Rural - Land Use Change and Management Flashcards
What are the reasons for the destruction of the Brazilian Rain-forest ?
- Shifting Cultivation
- Deforestation/Logging Companies
- Cattle Ranchers
- Precious Metal and Mineral Mining
- Hydro Electric Power (HEP)
- Trans Amazonian Highway ( TAH )
- New Settlers
Explain the reasons for Rural Land Degradation in Either a Semi Arid or Rain-forest Area you have studied ? Specifically timber.
- There are Various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest.
- logging companies fell the hardwoods for markets in EMDCs creating a valuable source of income for Brazil : Little attempt has been made to replant the deforested areas
Explain the reasons for Rural land degradation in Either a Semi-Arid or Rain-Forest Area you have studied?
Specifically Cattle Ranchers
- There are various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon Rain-forest.
- Run by large transnational companies selling beef to fast food chains in developed countries.
- The forest is replaced with grass
Explain the reasons for rural land degradation in Either a Semi-Arid or Rain-Forest Area you have studied? Specifically Minerals
- There are various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon RainForest
- Minerals provide Brazil with huge natural resources e.g. Iron ore, bauxite, diamonds, gold and silver.
- The Carajas Mine is the world’s largest iron ore mine, opened in 1985.
Explain the reasons for rural land degradation in Either a Semi-Arid or Rain-Forest Area You have studied?
Specifically HEP
- There are various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest
- HEP is an important source of renewable (cheap) energy
- Building dams and creating large lakes though has led to huge areas of forest being flooded
- The Itaipu Dam, the world’s second-largest hydroelectric power produce, is seen in the Parana River along the borders of Brazil.
Explain the reasons for rural land degradation in Either a Semi-Arid or Rain-Forest area you have studied?
Specifically TAH
- There are various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon rainforest
- The Trans Amazonian Highway was built to develop the region and to transport timber,minerals,farm produce and people.
- Over 12,000km of new roads have been built
- A 900km railway has been built from Carajas (Iron-ore mine) to the coast where it is exported
Explain the reasons for rural land degradation in Either a Semi-Arid or RainForest area you have studied?
Specifically New Settlers
- There are various reasons for land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest
- due to Brazil’s Increasing population, millions of landless people were given land to farm in Amazonia
- This has led to an increase in population from 2 million (1960) to over 30 million (2000) with large areas of rainforest cleared.
Explain the Impacts of Rural Land Degradation on a Semi-Arid or RainForest area you have studied?
Specifically WildLife & Plant Life
- There are many impacts of land degradation in the Amazon Basin
- Deforestation has destroyed the habitats of millions of plants and animals
- The Rainforest contains 70% of the worlds species, many of which could become extinct
- Over half of our medicines come from the TRF for example the rosy periwinkle is used to treat childhood leukaemia. If deforestation continues potentially useful medicinal drugs could be lost forever.
Explain the Impacts of Rural land degradation on a Semi-Arid or Rainforest area you have studied.
Specifically Global Warming
- There are many impacts of land degradation in the Amazon Basin
- Global Warning is accelerating due to the burning of the forest releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide. If this continues the ice caps will melt and cause severe flooding in low lying areas e.g South East England
- Over one third of the world’s fresh oxygen supply comes from the TRF- this would be totally lost if the region was deforested, also adding to Global Warming.
Explain the impacts of Rural Land Degradation on a Semi-Arid or Rainforest area you have studied.
Specifically Soil Erosion
- There are many impacts of land degradation in the Amazon Basin
- Removing trees means that there is no canopy to protect the soil from heavy downpours, or roots to bind the soil together, the nutrients are then washed out of the soil which is called leaching which would leave it infertile.
- Some new farms & cattle ranches have since been abandoned because of the extent of this erosion.
Explain the impacts or Rural Land Degradation on a Semi-Arid or Rainforest area you have studied.
Specifically Water Supplies.
- There are many impacts of land degradation in the Amazon Basin
- There has been serious water pollution by gold mining which uses toxic substances such as mercury.
- This has caused poisoning of fish, rivers and people
Explain the impacts of Rural Land Degradation on a Semi-Arid or Rainforest area you have studied.
Specifically the effects on the AmerIndians in the Amazon Rainforest
- There are many impacts of Land Degradation in the Amazon Basin
- Some Indian Groups e.g. The Kayapo have been forced onto reservation like Xingu Park or have retreated into more remote areas deep in the forest.
- Thousands of AmerIndians have also died due to a lack of immunity to “western” diseases such as measles and flu
- There has been violence and intimidation against these tribes, with many thousands of indigenous Indians killed by the new settlers. Many tribes have suffered from Culture-Shock - Alcoholism and extreme poverty.
Explain the strategies used to manage rural land Degradation In a Rainforest or Semi-Arid area that you have studied and comment on their effectiveness.
Specifically Reduced Impact Logging
- Many techniques have been put in place to manage rural land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil
- Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) is selective tree felling where only trees which are fully mature are cut down, which means rather than whole areas being cleared only single trees are felled, leaving young ones to grow
- This has been successful because it guarantees the life span of the younger trees and leaves smaller gaps in the canopy which encourages seedlings to grow.
- However, RIL is much more expensive than traditional logging and is hard to police in the Amazon
Explain the strategies used to manage rural land degradation in a Rainforest or Semi-Arid area that you have studied and comment on their effectiveness.
Specifically Education
- Many techniques have been put in place to manage rural land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil
- Education can be used to teach people about the Importance of the environment and how they can help save the rainforests.
- ‘Save the Rainforest INC’ offers educational travel tours and student trips to tropical rainforest destinations in Belize,Costa Rica, Galapagos and Panama.
- This is Effective because people must see the beauty and understand the importance of these forests so they will want to protect them.
Explain the strategies used to manage rural land degradation in a Rainforest or Semi-Arid area that you have studied and comment on their effectiveness.
Specifically Afforestation
- Many techniques have been put in place to manage rural land degradation in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
- Afforestation is used by conservation groups, both national and International, and their aims are to conserve soils by reforestation
- Afforestation has resulted in a significant area of forests being restored. However, the deforestation rate is still faster than the rate at which forests are restored as incentives given to locals are unattractive.
- Also, the trees that are planted are non-native, e.g. Teak trees which do not support Indigenous flora + fauna.
