Brazil once had the highest rates of deforestation in the world and in 2005 still had the largest forest area removed annually. Since 1970, more than 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 sqc, mi) of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2012, Amazon is about 5.4 million square kilometers, which is only 87% of the original state of Amazon.
Rainforests have decreased in size mainly due to deforestation. Despite the decline in deforestation rates over the past ten years, the Amazon rainforest will be reduced by 40% by 2030 at current levels. Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 km of 2 forests, a region larger than Greece. According to Living Planet Report 2010, deforestation continues at an alarming rate. But at the CBD Level 9 Conference, 67 ministers signed up to help achieve zero net deforestation by 2020.
Video Deforestation in Brazil
History
In the 1940s Brazil began a national development program in the Amazon Basin. President GetÃÆ'ºlio Vargas stated emphatically that:
The Amazon, in the impact of our will and labor, will cease to be the simplest chapter in the world, and made equal to the other great rivers, will be chapters in the history of human civilization. Everything that has so far been done in Amazonas, both in agriculture and in extractive industries... must be transformed into rational exploitation.
Vargas established many government programs to develop its vision, including the Superintendency for the Valorization of the Amazonia Economy (SPVEA) in 1953, Superintendency for Amazonia Development (SUDAM) in 1966, and the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in 1970. The 1960s Brazilian Amazonian deforestation became wider, especially from deforestation for cattle ranching to increase national income in the period of high world beef prices, to eliminate hunger and pay off international debt obligations. Extensive transportation projects, such as the Trans-Amazon Highway, were promoted in 1970, meaning that large areas of forest will be removed for commercial purposes.
Prior to the 1960s, much of the forest remained intact because of restrictions on access to the Amazon beyond partial clearance along the river banks. Bad soil makes plantation-based agriculture unprofitable. The key point in Amazon deforestation came when the colony established a forest farm in the 1960s. They farm based on cultivation of crops and use the method of cutting and burning. The colonists did not manage their fields and crops because of the weed invasion and the loss of soil fertility. Land in the Amazon is only productive for a very short period of time after the land is cleared, so farmers there must keep moving and clearing more land.
The colonization of Amazon is dominated by livestock, not only because grass grows on poor soil, but also because farms need a little labor, earn a decent profit, and earn social status. However, agriculture leads to extensive deforestation and environmental degradation.
It is estimated that 30% of deforestation is caused by small farmers and higher deforestation rates in the area they inhabit larger than in areas occupied by medium and large farmers, who own 89% of Amazon Legal private land. This underscores the importance of using previously opened land for agriculture, more generally, more politically easy, roads to distribute forested areas. The number of smallholders versus large landowners fluctuates with economic and demographic pressures.
In 1964, a Brazilian land law stated that it supported land ownership by developers: if a person can show "effective cultivation" for a year and a day, that person can claim the land. This paved the way for extensive logging of forests for livestock production.
In the 1970s, with the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Toll Road, INCRA set up a scheme to draw hundreds of thousands of prospective farmers westward to the Amazon and exploit forests for cattle ranching. Between 1966 and 1975, the value of Amazon land grew at a rate of 100% per year because the government offered subsidies to reform the land; throughout the 1970s and 1980s, farmers rushed to claim the land and quickly turned the areas into agriculture and benefited because of better transport links and high beef prices. Forests are also exploited for timber, which gives Brazil how to pay off international debt. In the late 1980s, the area of ​​England, Scotland and Wales was being cleaned every year.
Maps Deforestation in Brazil
Cause
Livestock and livestock infrastructure
The annual rate of deforestation in the Amazon continues to increase from 1990 to 2003 due to factors at the local, national, and international levels. 70% of previous forests in the Amazon, and 91% of deforested land since 1970, are used for livestock grazing. The Brazilian government initially linked 38% of all forest loss between 1966 and 1975 to large-scale farms. According to the International Forest Research Center (CIFOR), "between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Brazilian processed meat imports from Brazil increased from 40 to 74 percent" and in 2003 "for the first time, growth in Brazilian cattle production, 80 percent most of which are in the Amazon driven by exports. "
The removal of forests to make way for livestock is the major cause of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since the mid-1960s. In addition to the initial goal of commercial development of Vargas, Brazil's real devaluation of the dollar has resulted in doubling the price of beef in the estate and giving farmers broad incentives to increase the size of their cattle farms and areas under grasslands for the masses. beef production, produces large areas of deforestation. Access to forest clearing is facilitated by land tenure policy in Brazil which means developers can proceed without restraint and install a new breed of cattle which in turn serves as a qualification for land ownership.
The abolition of the Amazon forest for cattle ranching in Brazil is also seen by developers as an economic investment during periods of high inflation when the appreciation of cattle prices provides a way to exceed the interest rate earned from the money left in the bank. Brazil's beef was more competitive in the world market at a time of massive improvements in the Amazonas road network in the early 1970s through the Amazonian Trans Highway and other new avenues gave potential developers access to vast areas of previously inaccessible forests. This coincides with lower transportation costs due to cheaper fuels such as ethanol, which decreases the cost of beef delivery from forests and gives farmers an incentive to maximize profits.
Cattle farms are not an environmentally friendly investment. Cattle emit a lot of methane. These emissions play a major role in climate change because methane's ability to trap heat is 20 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year span and exponentially higher in less time. One cow can excrete up to 130 gallons of methane a day, just by belching.
In the 1970s, Brazil planned the construction of a massive transport infrastructure, a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) highway that would fully cross the Amazon jungle, increasing the vulnerability of poor farmers to invaders seeking new areas for commercial development. A study by the Environmental Defense Fund found that the areas affected by road networks were eight times more likely to be deforested by farmers than untouched lands and that roads allowed developers to further exploit the reserve for not only pastoral production but also for timber exports and logging to fuel and for construction. Developers are often given a six-month salary and large agricultural loans to move the forest along the road on a 250-hectare (1.0 km) plot of land for a new cattle ranch.
The Brazilian government granted land to about 150,000 families in the Amazon between 1995 and 1998. Poor peasants were also encouraged by the government through programs such as the National Institute for the Colonization and Reform of Agrarian Affairs in Brazil (INCRA) to plant unclaimed forest lands and after a period of five years were granted the right and the right to sell the land. The productivity of land after deforestation for agriculture only lasts one or two years before the fields become infertile and farmers have to clear new forest areas to maintain their income. In 1995 nearly half, 48%, of deforestation in Brazil was caused by poor farmers who cleared land under 125 hectares (0.51 km 2 ) in size.
Hydroelectric
The hydroelectric dam project in the Amazon is also responsible for flooding in significant forest areas. In particular, the Balbina dam flooded some 2,400 km2 of rainforest upon completion and its reservoir emits 23,750,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 140,000 methane tons in just the first three years of its operation. This dam construction encourages the construction of roads that introduce foresters, which in turn leads to deforestation.
Mining activity
Mining has also increased deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon especially since the 1980s with miners often clearing forests to open mines, often also using them for construction materials, collecting wood for fuel and subsistence agriculture.
Soya production
In addition, Brazil is currently the second largest soybean producer in the world after the United States, mostly for animal feed, and as soybean prices rise, soybean farmers push north into the forests of the Amazon. As stated in the Brazilian Constitution, clearing land for crops or fields is considered to be the 'effective use' of land and is the first step towards land ownership. The cleared property is also valued 5-10 times more than forested land and for that reason it is valuable to the owner whose destination is ultimately resold. Soybean industry is an important exporter for Brazil; Therefore, the need for soybean farmers has been used to validate the many controversial transport projects currently under development in the Amazon.
Cargill, a multinational corporation that controls most of the soybean trade in Brazil has been criticized, along with fast food chains like McDonald's, by active groups like Greenpeace to accelerate the process of deforestation. Cargill is a major supplier of soybeans to major fast-food companies such as McDonald's that use soy products to feed their animals and chickens. As fast food chains develop, fast food chains should increase the quantity of their livestock to produce more products. To meet the huge demand for soybeans, Cargill was forced to expand its production of soybeans by cutting off parts of the Amazon clearly.
The first two highways: Rodovia Belà © m-BrasÃÆ'lia (1958) and CuiabÃÆ'¡-Porto Velho (1968), are the only federal highways in the Amazon Legal to be paved and passable throughout the year before the late 1990s. Both of these highways are said to be "at the heart of the 'deforestation arc'," which is currently the focus area of ​​deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The Bela Toll Road  © m-BrasÃÆ'lia attracted nearly two million settlers in the first twenty years. The success of the Belà © m bras BrasÃÆ'lialia toll road in forest clearing was reinstated as asphalted roads continued to be developed releasing unbearable resettlement. The settlement of roads is followed by resettlement waves and settlers have a significant effect on forests. The new drivers of this forest loss indicate that the ups and downs of prices for other crops, beef and timber can also have a significant impact on future land use in the region, according to the study.
Logging
Logging in the Brazilian Amazon is economically motivated. Although illegal logging is not, this is the most widespread problem. Economic opportunities to develop regions are driven by timber exports and demand for charcoal. The charcoal producing oven uses large quantities of wood. Within a month, the Brazilian government destroyed 800 illegal ovens in TailÃÆ'Â ¢ ndia. 800 oven is estimated to consume about 23,000 trees per month. Logging for timber exports is selective, as only a few species, such as mahogany, have commercial value and are harvested. Selective logging still destroys the forest. For each tree harvested, 5-10 other trees are felled, to transport logs through the forest. Also, fallen trees drop many other small trees. A logged-over forest contains significantly fewer species than the area where selective logging has not occurred. Forests that are disrupted by selective logging are also significantly more vulnerable to fires.
Logging in the Amazon is, in theory, controlled and only those who have strict permission are allowed to harvest trees in certain areas. In practice, illegal logging is widespread in Brazil. Up to 60 to 80 percent of all logging in Brazil is estimated to be illegal, with 70% of logging being dumped at the plant. Most illegal logging companies are international companies that do not replant trees and practice very widely. Expensive timber such as teak and mahogany are exported illegally to benefit these companies. The less trees mean less photosynthesis will occur and therefore oxygen levels decrease. Carbon dioxide emissions increase, because the gas is released from the tree when it is cut. A tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon per year so illegal logging has a major impact on climate change.
To combat this destruction, the Brazilian government has stopped issuing new licenses for logging. Unlicensed logging continues. Efforts to prevent deforestation include payments to landowners. Instead of banning logging together, the government hopes payments of a comparable amount will deter the owner from further deforestation.
Effects
One of the major concerns arising from deforestation in Brazil is the global effect it produces on climate change. Rainforest, which is very important in the carbon dioxide exchange process, is second only to the ocean as the planet's most important absorber to absorb the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced from industry.
A recent survey on deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions reports that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is responsible for as much as 10% of current greenhouse gas emissions due to forest removal that would otherwise absorb emissions, and has a clear effect on global warming. The method often used to remove forests, where many trees are burned to the ground, emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, affecting air quality not only in Brazil but globally.
Fires intended to burn limited forest areas to make way for allocated agricultural plots often burn out of control and burn much more extensive land than intended. Between July and October 1987, about 19,300 square miles (50,000 km 2 ) rainforests burned in the states of Pará¡, Mato Grosso, RondÃÆ'Â'nia, and Acre released more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tons of carbon monoxide, and millions of tons of nitrous oxide and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. In 2005 forest fires in Brazil caused widespread disruption in the Amazon region, including airport closures and inpatient treatment for smoke inhalation.
The presence of carbon in trees is critical to the development of ecosystems and plays a key role in the regional and global climate. Leaves fall from deforestation leaving a great deal of dead plant material known as slash, which in decomposition provides a food source for invertebrates. It has an indirect effect of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels through respiration and microbial activity. At the same time, organic carbon in the soil structure becomes exhausted and the presence of carbon plays an important role in the functioning of life in any ecosystem.
Brazil's rainforests are one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. More than a million species of plants and animals are known to live in the Amazon and millions of species are not classified or unknown. With rapid deforestation, the habitat of many animals and plants is threatened and some species may face extinction. Deforestation reduces the gene pool; there is less genetic variation needed to adapt to climate change in the future. The Brazilian Amazon is known to have enormous resources for drugs and scientific research in the basin has been done to find a cure for major global killers such as AIDS, cancer, and other terminal diseases.
Rainforest is the oldest ecosystem on earth. Rainforest plants and animals continue to thrive, evolving into the most diverse and complex ecosystems on earth. Living in a restricted area, most of these species are endemic, not found anywhere else in the world. In tropical rain forests, an estimated 90% of ecosystem species live in the canopy. Since tropical rain forests are estimated to have 50% of planetary species, rainforest canopy worldwide may have 45% of life on Earth. The Amazon rainforest is bordered by 8 countries, and has the largest river basin in the world and is the 1/5 source of river water on Earth. It has the largest diversity of birds and freshwater fish in the world. Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet - perhaps 30% of the world's species are found there.
More than 300 species of mammals are found in the Amazon, majority bats and rodents. The Amazon Basin contains more freshwater fish species than anywhere else in the world - more than 3,000 species. More than 1500 species of birds are also found there. Frogs are the most abundant amphibians in the rainforest. Interdependence, when species depend on each other, takes many forms in the forest, from species dependent on other species for pollination and seed dispersal to predator-prey relationships for symbiotic relationships. Any species lost from the ecosystem can undermine other survival opportunities, while the loss of key species - organisms linking many other species together - can cause significant disruptions to the overall functioning of the system.
The transfer of forests affects the social and economic life of indigenous peoples living in forests and families living there in relative isolation for centuries. These indigenous peoples, like Kayapo, have a deep understanding of the ecology of the Amazon. The subsequent loss of these people can also prove to be a loss of knowledge. The rainforest is their home, and the main source of food, shelter, fuel, cultural heritage and recreation. Deforestation for timber exports removes valuable protections for soils in dynamic ecosystems and areas susceptible to desertification and silting of rivers as rivers become clogged with eroded soil in rare areas. If too much timber is logged, previously previously covered soils can be roasted and dried in the sun, causing soil erosion and degradation and farmers can not benefit from their land even after cleaning it. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1977, deforestation was a major cause of desertification and in 1980 threatened 35% of the world's soil surface and 20% of the world's population.
Forest exploitation for mining activities such as gold mining also significantly increases the risk of mercury poisoning and ecosystem and water contamination. Mercury poisoning can affect the food chain and affect wildlife both on land and in rivers. It can also affect crops and crops of farmers trying to cultivate forest areas. Pollution may occur due to mud and affect the functioning of the river system when open soil is blown off and can have a significant impact on aquatic populations affected further by dam construction in the region. Dams may have a major impact on fish migration and ecological life and leave floodplains susceptible to flooding and laundering.
NASA Survey
In the American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate, two research meteorologists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Andrew Negri and Robert Adler have analyzed the impact of deforestation on climate patterns in the Amazon using data and observatory readings collected from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission for years, year. Working also with the University of Arizona and North Carolina State University Negri said "In deforested areas, land heats up faster and reaches higher temperatures, leading to a local upward movement that increases cloud formation and ultimately generates more rain".
They also examined cloud cover in deforested areas. Compared to areas still unaffected by deforestation, they found significant increases in cloud cover and rainfall during the August-September rainy season in which forests have been cleared. The altitude or existence of plants and trees in the forest directly affects atmospheric aerodynamics, and deposition in the area. In addition, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a series of detailed computer simulation models of rainfall patterns in the Amazon during the 1990s and concluded that deforestation also leaves sun-exposed soil, and increased surface temperatures increase evaporation and increase moisture in the air.
Measurable level
Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have slowed dramatically since peaking in 2004 at 27,423 square kilometers per year. In 2009, deforestation has fallen to about 7,000 square kilometers per year, a decline of almost 75 percent from 2004, according to the Brazilian National Space Research Institute ( Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais , or INPE) annual deforestation figures.
Their forecast for deforestation comes from 100 to 220 images taken during the dry season in the Amazon by the China-Brazil Earth Resources Resource (CBERS) program, and may only consider the loss of the Amazon rainforest - not the loss of natural fields or savannahs in the Amazonian biome. According to INPE, Brazil's original Amazon rainforest bioma of 4.1 million km 2 was reduced to 3,403,000 km 2 in 2005 - representing a loss of 17.1%.
According to estimates based on data from the National Institute for Space Research and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the rate of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest is:
Response
In the late 1980s, the removal of Brazil's forests has become a serious global problem, not only because of the loss of biodiversity and ecological disturbance, but also because of the large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) released from burning forests and the loss of a valuable sink to absorb global CO 2 emissions. At the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, deforestation was the main issue discussed at the summit in Rio de Janeiro. Plans for reducing compensation (CR) greenhouse gas emissions from tropical forests are prepared to give countries like Brazil an incentive to limit their deforestation rates.
"We encourage the Brazilian government to fully support the Compensation Reduction proposal", says scientist Paulo Moutinho, climate change program coordinator of the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (IPAM), an NGO research institute in Brazil. In Brazil, the cost of reducing deforestation emissions by half would be less than $ 5 per ton of carbon dioxide, an unpublished study of IPAM and the Woods Hole Research Center.
On May 11, 1994, two scientists, Compton Tucker and David Skole, presented the results of a NASA survey at the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs Congress of the United States, formal deforestation scientific assessments in Brazil and deforestation rates as well as questions about the effectiveness of Brazil's environmental policy. While full monitoring and assessment were extremely difficult because of the size of the rainforest, they concluded that satellite observations showed a decrease in forest removal rates between 1992 and 1993 and World Bank estimates of 600,000 sq km 2 (12%) cleared to that point seems too high. The NASA assessment concurred with the findings of the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE) of approximately 280,000 km 2 (5%) in the same period.
The following year (1995) deforestation almost doubled; this has been attributed to accidental fires following El NiÃÆ' Â ± o related droughts rather than active logging and the next year again shows a large decline. In 2002 Brazil ratified the Kyoto Agreement as a developing country registered in non-Annex I countries. These countries do not have carbon emissions quotas in agreements like those of developed countries. President Luiz InÃÆ'¡cio Lula da Silva reiterated that Brazil is "responsible for keeping the Amazon."
In 2006 Brazil proposed a direct financial project to deal with Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries, or REDD, a problem, recognizing that deforestation accounts for 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. A competing proposal for a REDD problem is a carbon emissions credit system, where reductions in deforestation will receive "marketable emissions credits". As a result, developed countries can reduce their carbon emissions, and approach their emissions quotas by investing in reforestation of emerging rainforest countries. In contrast, Brazil's 2006 proposal will be drawn from funds based on donor country contributors.
In 2005 deforestation reached more than 9,000 km (2,000 sq km) of forest compared to 18,000 km 2 (6,900Ã, sqÃ, mi) in 2003 and on July 5, 2007, Brazilian President Luiz InÃÆ'¡cio Lula da Silva announced at the International Conference on Biofuels in Brussels that more than 20 million hectares of conservation units to protect forests and more efficient fuel production have allowed the rate of deforestation to decline by 52% in the three years since 2004.
Daniel Nepstad of the Woods Hole Research Center has pointed out that Brazil's deforestation rate has been reduced by almost half in recent years through a combination of government intervention and economic trends. Since 2004, the country has made more than 200,000 km of 2 parks, sanctuaries, and national forests in the Amazon rainforest. This protected area, if enforced entirely, will save about one billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere through deforestation by 2015. Academic evidence suggests that the creation of public land, through the assignment of property rights, reduces incentives for cutting forested land for agricultural conversion and contributes to reduce land-related conflicts.
In 2005, the Brazilian Minister of the Environment, Marina da Silva announced that 9,000 hectares of 2 (3,500Ã, sqÃ, mi) of forests had been felled in the previous year, compared with more than 18,000 km 2 (6,900 sq. million) in 2003 and 2004. Between 2005 and 2006 there was a 41% reduction in deforestation; Nonetheless, Brazil still has the largest forest area removed annually on the planet.
These methods have also reduced land grabbing and illegal logging, encouraging land use for sustainable timber harvesting.
Future
Improving the social and economic conditions of the large population of the poor in Brazil is the government's primary concern.
It is clear that to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon will require enormous financial resources to compensate loggers and give them economic incentives to pursue other areas of activity. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that a total of approximately US $ 547.2 million (1 billion Brazil reais) per year will be required from international sources to compensate for forest developers and build highly organized frameworks to fully implement forest governance and monitoring, and the foundation of new protected forest areas in the Amazon for future sustainability. Compensating loggers for the entire Amazon rainforest will require a significant amount of funding and increase interaction with the international community, and reform of the world market system if deforestation in the country should be stopped.
Non-governmental organizations such as WWF have been very active in the region and WWF Brazil has formed an alliance with about eight other Brazilian NGOs aiming to stop full deforestation in the Amazon by 2015. Another group that has been effective is Greenpeace, an organization whose goal is to strive for saving crops from forest destruction, the threat of global warming and ocean damage. Other groups such as The Nature Conservancy, the proposal, known as the "Agreement on Recognizing Forest Values ​​and Ending the Deforestation of the Amazon," aim to combine strong public policy with market strategies to achieve annual deforestation reduction targets.
The groups aim to build a broad commitment between the government and community sectors to conserve rain forests and aim to reduce total deforestation to 68,737.8 square kilometers in seven years. Denise HamÃÆ'º, CEO of WWF-Brazil says, "Only through the mobilization of state and federal governments, the private sector and environmental NGOs, we can achieve significant results for the conservation and promotion of sustainable development in the Amazon".
See also
- Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest
- Amazon rainforest # Deforestation
- Brazilian Environment
- Environmental issues in Brazil
- 2018 in Brazil
- Agriculture in Brazil
- Coffee garden
- Coffee production in Brazil
References
External links
- Images of deforestation in the Amazon
- Reverse deforestation in Brazil ?, an academic article
- Mecanismos y actores sociales en la deforestaciÃÆ'³n de la amazonia brasileÃÆ' Â ± a
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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