THE CHANGING AMAZON RAINFOREST

The Amazon has a long history of human settlement, but in recent decades the
pace of change has accelerated due to an increase in human population, the
introduction of mechanized agriculture, and integration of the Amazon region into
the global economy. Vast quantities of commodities produced in the Amazon
cattle beef and leather, timber, soy, oil and gas, and minerals, to name a few are
exported today to China, Europe, the U.S., and other countries. This shift has had
substantial impacts on the Amazon.
This transition from a remote backwater to a cog in the global economy has resulted
in large-scale deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon more than 1.4
million hectares of forest have been cleared since the 1970s. An even larger area
has been affected by selective logging and forest fires.
Conversion for cattle grazing is the biggest single direct driver of deforestation. In
Brazil, more than 60 percent of cleared land ends up as pasture, most of which has
low productivity, supporting less than one head per hectare. Across much of the
Amazon, the primary objective for cattle ranching is to establish land claims, rather
than produce beef or leather. But market-oriented cattle production has nonetheless
expanded rapidly during the past decade.
Industrial agricultural production, especially soy farms, has also been an important
driver of deforestation since the early 1990s. However since 2006 the Brazil soy
industry has had a moratorium on new forest clearing for soy. The moratorium was
a direct result of a Greenpeace campaign.
Mining, subsistence agriculture, dams, urban expansion, agricultural fires, and
timber plantations also result in significant forest loss in the Amazon. Logging is the
primary driver of forest disturbance and studies have shown that logged-over
forests even when selectively harvested have a much higher likelihood of
eventual deforestation. Logging roads grant access to farmers and ranchers to
previous inaccessible forest areas.
Deforestation isn't the only reason the Amazon is changing. Global climate change
is having major impacts on the Amazon rainforest. Higher temperatures in the
tropical Atlantic reduce rainfall across large extents of the Amazon, causing drought
and increasing the susceptibility of the rainforest to fire. Computer models suggest
that if current rates of warming continue, much of the Amazon could transition from
rainforest to savanna, especially in the southern parts of the region. Such a shift
could have dramatic economic and ecological impacts, including affecting rainfall
that currently feeds regions that generate 70 percent of South America's GDP and
triggering enormous carbon emissions from forest die-off. These emissions could
further worsen climate change.
- See more at: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/#sthash.XGQgyc6O.dpuf

APA citation:
Butler, Rhett A (2006). Title of this page (see top of browser window). Retrieved 9
January 2006, from Mongabay.com / A Place Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests and
the Perils They Face. Web site: http://www.mongabay.com/

The Amazon Jungle, as it is commonly known in English, is a magnificent broadleafed rainforest in the heart of Brazil, the basin of which covers an impressive area
of 7 million square kilometres (or 1.7 billion acres). It has an astonishing value in the
natural world in terms of the Oxygen that it provides, the Carbon Dioxide that it
consumes and the splendid array of exquisite plant- and animal species to which it
is home. In fact, it is home to the most diverse and numerous arrays of species in
the world.
However, the Amazon is not yet a very popular or frequented tourist destination.
This is for several reasons:

Green tones of the Brazilian Amazon,

the tropical rainforest.
1. There is a perceived danger of the dangerous human elements (drug lords, and
so on) in and around the Amazon. This is not quite as risky as some foreigners
believe, and formal tour groups should provide sufficient protection against any
potential risk.

2. There is a lack of trustworthy information available to travellers; even those

making use of the internet and travel agents.
3. Some tourists are frightened of the animal species that they will encounter as
well as the risk of contracting Malaria and / or Yellow Fever. However, vaccines and
medication are available to protect them from such illnesses and tour guides will not
endanger their group in the presence of a wild animal.
The climate of the Amazon Jungle is typically tropical, with hot, humid conditions
both day and night (evening temperatures are slightly cooler than those of the
daytime). It is very wet in this area, no matter what time of year (although there is,
technically, a drier season between April and September). Visitors will need to
prepare for these conditions, which can become uncomfortable, but are well worth
it.
The fauna and flora of the Amazon are, by far, the most endearing traits of this
beautiful attraction. There are approximately:

40 000 plant species

1 300 bird species
430 amphibian species
3 000 fish species
380 reptile species

www.brazil.org.za/amazon-rainforest.html, no author.

Amazon Rainforest

Written by: The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica

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Amazon Rainforest, large, tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of

theAmazon River and its tributaries in northern South America, and covering an
area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). Comprising about 40
percent of Brazils total area, it is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north,
the Andes Mountain Ranges to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south,
and theAtlantic Ocean to the east.
A brief treatment of the Amazon Rainforest follows. For full treatment, see South
America: Amazon River basin.
Amazonia is the largest river basin in the world, and its forest stretches from the
Atlantic Ocean in the east to the tree line of the Andes in the west. The forest
widens from a 200-mile (320-km) front along the Atlantic to a belt 1,200 miles
(1,900 km) wide where the lowlands meet the Andean foothills. The immense extent
and great continuity of this rainforest is a reflection of the high rainfall, high
humidity, and monotonously high temperatures that prevail in the region.
The Amazon Rainforest is the worlds richest and most varied biological reservoir,
containing several million species of insects, plants, birds, and other forms of life,
many still unrecorded by science. The luxuriant vegetation encompasses a wide
variety of trees, including many species of myrtle, laurel, palm, and acacia, as well
as rosewood, Brazil nut, and rubber tree. Excellent timber is furnished by the
mahogany and the Amazonian cedar. Major wildlife includes jaguar, manatee, tapir,
red deer, capybara and many other types of rodents, and several types of monkeys.

In the 20th century, Brazils rapidly growing population settled major areas of
theAmazon Rainforest. The Amazon forest shrank dramatically as a result of
settlers clearance of the land to obtain lumber and to create grazing pastures and
farmland. In the 1990s the Brazilian government and various international bodies
began efforts to protect parts of the forest from human encroachment, exploitation,
and destruction.

www.britannica.com/.../Amazon-Rainforest, The Editors of Encyclopdia

Britannica, Amazon Rainforest