing Energy Supply - Solar

6.4.6 Increasing Energy Supply - Water

6.4.7 Increasing Energy Supply - Wind

6.4.8 Increasing Energy Supply - Nuclear

6.4.9 Increasing Energy Supply - Fossil Fuels

6.4.10 Carbon Footprints

6.4.11 Energy Conservation

6.4.12 Case Study: Rice Husks in Bihar

6.4.13 Exam-Style Questions - Energy

6.4.14 Energy - Statistical Skills

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The Deforestation of the Amazon

A Case Study in Understanding Ecosystems and Their Value

By Philip Camill

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In this case study, students examine tropical deforestation in the Amazon from the perspective of three dominant stakeholders in the region: a peasant farmer, logger, and environmentalist. As part of the exercise, students perform a cost-benefit analysis of clearing a plot of tropical forest in the Amazon from the perspective of one of these stakeholder groups. Developed for a course in global change biology, this case could also be used in courses in general ecology, environmental science, environmental ethics, environmental policy, and environmental/ecological economics.

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Date Posted

• Understand the political, cultural, and economic history leading to tropical deforestation in Amazonia. Understand issues facing the major stakeholders in the Amazon.
• Understand the concern for such a large loss in biodiversity.
• Understand the concepts of market and non-market valuation of ecosystems, benefit-cost analysis, and opportunity cost.
• Perform a cost-benefit analysis of clearing a plot of tropical forest in the Amazon, from the perspective of a peasant farmer, logger, and environmentalist.
• Critically evaluate economic vs. ethical valuation of ecosystems.
• Appreciate the political, social, economic, and ecological complexity of tropical deforestation.
• Appreciate how difficult decisions must me made in the face of limited or nonexistent data.

Deforestation; Amazon; tropical forest; rainforest; ecosystem; biodiversity; bioprospecting; ecotourism; ecological economics; cost-benefit analysis; tropics; developing world; South America

Subject Headings

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

High school, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

TOPICAL AREAS

Ethics, Policy issues, Social issues, Social justice issues

TYPE/METHODS

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Deforestation, warming flip part of Amazon forest from carbon sink to source

• July 14, 2021
• Download Cover Image

The study area, which represents about 20 percent of the Amazon basin, has lost 30 percent of its rainforest

New results from a nine-year research project in the eastern Amazon rainforest finds that significant deforestation in eastern and southeastern Brazil has been associated with a long-term decrease in rainfall and increase in temperature during the dry season, turning what was once a forest that absorbed carbon dioxide into a source of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.

The study, published in the journal Nature , explored whether these changes had altered how much carbon the Amazon stored in its vast forests. 

“Using nearly 10 years of CO 2   (carbon dioxide ) measurements, we found that the more deforested and climate-stressed eastern Amazon, especially the southeast, was a net emitter of CO 2 to the atmosphere, especially as a result of fires,” said John Miller, a scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory and a co-author. “On the other hand, the wetter, more intact western and central Amazon, was neither a carbon sink nor source of atmospheric CO 2 , with the absorption by healthy forests balancing the emissions from fires.”   

In addition to storing vast amounts of carbon, Amazonia is also one of the wettest places on Earth, storing immense amounts of water in its soils and vegetation. Transpired by leaves, this moisture evaporates into the atmosphere, where it fuels prodigious rainfall, averaging more than seven feet per year across the basin. For comparison the average annual rainfall in the contiguous U.S. is two and half feet. Several studies have estimated that water cycling through evaporation is responsible for 25 to 35 percent of total rainfall in the basin. 

But deforestation and global warming over the last 40 years have affected rainfall and temperature with potential impacts for the Amazon’s ability to store carbon. Conversion of rainforest to agriculture has caused a 17 percent decrease in forest extent in the Amazon, which stretches over an area almost as large as the continental U.S.. Replacing dense, humid forest canopies with drier pastures and cropland has increased local temperatures and decreased evaporation of water from the rainforest, which deprives downwind locations of rainfall. Regional deforestation and selective logging of adjacent forests further reduces forest cover, amplifying the cycle of drying and warming.  This, in turn, can reduce the capacity of the forests to store carbon,  and increase their vulnerability to fires.

The  2.8 million square miles of jungle in the Amazon basin represents more than half of the tropical rainforest remaining on the planet. The Amazon is estimated to contain about 123 billion tons of carbon above and below ground, and is one of Earth’s most important terrestrial carbon reserves. As global fossil-fuel burning has risen, the Amazon has absorbed CO 2 from the atmosphere, helping to moderate global climate.  But there are indications from this study and previous ones that the Amazon’s capacity to act as a sink may be disappearing.

Over the past several decades, intense scientific interest has focused on the question of whether the combined effects of climate change and the ongoing conversion of jungle to pasture and cropland could cause the Amazon to release more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. 

In 2010, lead author Luciana Gatti, who led the international team of scientists from Brazil, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the Netherlands, set out to explore this question. During the next nine years, Gatti, a scientist with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research and colleagues obtained airborne measurements of CO 2  and carbon monoxide concentrations above Brazilian Amazonia. Analysis of CO 2 measurements from over 600 aircraft vertical profiles, extending from the surface to around 2.8 miles above sea level at four sites, revealed that total carbon emissions in eastern Amazonia are greater than those in the west. 

“The regions of southern Pará and northern Mato Grosso states represent a worst-case scenario,” said Gatti. 

The southeast region, which represents about 20 percent of the Amazon basin, and has experienced 30 percent deforestation over the previous 40 years. Scientists recorded a 25 percent reduction in precipitation and a temperature increase of at least 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit during the dry months of August, September and October, when trees are already under seasonal stress. Airborne measurements over nine years revealed this region was a net emitter of carbon, mainly as a result of fires, while areas further west, where less than 20 percent of the forest had been removed, sources balanced sinks. The scientists said the increased emissions were likely due to conversion of forest to cropland by burning, and by reduced uptake of CO 2 by the trees that remained. 

These findings help scientists better understand the long-term impacts of interactions between climate and human disturbances on the carbon balance of the world’s largest tropical forest.

“The big question this research raises is if the connection between climate, deforestation, and carbon that we see in the eastern Amazon could one day be the fate of the central and western Amazon, if they become subject to stronger human impact,” Miller said.  Changes in the capacity of tropical forests to absorb carbon will require downward adjustments of the fossil fuel emissions compatible with limiting global mean temperature increases to less than 2.0 or 1.5 degrees Celsius, he added.

This research was supported by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory and by funding from the State of Sao Paulo Science Foundation, UK Environmental Research Council, NASA, and the European Research Council. 

For more information, contact Theo Stein, NOAA Communications: [email protected]

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• Corpus ID: 146632308

The Deforestation of the Amazon : A Case Study in Understanding Ecosystems and Their Value

• P. Camill , R. Althaus , +3 authors P. Soranno
• Published 1999
• Environmental Science
• Science and Engineering Ethics

3 Citations

Exploring the impact of gamified role-playing on climate change knowledge and nature relatedness: evidence from an online undergraduate course on environmental health, tropical deforestation: can property rights stem the tide, earthworms as a bioindicator of mercury pollution in an artisanal gold mining community, cachoeira do piriá, brazil, related papers.

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What are the causes of deforestation in the Amazon?

The Amazon rainforest, covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The rainforest is covered by thousands of rivers, including the Amazon.

The Amazon has been home to indigenous tribes for thousands of years; however, it is now under considerable threat from exploitation caused by the demand for resources such as timber and by clearing the forest for activities such as rearing livestock and growing crops.

What are the main resource-exploiting activities in the Amazon rainforest?

The graph below shows the leading causes of deforestation in the Brazillian Amazon. From this, we can see that commercial logging (cutting down trees to sell/use the wood) accounts for only 3% of deforestation. However,  deforestation must occur before the other land uses occur.

Causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Logging companies are mainly only interested in high-value timber such as mahogany and teak, which is sold to companies in other countries. Where only high-value trees are removed, it is called selective logging. However, to access more valuable wood, it is often the case that other, less valuable, trees are also removed to improve access. These are commonly used as fuelwood or made into pulp or charcoal. Vast areas of forest are cleared at once. This is known as clear felling.

Mineral Extraction

Gold mining in the Amazon Rainforest

The primary type of mining in the Amazon is for gold. However, other minerals are also extracted including iron ore, bauxite and oil. In 1999 10,000 hectares of land were used for mining. However, this had increased to 50,000 hectares by 2016. Mining causes complete devastation to the environment as trees are clear-felled, and the topsoil is completely removed to access the minerals underground.

The timelapse below shows deforestation caused by the growth of the Carajas mine, the world’s largest iron ore mine.

Attempts are being made to restore the rainforest in areas that have been mined. The BBC news website has a video about this.

Energy development

A reservoir in the Amazon rainforest

An unlimited supply of water and ideal river conditions have led to the development of hydroelectric power stations (HEP Stations). Constructing dams and reservoirs involves flooding vast areas of rainforest. Over time the submerged forest causes the water to become acidic as it rots. This can cause turbines within the dam to corrode. In addition to this silt, from surface run-off, causes dams to become blocked.

Illegal Trade in Wildlife

Poaching, hunting and illegal wildlife trafficking are big business in Brazil. This does not directly cause deforestation; however, it is upsetting the natural balance of the rainforest ecosystem .

What activities are causing the rainforest to be cleared?

Commercial farming: cattle.

Cattle ranching in the Amazon rainforest

Ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Brazillian Amazon. Ranching involves clearing an area of rainforest then rearing cattle on the land. Deforestation leads to the destruction of the nutrient cycle, which means the land can only sustain herds for a short period because the quality of pasture quickly declines. The cattle then have to be moved on to a recently cleared area of land.

Subsistence farming: Crops

There are nearly 3 million landless people in Brazil alone. The government has cleared large areas of the Amazon Rainforest and encouraged people to move there. The scheme has not been successful. Farmers stay on the same land and attempt to farm it year after year. Nutrients in the soil are quickly exhausted as there is no longer a humus layer to provide nutrients. The ground becomes infertile, and nothing will grow.

Commercial farming: Crops

Soy bean plantation in the Amazon

Large plantations have been created from cleared areas of rainforest. Crops such as oil, pineapple and sugar cane are grown. The majority of clearance for commercial farming has occurred to make way for soybean cultivation. As with cattle farming, the land can only sustain crops for a short period, which leads to further deforestation.

Road Building

Roads are required to access the Amazon rainforest and bring in heavy transport and machinery and send goods to market, roads are necessary. Large swathes of rainforest have been removed making way for roads. Once a road has been constructed, it opens the rainforest to other users. People settle along roads due to accessibility, which leads to further deforestation as houses are built and crops are grown. The construction of the Transamazon Highway has allowed increased access to remote areas of the Amazon Rainforest.

The animation below shows how forest clearance occurs once roads have been constructed.

The image below shows a clearing made by a subsistence farmer along the Amazonian highway. Roads bring colonisation and destruction to the Amazon rainforest.

A clearing made by a subsistence farmer along the Amazonian highway

Settlement and population growth

The economic activities discussed on this page require workers. As industry developments, it brings economic opportunities which result in people migrating to the rainforest to get a job. As these people need homes and services further deforestation occurs.

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