Tropical Deforestation in the Amazon
Read the article "Last of the Amazon" (National Geographic, January 2007) then answer the following questions.
PART I:
- Identify TWO properties of tropical rainforest soils that make them vulnerable to development and EXPLAIN how that soil property is adversely affected.
- EXPLAIN how logging serves as the pioneering agent to destruction of rainforests. Is it logging that causes the long term problems?
- COMPARE the logging practice of clearcutting to selective harvesting. DESCRIBE a benefit and a limitation of each practice?
- Identify THREE ecosystem services provided by the Amazon rainforest and DESCRIBE each service.
- IDENTIFY ONE economic strategy that could ensure that the Amazon Rainforest system is compenstated for the services it provides humanity. EXPLAIN how it would work.
PART II: The following statistics were gathered from reading the article:
- The Amazon rainforest size is 1.4 million square miles.
- In the last 40 years, 20% of the rainforest has been cut.
- One quarter of the Amazon is set aside for indigenous peoples.
- 15% of the the Amazon rainforest is designated as reserves
- 80% of land is destroyed with 30 miles of a road
- BR-163 is 1,100 miles long, other illegal roads are 105,000 miles.
- 13.5 million people inhabit the Amazon rainforest of which 70% reside in cities.
- Assuming that cities occupy 5% of the total area of the Amazon rainforest i) what is the human population density in urbanized areas of Amazonia AND ii) What is the human population density out in the rainforest?
- Discounting land aloted to reserves and indiginous people, what is the rate that the rainforest has been destroyed in the last 20 years?
- Using your calculations from (A) and (B) determine the amount of rainforest destroyed per person NOT in a city.
- Using your calculation from (C), give context to this number in relation to the experiences and practices of Jose Rosa, the IBAMA, and Blairo Maggi. How would each react? Positively or negatively? Why?