Causes and impacts of Deforestation in Tropical rainforests

Causes and impacts of Deforestation in Tropical rainforests

1. Road building

   • Economic
     • Helps country to develop economically.
   • Social
     • Improve communications within the country.
   • Environmental
     • Leads to further deforestation.
       • can cause soil erosion and flooding.

2. population pressure

   • Social
     • Urban dwellers have more space, Amerindians lose space to live
       • Urban dwellers- People who once lived in a city move away to live in a forest.
   • Environmental
     • Trees are cleared to make land for new settlements
   • Economic
     • Urban dwellers can earn some money buy cutting trees down and selling them to the market.

3. Commercial logging

   • Economic
     • Trees are felled to make money
     • Create jobs.
   • Social
     • The quality of life for some local people improves as there are more jobs
   • Environmental
     • Without tress there's no leaf fall so there is no nutrient supply to the soil, which makes it less fertile

4. Slash and burn (Farming)

   • Social
     • Maintain Amerindian lifestyle and culture
   • Economic
     • This is subsistence farming- growing crops to live off rather than to trade.
   • Environmental
     • Only small area is cleared
     • The forest is allowed to regenrate and recover.

5. Debt repayment

   • Environmental
     • The rainforest absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,but clearing the tress and burning them just adds to the problem.
   • Social
     • Amerindians have watched their land and way of life disappear.
   • Economic
     • Brazilian government paying debts by destroying rainforest.
       • The loss of so much forest has helped to contribute to global warming

6. Mineral extraction

   • Environmental
     • Massive amount of rainforest cleared. CO2 released into the atmosphere which causes global warming.
   • Social
     • Provides jobs for local people.
     • Destroys the traditional Amerindian way of life
   • Economic
     • Minerals are mined and sold to make money.