Transcript Threats to the Amazon Rainforest

Office of the President of Brasil
• By the end of this class…a part of
the Amazon the size of 600
football fields will be lost to
deforestation.
• How does that happen?
Deforestation
• Deforestation
has cost Brazil
about 20% of
it’s rainforest.
• Deforestation occurs to get the
Amazon’s timber (wood), land for farming,
land for ranching, the resources
underground, and land to live on.
Commercial Farming
Before someone can farm on
rainforest land they must
clear the land with “slashand-burn”:
1) Cut all the trees down
2) Burn the underbrush and
tree stumps
3) Burned ground creates
fertile soil that is good for
agriculture.
Brazil is the second LARGEST
producer of soybeans in the
world.
** Soy beans are used to make
products like your lunch
hamburgers! **
This land cleared for agriculture
is not very fertile and lasts only 23 years and farmers have to move
to other land and “slash-andburn.”
Ranching
• Brazil produces
over 10 million
tons of beef! (1
ton = 2,000
pounds)
•Ranchers “clear-cut” the forest so their cattle
have land to graze on grass.
•For every quarter-pound hamburger eaten in the
U.S. 55 square feet of the rainforest was cleared.
Human Settlement
• Commercial farming and
timber companies built
roads into the rainforest
to get to their land.
• Soon after people
followed in search of
their own land to start
homes and small farms.
Many grow into cities.
• With increased
urbanization comes air
and water pollution and,
of course, more
deforestation.
13.5 million Brazilians live in
the Amazon rainforest, 70% in
urban areas.
Mining
The Amazon rainforest
has a hidden wealth of
natural mineral
resources underneath
it.
Recently mining has
taken off in search of:
-
iron ore
gold
oil
diamonds
What’s It All Worth?
• Economic Boost
– Beef Ranching =
– Soy Agriculture =
– Timber =
– Mining (gold, iron) =
$
$
$
$
4 billion
9 billion
3.22 billion
44.8 billion
$ 61.02 billion
AND GROWING
What’s
Gone?
• Since 1991
the size of
the area
deforested in
the Amazon
equals nearly
the size of
Texas.
What’s At Risk?
• Lost of indigenous peoples’
traditional way of life
• Global warming through less trees
• Loss of unique species of plants,
animals, insects, reptiles, etc
• Air and water pollution through
the region
• Destruction of an irreplaceable
place on this planet