Importance of Rainforests
• Biodversity – Between 50% and 90% of
world’s species live in rainforests.
• Home to indigenous people
• Medicines – more than 60% of modern
medicines originated from Rainforests!
• Food
• Regulate Climate.
Video on medicinal uses
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGUv4zRHRc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww
%2Egeographyalltheway%2Ecom%2Fib%
5Fgeography%2Fib%5Fecosystems%2Ft
ropical%5Frainforest%2Frainforest%5F
visuals%2Ehtml 1 min
Greenpeace TV Ad
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERx5j6h43tk&session=hR3CDsyIqJBYWBLYeZrEdOC_Y
NE3yszZQlIHOfNUXOTK-bC0cHlV0oazuE9wKyql8885J4YBDoJyzRm5XdYEM1GNEJEZFA31JBbU3Py8yDDABIUMhpnHyTm_pSqT6O5PWzPgRE3y82imXh9DtpmBRv1YN61CWaRIsy8Hn0yT11oId9ZdOGJu_LeKcDP9oVUd3JsityIp4FoSyKNVKRQ31DYByRIGIwvim3tPm34aIHI2LSL2me2X77z
7ehtIiGOgNPN0gE_XhF29OaiQihGJneko9az29 Greenpeace Ad 2 mins
Earth Clock for rates of deforestation http://www.poodwaddle.com/earthclock.swf
What is the rate of deforestation in tropical
rainforests?
• Global Rates of Deforestation:
• 2.47 acres (1 hectare/10,000m squared)
per second: equivalent to two football
fields
• 150 acres (60 hectares) per minute
• 214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) per
day: an area larger than New York City
• 78 million acres (31 million hectares) per
year: an area larger than Poland
The top 20 countries that cleared the most forest between 1990
and 2005. Brazil, the leader, cleared over 42 million hectares, an
area the size of California.
Reasons for deforestation:
• Slash and burn for growing crops
Most clearances are still by the local people
and tribes needing land on which to grow
crops. They clear the forest by ‘slash and
burn’. Vegetation is cut down and then burned.
The ash acts like a fertiliser adding nutrients
to the soil. When the soil begins to turn
infertile (usually after 3-5 years) the people
move on. This is called shifting cultivation. It
is a sustainable method of farming in the
rainforest. It ensures the forest will recover.
Road Building
• There are more than 105,000 miles
(170,000 kilometres) of roads, most
made illegally by loggers to reach
mahogany and other hardwoods for the
lucrative export market.
What impact does road building have on the
Amazon’s ecosystem?
TASK - Organise these statements into the flow chart below.
There is more than one correct order. Click here
it is difficult to
grow crops
the area become
more accessible
there is no vegetation
to intercept the rain
other large scale
developments
such as mining
come to the area
trees are cut down
more trees
are cut down
road is built
the nutrient cycle is
broken and so the
soil becomes infertile
people migrate to the
area
the soil is washed away
Logging
• Commercial (selling) logging is the major
cause of primary rainforest destruction
in South East Asia and Africa.
Cattle Ranching
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/huma
n-impact.html National geographic Interactive
• Brazil has the biggest commercial cattle herd in the
world, and is the world largest exporter of beef,
selling more than $4 billion dollars worth last year.
• However commercial cattle farms are pushing up
against and into the Amazon rainforest, and beef
farming is seen as one of the biggest causes of
deforestation.
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2008/05/0
80515_amazon_packages.shtml Podcast from cattle
farmer 6mins
• And then Podcast on Ethical logging 5 mins
Farming
• 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 the land year
after year. Nutrients in the soil are quickly
exhausted as there is no longer a humus layer
to provide nutrients. The soil becomes
infertile and nothing will grow.
Mining
• The mining of iron ore, bauxite, gold, oil
and other minerals have benefited many
developing countries. However, it has
also devastated large areas of
rainforest e.g. The Amazon
Ecotourism in the Amazon
• http://www.perunature.com/pages/hom
e_posada.htm
Interactive Game
•
http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/Ge
oBytes/Content%20Generator%20Quizzes/Penalty%20Shoot%20Out/Year%209
%20Rainforest%20Revision/Rainforest%20Revision.html 2 Players Penalty
shootout
Deforestation is causing many problems at a range of
scales:
• Local: When a rainforest is clear-cut,
conditions change very quickly. The soil
dries up from the sun. When it rains, it
washes the soil away. The rainforest
never fully recovers. Wildlife and plant
life is reduced.
Decline in indigenous populations
 There has been a huge reduction in the
number of people in local tribes.
Amazonian Indians
‘They have stolen my land;
The birds have flown,
my people gone.
My rainbow rises over
sand,
My river falls on stone.’
Song of a Xingu Indian
The Yanomani
The Yanomani are a group of Amazonian Indians who
live in the rainforest.
The Yanomani have tried to maintain a traditional,
nomadic way of life. Their population currently stands at
9,000.
Nomadic means ‘moves from place to place’.
Soil Erosion
 Clearing trees means that there is no
canopy to protect the soil from heavy
rain, or plant roots to bind it together.
The result is that a lot of the soil gets
washed away.
Soil fertility
• Once an area has been cleared, lots of
rainfall reaches the ground. This washes
the nutrients out of the soil and makes
it less fertile.
Loss of bio-diversity
• Large numbers of plants and animals
have been destroyed. It is possible that
medicines are being lost.
National:
• Deforestation can consume a country's
only natural resource. If deforestation
is not managed in a sustainable manner a
country's only natural resource could be
lost forever.
Traditional culture
• Many Amerindians have been forced off
their land and ways of life have been
destroyed.
Global:
• World climate change:The burning of
the forest releases carbon dioxide into
the air. This may be linked to an
increase in world temperatures. The
carbon cycle and water cycle are
severely affected.
Decrease in hardwoods
• Trees such as mahogany and rosewood
are becoming endangered species.
Videos on Intro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPHtnMDU2EM
1 min and Soy farming 14 mins
http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=In+the+name+of+progress&hl=en&sitesearch=#
Amazon
• The Amazon rainforest is the largest in the
world, covering approximately seven million
km² (40% of South America).
• More than 40,000 plant species, including
1,000 different trees, have been identified in
the rainforest. According to figures from the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), it is
also home to 427 different mammals, 1,294
birds, as well as 30 million people, including
more than 220 indigenous groups in nine
nations.
• Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French
Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
Amazon
• During the past 40 years, close to 20 percent
of the Amazon rain forest has been cut
down—more than in all the previous 450 years
since European colonization began.
• The percentage could well be far higher; the
figure fails to account for selective logging,
which causes significant damage but is less
easily observable than clear-cuts.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7406033.st
m Video of the effects of deforestation on
locals in Brazil 2mins
Timber mill in
the Amazon
Amazon
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/738590
6.stm BBC article on the rate of
deforestation in the second half of 2007 May
2008
• Scientists fear that an additional 20 percent
of the trees will be lost over the next two
decades.
• If that happens, the forest's ecology will
begin to unravel. Intact, the Amazon produces
half its own rainfall through the moisture it
releases into the atmosphere. Eliminate
enough of that rain through clearing, and the
remaining trees dry out and die.
Questions
• Read pages 157-159 and answer UTT
Q1-3 p 159
Amazon paradox
• As concerns grow about global
warming and the future of the planet,
much more international attention is
being paid to the Amazon region.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2008/05/080514_ama
zon_highlights.shtml Podcast from i) Prince Charles 3 mins ii) on
rates of deforestation from Dr Carlos Nobre 4 mins
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/080515_one_pl
anet_extra.shtml Podcast 2008 27 mins
There are three fundamental reasons why the region is
important to the rest of the world.
• The Amazon and the world's climate
• Rapid rates of deforestation cause more carbon to be
converted into carbon dioxide, either when the trees
are burnt down or more slowly by the decomposition
of unburned wood.
• And once the forests are gone, they cannot soak up
the carbon from cars, power plants and factories. At
the moment the Amazon is thought to absorb about
10 per cent of global fossil fuel carbon dioxide
emissions.
• The build-up of carbon dioxide in the earth's
atmosphere is one of the key causes of global
warming.
Questions
• Read pages 160-161 and answer UTT
Q1-4 p 161
Conserving the rainforest
More than £200 million is being invested in Brazil in a
scheme led by the World Bank. The money is divided
between:
policing the rain forest to try to clamp down on illegal
damage to the forest
incentives to encourage landowners not to chop down
forest, and
educating and training people to work in more
sustainable ways.
Management strategies
• Environmental groups also argue that local people could take part
in industries that are more sustainable, for example:
• working in the medical drug industry. (About 25% of the world's
medicines contain ingredients from the rainforest.) Or
working in eco-tourism - a type of tourism that minimises the
impact of tourism on an area. The rainforest is an attractive
holiday destination for some tourists.
• http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0918/p01s05-woam.html
article on responsible Soy project
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/10/forests.b
razil?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews article on Loans scheme
• http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10688618
&fsrc=RSS
article on Cameroon idea of renting the forest
• http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/world/americas/19brazil.
html?pagewanted=2&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People
/B/Barrionuevo,%20Alexei&_r=3 Video on Brazils efforts 3mins
McDonalds Game
• http://www.mcvideogame.com/indexeng.html Video game on deforestation
and farming
Questions
• Attempt Activity 3 Qu 1-7 p163
Role play
Should large scale development be allowed in the Amazon?
You will be allocated a role from the following –
•Brazilian government
•Hydroelet
(large HEP Hydro Electric Power
company)
•FUNAI
(government organisation for the
protection of Amazonian Indians)
•World Medical
Organisation
(concerned with the protection
of plants for medical research)
•Greentours
(a holiday company concerned with
providing holidays that nether harm the
environment nor the local people)
Role play
Should large scale development be allowed in the Amazon?
•Brazilian government
•Hydroelet
•FUNAI
•World Medical Organisation
•Greentours
Research your role carefully and then prepare a
presentation to explain why you are for or against large
scale development in the Amazon.
Read the next 6 slides.
Which of the above groups will be against large scale
development?
Brazilian government
‘The income gap between the richest and the poorest in
Brazil is getting wider. The shanty towns in our large cities
such as Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo are
expanding and their residents lack basic facilities such as
electricity and clean water. Our interest on the debt is
growing each year and we need to invest in our industries if
we are to ever pay back this money. Developing the
Amazon can generate some of this necessary investment.’
Fact File
Capital – Brazilia
Population – 162 million
GNP per capita – $3,370
Debt – $1,153 million
Literacy – 80%
Tourism – over 1 million visitors per year
FUNAI (Fundaao Nacional do Indio)
‘FUNAI is the government agency set up to protect the rights
of the Amazonian Indians. We believe that most large scale
developments have a negative impact on the Amazon’s
ecosystem and in turn, on the traditional nomadic lifestyle of
the Amazonian Indians. For example, approximately 6,000
Indians were left landless by the Grand Carajas Project,
especially by the Tucurui dam.
We would like to see more sustainable developments such
as in the Xingu Indian Park where Kayapo villages have
entered into a partnership with the Body Shop. The Kayapo
collect Brazil nuts and extract the oil in their villages by using
a press. They then sell this oil directly to the Body Shop for
use in toiletries. In order to protect the Amazonian Indians’
rights to the land, we want further areas of the rainforest set
up as Indian reserves.’
Hydroelet
‘HEP is a renewable form of energy. This means that unlike
coal, oil and gas this type of energy does not run out. Brazil
gets 92.5% of its energy from HEP and the demand for
energy is rising. Hydroelet plans to build more dams, like
Tucurui, in the Amazon to harness the fast flowing rivers in
this area. Hydroelet believes that this electricity will not only
benefit industries all over Brazil but will also provide energy
to satisfy the country’s growing population.’
World Medical Organisation
‘Only 1,100 species have been investigated out of 365,000
possible species in the Amazon. On average, an important
new drug has been found for every 125 species
investigated. We believe that areas should be set aside for
medical research.’
‘Catclaw Acacia’ is a climbing
vine, found in the Amazon, and it
is being studied for its potential
against cancer and AIDs.
How can the Brazilian
Government and the
Amazonian Indians benefit
from the discoveries?
Quinine was discovered in The
Amazon.
It is an anti- malaria drug from
the bark of the cinchona tree
(and also an ingredient in tonic
water!).
Internet Link – biodiversity
http://library.thinkquest.org/20248/
Greentours – ecotourism in the Amazon
Ecotourism is sustainable, low density tourism which safeguards the
natural environment and meets the needs of the host population.
Internet Link – ecotourism
www.brazilianadventure.com
www.brazilnature.com/inges/index.html
‘At Greentours, visitors stay in an Amazonian
village or in the small lodges which are built
from local resources. The visitors can
undertake conservation work as part of their
holiday.
Greentours feel that unlike the large scale
developments, their tours will generate money
for the Amazonian Indians without destroying
the Amazon’s ecosystem.’
Greentours
simple tourist lodge
boat trip with local guide
What are the sustainable alternatives to large scale
development?
SUSTAINABLE development involves activities that
preserve and enhance the beauty and resources of an
area for future generations.
Name one activity in the Amazon that is ‘sustainable’.
Investigate – How can the Brazilian government profit
from the Amazon without large scale development?
Internet links –
www.ran.org/
www.greenforce.org/
www.greenpeace.org/