Tropical Rainforests Case Study

Question 1

Logging in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 1

• Mahogany and Teak used for furniture
• Less valuable trees used for fuelwood or to improve access to the more valuable trees

Question 2

Road Building in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 2

• Required to access the rainforest
• Used to bring in heavy transport and machinery and to send goods to market
• Transamazon Highway

Question 3

Mineral extraction in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 3

• Gold, Bauxite and Copper in Brazil
• Gold, Tin and Copper in Borneo
• Coal in Borneo for 99% of Malaysia’s supply

Question 4

Energy Development in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 4

• High rainfall for HEP
• Construction causes vast areas of rainforest to flood
• Water becomes acidic, as the flooded rainforest rots
• Turbines and dams corrode
• Silt, from surface run-off, blocks dams
• Belo Monte Dam in Brazil dams the Xingu River, flooded 40,000 hectares and displace 20,000 people

Question 5

Farming in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 5

• Indigenous tribes use subsistence farming
• Cattle ranching the lead cause of deforestation
• Soy, Palm Oil and Sugar Cane
• Destruction of the nutrient cycle by deforestation means that land cannot support a herd for long

Question 6

Population Growth in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 6

• Economic activities’ workers live in the rainforest

Question 7

River Pollution in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 7

-Mercury is used to separate gold, which seeps into the ground and water sources, poisoning fish and local settlements
- Rivers polluted by silt from soil erosion

Question 8

Decline of Indigenous Tribes in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 8

• The number of tribes has dropped from 330 to 240

Question 9

Biodiversity Loss in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 9

• 137 plant and animal species lost everyday, 50,000 a day
• By 2030, the Amazon will have lost 30-45% of their main species

Question 10

2006 International Tropical Timber Agreement

Answer 10

• Restricts trade in tropical hardwood
• Tropical hardwoods are extremely valuable
• All hardwood timber must be marked with a registration number
• Governments are using satellites and drones to monitor illegal logging

Question 11

Debt Reduction in the Amazon Rainforest

Answer 11

• USA allows Brazil to convert the £13.5 million that they owe them into rainforest conservation
• Western governments agreed to reduce the debt that Costa Rica owed as long as they spend £27 million on conservation