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Causes of Deforestation - Coggle Diagram
Causes of Deforestation
Logging
Involves cutting down trees for sale as timber or pulp
Timber used to build homes, furniture and more
Pulp used to make paper & similar products
Either selective or clear cutting
Selective
Loggers only choose high-valued woods
e.g. Mahogany
Clear-cutting
Not selective
All types of wood
Cut all trees down
Clears the forest
Substinence and commercial farming
Poor farmers occupy plots of the forest to grow food to feed them and their families
They clear forests and then burn it
It's known as 'slash and burn'
They grow crops until the soil is exhausted then move on
In the rainforest, the soil doesn't have that much nutrients anyway.
Doesn't contribute as much as commercial farming
Brazilian region of Mato Grosso affected by deforestation in the 1980s and 1990s.
43% rainforest losses were in this region
Area is almost 1% size of France
Area replaced by fields for grain and cattle.
Allowed Brazil to overtake Australia as largest exporter of beef in the world.
Land is also very flat
Lots of rainfall
Road building
Trees cleared for roads
Roads are essential for Brazilian government to allow development for the Amazon rainforest
Trans-Amazonian Highway
Already opened up large parts of the forest
BR163
Runs 1700km
Cuiaba to Santarem
Government planned to tarmac it
Make untouched forest along the route more accessible
Under threat of development
Unless the roads are paved they are unusable during wet periods
Mineral extraction
Forests also cleared to make way for mines
Brazilian part of the Amazon has lots of mines
Iron
Manganese
Nickel
Tin
Bauzite
Beryllium
Copper
Lead
Tungsten
Zinc
Gold
Energy Development
Mainly hydro-electric power
150 new dams planned for the Amazon alone
Create electricity as water is passed through huge pipes within them
Turns a turbine which helps to generate electricity
Dams displace many people
Reservoirs created flood large areas of land, which would have been forest
Alter hydrological cycle
Trap huge quantities of sediment
Belo Monte dam
Started operating in April 2016
Will generate over 11,000mW
New scheme
Sao Luiz de Tapajos dam
8,000mW
Held up due to concerns over impacts on Munduruku people
Power in Amazon often used for mining
Settlements & Population growth
Populations are growing within Amazon forest
Along with them are settlements
Many people migrate to the forest looking for work
Parauapebas
Iron ore mining town
Grown rapidly
Destroys the forest, replacing it with shanty towns