Chapter Twelve Study Guide
Land Use Conflict in the Amazon Rainforest
Essential Question: How should the resources of rainforests be used and
preserved?
Geoterms that you will need to know:
biodiversity: the variety of plants and animals living in one area. The term
can also mean the great variety of all living things on Earth.
carbon-oxygen cycle:
deforestation:
the process by which carbon and oxygen cycle
among plants, people and animals, and the
environment
removing or clearing away the trees from a forest.
Deforestation is often done to clear land for farming or
ranching.
sustainable development:
using resources in ways that meet the needs of
people today without hurting the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.
This means finding ways to use resources
without using them up.
tropical rainforest: a broadleaf evergreen forest found in wet and hot regions
near the equator
Important facts about the Amazon Basin

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It
covers more than 2 million square miles. Most of this vast rainforest
lies in Brazil. It also covers parts of Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia,
and Venezuela.

A rainforest is a complex ecosystem with many layers. The bottom, or
ground, layer is the forest floor. The think layer of overlapping tree
branches at the very top of the forest is called the canopy. Between
the forest floor and the canopy is a layer of shrubs and smaller trees.
This layer is called the lower story.

Rainforests cover about 6 percent of the Earth’s surface. But they are
home to about 50 percent of the world’s living things

Many people around the world worry about the fate of the Amazon
rainforest. A major reason for their concern is that tropical rainforests
affect life far beyond their borders. The trees and plants that grow in
these dense forests have been called the “lungs of the Earth.”

This nickname comes from the key role that rainforests play in Earth’s
carbon-oxygen cycle. This series of events turns a gas called carbon
dioxide into oxygen. This it turns the oxygen back into carbon dioxide.
In this way, carbon and oxygen are cycled among the living things that
need them to survive.
Rainforest interest groups
Native Amazonians:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
The Native peoples have lived in the rainforest for about 12,000 years.
How do they use its resources?
They hunt, fish, and grow crops on small plots of land they clear. When a field is no longer
fertile, they clear a new one and leave the old one to be covered by the forest.
What do they want?
They want the government to make them the legal owners of their homeland so they can
live where they belong, on their own land.
How do they defend their position?
They have lived in these forests for 12,000 years, and their use of the land and its
resources are sustainable.
Rubber Tappers:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
They first came to the Amazon in the 1870’s to work on rubber tree plantations.
How do they use its resources?
Tappers remove sap from rubber trees by making cuts in the bark, which does not harm
the trees.
What do they want?
They want to continue to make a living by tapping rubber. To do this, the practice of
clearing all trees from the rainforest must stop. They want the government to set up
protected areas where we can continue rubber tapping.
How do they defend their position?
They have lived and worked in the rainforest for generations and they use its resources in
a sustainable way.
Loggers:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
They began moving into the Amazon basin in the 1960’s.
How do they use its resources?
They harvest trees for a variety of uses. Valuable hardwoods like mahogany and
rosewood are used to make furniture. Other trees are used for lumber and to make paper.
What do they want?
They want to continue clear-cutting in the rainforests, which is the most economical way
to harvest trees. These logging companies provide jobs for thousands in Brazil.
How do they defend their position?
The trees that they harvest provide wood for furniture factories and paper mills, and
Brazil exported more than 5 billion dollars of wood in 2004. This helps the economy and
all the people of Brazil, not just a small group.
Settlers:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
They first came to the rainforest in the 1960’s when the Brazilian government began
encouraging poor people to move to the Amazon rainforests.
How do they use its resources?
These settlers cleared the land the government gave them and used it for farming.
What do they want?
They want the rainforest land to farm so we can feed their families. Farming on rainforest
land is difficult, but the best farmland in their country is already owned by others.
How do they defend their position?
The government gave them the land and encouraged them to move there. There is no land
for them in other parts of the country, so they must use this land to survive.
Cattle Ranchers:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
They first came to parts of the Amazon basin starting in the 1960’s.
How do they use its resources?
They clear land, or use land already cleared by loggers and farmers, for grazing their
cattle. Cattle eat the grass in an area down to the dirt and then move to a new area.
What do they want?
They want large tracts of rainforest land so they can go on cattle ranching in the area.
While some argue they don’t belong in the rainforest, they are making good use of the
land.
How do they defend their position?
The cattle that they raise help to feed people in Brazil. They also export over 1 billion
dollars of beef per year to other countries, like the United States. This helps the Brazilian
economy and all the people of Brazil, not just certain groups.
Environmental:
When did they come to the Amazon rainforest?
Scientists and environmentalists started coming in the 1970’s.
How do they use its resources?
Some study rainforest plants, hoping to find cures for diseases. Some study wildlife, and
others work with native peoples.
What do they want?
They want to protect the biodiversity of the rainforest by slowing down deforestation and
development.
How do they defend their position?
2.5 acres of rainforest contain 750 kinds of trees, 1,500 kinds of plants, 125 types of
mammals, and 400 types of birds. Deforestation and development must be slowed so they
can protect these rainforest species and study them.
Matching statements with Rainforest Interest Groups
Groups that would make the following statements
We’ve been here longer than anyone. Our land and way of life should be
protected.
Native Amazonians
Land that has been opened to us in the rainforest finally gives us a chance to
provide food for our families. You can’t take that away.
The Settlers
What we do to earn a living doesn’t hurt the rainforest. Because of that, we
should have land of our own in the rainforest.
Rubber Tappers
We are taking land that has already been cleared and making it productive.
Besides, we provide a valuable product to hungry people all around the world.
Cattle Ranchers
People in other countries use the valuable resources of their land to provide jobs
for people and improve the economic situation of their country. Why can’t we do
the same?
Loggers
We must stop much of what is happening to the rainforest or eventually people
all over the Earth will suffer.
Environmentalists
Groups that each of these statements would be directed toward
Unless you change the way you do things, the valuable resource you take from the
rainforest won’t be around much longer. Then what will you do?
Loggers
You are such a small group, your interests shouldn’t outweigh the needs of an
entire country. Besides, the way you live just doesn’t fit with modern times.
Native Amazonians
The way you use the rainforest’s land turns the forest into grasslands. Grassland
may benefit you, but it hurts lots of other people, both here in the Amazon basin
and around the world.
Cattle Ranchers
Why can’t you be given land somewhere else? Besides, rainforest land isn’t even
good for how you want to use it.
Settlers
It’s easy for you to tell the rest of us what should be done with the rainforest. But
you don’t rely on the rainforest’s land and resources to live, like we do.
Environmentalists
The way you make your living in the rainforest is old fashioned. You are keeping
others from using that land more productively.
Rubber Tappers