Land Use Conflict in the Amazon Rainforest

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Land Use Conflict in the Amazon Rainforest
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Type of forest

• Tropical rainforests are a type of broadleaf
  evergreen forest found near the equator
• Climate is warm and wet all year

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The largest

• The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in
  the world, covering more than 2 million square
  miles (more than half the size of the U.S.)
• Most of it
• lies in Brazil

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Many-layered ecosystem

• A rainforest has several layers
• Canopy thick layer of overlapping tree branches
  at the very top
• Lower story shrubs and lower trees
• Forest floor the bottom

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Home to a variety of plants and animals

• Rainforests are home to about 50 of the worlds
  living species
• Scientists use the term biodiversity to describe
  the variety of plant and animal species that live
  in one area

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The Lungs of the Earth

• The trees and other plants
• that grow in the rainforest
• have been called the lungs of the earth
• WHY?
• They play in key role in the earths
  carbon-oxygen cycle
• A series of events that turn carbon dioxide into
  oxygen and then convert the oxygen back into
  carbon dioxide

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The rainforests are believed to produce ¼ of
earths oxygen
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Deforestation

• During the past 40 years, close to 20 percent of
  the Amazon rain forest has been cut down
• 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.

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How should the resources of rainforests be used
and preserved?

• There are six different groups that are
  interested in the Amazon rainforest
• Native Amazonians
• Rubber Tappers
• Loggers
• Settlers/farming
• Cattle Ranchers
• Environmentalists

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TASK

• Pick an interest group
• What does your group want?
• Summarize your position
• Come up with arguments for your position
• Use laptops to research your position, and some
  interesting information

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Native Amazonians

• One 10 million native people lived in the Amazon
• Today about 200 native tribes remain in the
  interior of the forests
• Many are from different ethnic groups and speak
  different languages
• There are at least 50 groups that still don't
  have regular contact with the outsides and keep
  away from them

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Native Amazonians

• WHY save the forest?
• To preserve their tribes and way of life

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Rubber Tappers

• Have lived in the Amazon for many generations
• These workers tap or collect, the sap from
  rubber trees that grow in the rainforest
• The sap is them dried to make rubber products
  such as erasers or tires for cars and bikes
• About 63 000 families depend on rubber tapping

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Rubber Tappers

• Why save the forest?
• Their way of life doesnt harm the rainforest
• They have a right to the rainforest since they
  worked there so long

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Loggers

• Logging companies began moving into the Amazon
  basin during the 1960s
• Interested in
• the mahogany and rosewood trees, which are used
  for making furniture.
• Also interested in the Samauma, also known as the
  "Queen of the Forest", are being exploited to
  make cheap plywood for construction industries

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Loggers

• These threes are scattered all over
• The loggers clear cut whole patches of
  rainforest, then move on to a new area.
• Clear cutting leads to
• Deforestation
• Further development of the forest such as roads,
  farming and ranching

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Roads in the Amazon

• There are more than 105,000 miles  of roads, most
  made illegally by loggers
• Most famous is the Trans-Amazon Highway

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Loggers

• Why should they be able to continue cut down
  trees?
• They are helping Brazils economy grow by
  creating jobs
• Logging provides wood for Brazils furniture
  factories and paper mills
• Brazil export a lot of wood, the money earned
  from these sales is helping Brazil to pay of its
  debt to other countries

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Settlers/farming

• Brazil has a huge income gap
• Most of the farmland has been controlled by a few
  wealthy families
• Millions of poor Brazilians own no land at all
• The government encouraged settlers to move into
  the Amazon since the 1960s
• They were looking for areas to farm

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Settlers/farmers

• Settlers clear the trees of their land to create
  farm fields
• Farming in the rainforest is hard, as constant
  rain washes away the soils nutrients
• Often grow soy beans
• Why should they be able to continue?
• There is no other land for them in Brazil
• They need to feed their families

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Cattle Ranchers

• Since the 1960s, the Amazon has been home to
  cattle ranching
• Is today this is one of the main causes of
  deforestation
• They move in after the loggers have cleared the
  land

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Cattle ranchers

• Why should they be able to continue?
• They argue they are using good use of rainforest
  land by raising food for the world and earning an
  income for Brazil
• Many countries import beef from Brazil, such as
  the U.S. and Europe

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Environmentalists

• Want to slow the clearing of the rainforest
• Want to protect the biodiversity of the
  rainforest
• Claim that we are losing over 100 plant, animal
  and insect species every day to rainforest
  deforestation

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Different interests

• Different groups of people come to the rainforest
  for different reasons
• Some come to clear land for farming and ranching
• ? deforestation (removal of trees from large
  areas)
• Other people are interested in sustainable
  development
• finding ways to use the resources of the
  rainforest without destroying it

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TASK

• Write a letter to the Brazilian government.
  Explain your ideas about how to best preserve and
  use the resources of the Amazon. Your letter
  should include
• An introduction that identifies at least 4 groups
  who want to use or preserve the rainforest
• Describe at least 2 actions that you think will
  best preserve and use the rainforests resources
• Explain how these actions will meet the needs or
  concerns of the groups you identified

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Causes of deforestation in the Amazon

• Cattle ranches 65-70
• Small-scale, subsistence agriculture 20-25
• Large-scale, commercial agriculture 5-10
• Logging, legal and illegal 2-3
• Fires, mining, urbanization, road construction,
  dams 1-2