How and why are people affecting and changing the ecosystem?

There are many human interests in the rainforest:

o        Food – just 20 species provide 90% of the world’s food e.g. bananas.  There are many plantations of cash crops here.

Photo - experimental plantation in Amazonia.

a seringueiro or rubber tapper.

o        Medicine & scientific research – there are many undiscovered plants and animals in the rainforest (help to conserve the rainforest)

o        Fuel and rubber – natural rubber is still the strongest type of rubber and can be tapped from trees here.  Sugar cane can be fermented to provide fuel for cars (Brazil uses this a fuel).  The sap of one tree is just like diesel and can be put straight in a truck’s fuel tank (help to conserve the rainforest)

o        Settlement – the indigenous people of the Amazon see the rainforest as their home.  They rely on it for building materials, farmland, medicines and food.  The Government of Brazil also moved their capital city here, Brasilia, to try and decrease the population pressure on the coast (causes deforestation)

o        Trees – they provide a greatly needed income for the Government in terms of timber, building materials, paper and fuel for industrial furnaces (causes deforestation)

o        Transport links and development – Brazil is the fifth biggest country in the world but the concentration of its population is around the coast.  The rainforest is seen as an area that can be developed to resolve the problems of urbanisation (causes deforestation)

o        Scenery and wildlife – many people want to visit to experience this unique ecosystem (generally conserves the rainforest as it educates people about the environment but can destroy the environment if new roads are needed or holiday accommodation needed)

o        Over 25% of the rainforest cleared is used for cattle ranching to produce cheap beef (causes deforestation)

o        People harvest the forest fruits, nuts and spices and sell them to local markets (help to conserve the rainforest)

o        Animals – millions of animals each year are smuggled out and sold to dealers or hunted for furs and skins (affects food chains/webs)

a satellite image of deforestation alongside a highway.

see the grid pattern of roads with deforestation along them

Presumably dark green is forest - light green is deforested areas and red for crops

Gran Carajas Iron Ore mine

o        Minerals – there are many minerals in the rainforest and so many are mined on a large and small scale.  The largest mining project is the Carajas scheme.  It covers an area the size of West Germany (causes deforestation)

o        Energy – with high rainfall and low population density this is an obvious place for HEP stations this powers local settlements and industries (causes deforestation)

o        Nature reserves – conservationists are trying to protect many of the endangered species and so there are designated areas and no large development projects are allowed here (helps to conserve the ecosystem)