Deforestation of Tropical Rainforests:
Deforestation = the cutting down of forests (trees)/the permanent loss of trees
○ Only started to have a serious impact on rainforests in the last 100 years
● UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 50% of world’s tropical rainforest has now been cleared
● Rate of deforestation:
○ Increased in 3 continents
■ Asia = Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
■ Africa = Madagascar, Mali
■ South America = Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia
○ Indonesia and Peru → rate between 2005 and 2010 was double rate between 2000 and 2005
○ Rate decreased in 7 countries
■ Occured in Brazil → deforestation has fallen to record low
■ 50% of Brazil’s forest has a protected status
● But 20% of Amazon Rainforest has been cleared since 1970 (761000 hectares)
○ Reductions reflect measures countries put in place to protect their rainforests
● Deforestation continues in most countries
● Occurs in all 62 countries with rainforests
● Estimated global rate:
○ 1 hectare per second
○ 60 hectares per minute
○ 86000 hectares per day (larger than New York)
○ 31 million hectares per year (larger than Poland)
Amazon rainforest:
● Brazilian rainforest occupies a huge lowland basin → drained by Amazon and tributaries
● Clearance has taken place at the south of Amazon → most accessible from Brazil’s main cities
● Brazilian rainforest has been occupied by indigenous (native) tribes for centuries
○ Native tribes have:
■ Harvested fruits and nuts and cut wood for fuel
■ Used timber to build dwellings
● Human use of rainforest does not always lead to deforestation, often forest degradation
○ Forest ecosystem is changed in a negative way
○ Supply of resources decline