This is a pet peeve of mine. Being an avid hunter and fisherman and boater and so on, I love nature and attempt to preserve it at all costs. This has lead me to support various responsible environmental causes such as the Nature Conservancy. Here is another of my interests. Is it yours? Do you have an opinion on this issue? Who is to blame here?Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. Why is Brazil losing so much forest? What can be done to slow deforestation?
DEFORESTATION IN BRAZIL: 60-70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon results from cattle ranches while the rest mostly results from small-scale subsistence agriculture. Despite the widespread press attention, large-scale farming (i.e. soybeans) currently contributes relatively little to total deforestation in the Amazon. Most soybean cultivation takes place outside the rainforest in the neighboring cerrado grassland ecosystem and in areas that have already been cleared. Logging results in forest degradation but rarely direct deforestation. However, studies have showed a close correlation between logging and future clearing for settlement and farming. [Portugu?s | Espa?ol]
Deforestation by state
Deforestation Figures for Brazil
Year Deforestation
[sq mi] Deforestation
[sq km] Change
[%]
1988 8,127 21,050
1989 6,861 17,770 -16%
1990 5,301 13,730 -23%
1991 4,259 11,030 -20%
1992 5,323 13,786 25%
1993 5,751 14,896 8%
1994 5,751 14,896 0%
1995 11,220 29,059 95%
1996 7,012 18,161 -38%
1997 5,107 13,227 -27%
1998 6,712 17,383 31%
1999 6,664 17,259 -1%
2000 7,037 18,226 6%
2001 7,014 18,165 0%
2002 8,187 21,205 17%
2003 9,711 25,151 19%
2004 10,590 27,429 9%
2005 7,256 18,793 -31%
2006 5,421 14,040 -49%
2007 3,865 10,010 -47%
All figures derived from official National
Institute of Space Research (INPE) data. Individual state figures.
*For the 1978-1988 period the figures represent
the average annual rates of deforestation.
Causes of deforestation in the Amazon
Cattle ranches 60-70%
Small-scale, subsistence agriculture 30-40%
Large-scale, commercial agriculture 1-2%
Logging, legal and illegal 2-4%
Fires, mining, urbanization, road construction, dams 2-4%
Selective logging and fires that burn under the forest canopy commonly result in forest degradation, not deforestation. Therefore these factor less in overall deforestation figures.
Between 2000-2005 soybean cultivation reesulted in a small overall percentage of direct deforestation. Nevertheless the role of soy is quite significant in the Amazon. As explained by Dr. Philip Fearnside, "Soybean farms cause some forest clearing directly. But they have a much greater impact on deforestation by consuming cleared land, savanna, and transitional forests, thereby pushing ranchers and slash-and-burn farmers ever deeper into the forest frontier. Soybean farming also provides a key economic and political impetus for new highways and infrastructure projects, which accelerate deforestation by other actors."
Why is the Brazilian Amazon being Destroyed?
In many tropical countries, the majority of deforestation results from the actions of poor subsistence cultivators. However, in Brazil only about one-third of recent deforestation can be linked to "shifted" cultivators. Historically a large portion of deforestation in Brazil can be attributed to land clearing for pastureland by commercial and speculative interests, misguided government policies, inappropriate World Bank projects, and commercial exploitation of forest resources. For effective action it is imperative that these issues be addressed. Focusing solely on the promotion of sustainable use by local people would neglect the most important forces behind deforestation in Brazil.
Brazilian deforestation is strongly correlated to the economic health of the country: the decline in deforestation from 1988-1991 nicely matched the economic slowdown during the same period, while the rocketing rate of deforestation from 1993-1998 paralleled Brazil's period of rapid economic growth. During lean times, ranchers and developers do not have the cash to rapidly expand their pasturelands and operations, while the government lacks funds to sponsor highways and colonization programs and grant tax breaks and subsidies to forest exploiters.
A relatively small percentage of large landowners clear vast sections of the Amazon for cattle pastureland. Large tracts of forest are cleared and sometimes planted with African savanna grasses for cattle feeding. In many cases, especially during periods of high inflation, land is simply cleared for investment purposes. When pastureland prices exceed forest land prices (a condition made possible by tax incentives that favor pastureland over natural forest), forest clearing is a good hedge against inflation.
Such favorable taxation policies, combined with government subsidized agriculture and colonization programs, encourage the destruction of the Amazon. The practice of low taxes on income derived from agriculture and tax rates that favor pasture over forest overvalues agriculture and pastureland and makes it profitable to convert natural forest for these purposes when it normally would not be so.
In short, Deforestation is a local problem with global consequences. Recently, Brazil's Amazon rainforest has come into the international spotlight prompted by concerns for a warming planet. In 1991, it was predicted that at current deforestation rates, only scattered"remnants" of tropical rainforests will exist and a quarter of all species on Earth will be extinct by the time today's preschoolers retire (Binswanger, 1991). This rapid rate of deforestation raises concern in a number of different environmental issues such as biodiversitiy loss and global warming.
These environmental externalities have been directly linked to Brazilian governmental tax policies, tax incentive systems, rules of land allocation, and the agricultural credit system. Combined, these policies create economic distortions that harm the environment by increasing the demand for farm, pasture, and ranch land. Brazil's policies not only injure the environment, but also"reduce the chances of the poor to become farmers" (Binswanger, 1991). Large corporations quickly claim the land to which new roads give them access. Small, poor farmers are pushed farther into the jungle in order to find arable, unclaimed land. In order to slow deforestation, these policies must be changed, and a new set of laws and regulations regarding the use of forest land need to be implemented.
http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html and
http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/defor-brazil.html.
