The Amazon
•World’s largest
rainforest and
river basin.
•Falls within 8
countries and
covers about 40%
of South America.
•Produces 60 –
80% of its own
rainfall.
Deforestation in Brazil
Deforestation in Brazil
• Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost
nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an
area larger than Greece
• Large portion of deforestation is attributed to
the following
– Land clearing for pastureland
– Misguided government policies
– Infrastructure Improvements
Land Clearing for Pastureland
• Leading cause for deforestation
• 60% - 70%
• Cost of meat cheaper
• Eradication of foot and mouth disease in
Brazil.
• Land Tenure Laws
Misguided Government Policies
•Brazilian
Government
encourages poor
farmers to settle in
the rainforest
•They can gain
rights to the land
after a few years of
farming and can
then sell it.
Infrastructure Improvements
•Roads create
access to parts
of the forest that
were
inaccessible
before.
Other Causes for Deforestation
• Commercial farming
– Soybeans
• Fire
– Caused by farmers clearing land
• Logging
– Legal and illegal
Solving Deforestation: Amazon
• Creation of a federal force to fight
environmental crime – for which 3,000 new
agents will be hired.
• Plans to bring criminal charges to the top 100
companies and individuals.
• Inclusion of protected area costs in highway
plans and budgets
– a key measure as new and improved roads often
cause greater deforestation
The Congo Basin
•World’s second largest river
by volume
•World’s second largest
rainforest
•18% of World’s remaining
rainforest
•70% of Africa’s plant life
•Has 600 plant species and
10,000 animal species
•Since 1980 has the largest
amount of deforestation out
of any region in the world
Logging
•Increased since
the start of peace
time in 2004
•Timber industry is
the largest industry
in this region
Subsistence Agriculture
•Majority of
deforestation due
to this
•Poor farmers and
colonists who have
been pushed into
the rainforest due
to many past wars
Mining
•One of the world’s
richest mineral
deposits
•Mining is poorly
operated
Bush Meat Trade
•Exotic animals
being killed for
meat
•Creates more
deforestation to
create roads
accessible to these
animals
Problems with monitoring
•The size of the Congo River
Basin is too large for people
to keep an eye on the entire
area.
•There are only two
proposed solutions to keep
monitoring on cutting down
trees
•Many corrupt governments
in this region who get most
of their GDP from these
logging companies.
Proposed Solution: Regulating
Logging Industry
•Banning the cutting down of endangered trees (similar to ban
on ivory trade)
•Greatly decrease the harvesting of some trees (similar to what
was done with whaling)
•Agree to lower the amount of deforestation per years (similar
to caps and trade system)
•Since most of the companies doing the logging are for pulp
and paper, require a more strict recycling program in contrast
to cutting down more forests.
Problem:
•Commercial logging only constitutes 25% of the logging that
happens in the Congo
Proposed Solution: Forest
Protection Schemes
•Creating national parks and
forest reserves
•Investing countries could
give interest free money to
these countries to invest
towards these parks and
reserves.
•Paying off countries debt if
the country will promise to
not develop the said area
(As in cases of Norway and
Costa Rica)
Effects of Deforestation
• Climate affects
– Desertification
– No water recycling
– Loss of carbon and nitrogen exchange
– Rise in temperature
• Other effects of deforestation
– Soil erosion
Climatic Effects: Water Cycle
• Vegetation helps play a big role in precipitation of a
region:
• They do this by absorbing ground water from their
roots
• Then they release the water vapor into the
atmosphere
• This then leads to precipitation falling back down to
the ground replenishing the ground water
• So as a result of the vegetation being removed it
cause the precipitation patterns of a region to
completely change
Climatic affects: Desertification
• The loss of the vegetation causes the soil to
lose it’s moisture
• As a result of this the area beings to dry out
• Also because of the area drying out this leads
to a lack of precipitation
• Thus causing the area to become a desert
Climatic Effects: Soil Erosion
• Vegetation helps to hold soil together
– This is especially important in hilly areas
• As a result of deforestation soil no longer has
anything holding it in place
– So during rain storms most of the soil is washed
away often causing big problems for anyone that
lives in the area
Climatic Effects: Soil Erosion cont.
• Soil erosion also leads to flooding in some
areas
• Another big problem with soil erosion is the
fact that the soil is being washed into the river
causing them to silt up
– As a result this is making the freshwater
undrinkable and killing the fish population in what
ever water system is near by
Citations
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Balakrishnan, Angela. (Sept. 2008) Brazilian government faces criminal charges over Amazon
deforestation. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/30/forests.brazil
Butler, Rhett A. Deforestation in the Amazon. http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html
World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Oct. 2008) Brazil Gets Tough to Stop Amazon Deforestation
http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2008/WWFPresfallenamazon.html
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Congo.htm
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/deforestation.html
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/
http://wrmbulletin.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/democratic-republic-of-the-congo- deforestation-ofprotected-areas-for-mining-operations-in-the-province- ofkatanga-the-case-of-the-bassekando-reserve/
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1273/590536974_a386d64e4b.jpg
http://www.mtsobek.com/generated/trips/225/topwebimageGorillaMomBaby.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/keeleyson/Brazil-erosion-mercury.jpg
http://www.earlham.edu/~pols/17Fall96/inneske/effects.HTM