Amazon

1
Amazon
Human uses of the natural vegetation

• Agricultural uses
• Industrial uses
• Social demands

• Level of demand changes with
• improved technology
• social fashion

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Indigenous people hunting, gathering and slash
and burn AGRICULTURE
1 Yanomami Indians work at putting out a fire
that blazed out of control as they burned land
for cultivation. Ancient people of the Amazon
used a safer method, garbage, to make soil rich.
3
Amazon Basin shifting cultivation With the help
of stone axes and machetes, the Amerindians clear
a small area of about 1 ha in the forest.
Sometimes, the largest trees are left standing to
protect young crops from the suns heat and the
heavy rain so also are those which provide food,
like the banana and kola nut. After being allowed
to dry, the felled trees and undergrowth are
burnt, thereby earning this form of agricultural
practice another name slash and burn
cultivation.
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2 Seringueiros - AGRICULTURE
After most of the Seringalistas (owners of the
rubber-extraction areas) had gone bankrupt, the
remaining rubber-tappers or "Seringueiros" became
owners of their land and entitled to farm (which
was prohibited for them before).
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Chico Mendez a seringueiro who spoke out.
During the 70s title deeds were forged and
adulterated and land inhabited by families of
rubber tappers for decades were stolen. The
fazindeiros (ranchers) burned the forest to "open
up pasture - over hundreds thousands of hectares
and claimed state subventions. The fires started
from sporadic to massive.
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Brazil Nut AGRICULTURE
Brazil nuts, which are opened up by harvesters
within the primary forest, represent more than
half the yearly income for thousands of families
in the region, and so far have politically
justified the protection of these natural areas.
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In-migrant Subsistence AGRICULTURE
clearance
Burning season in August
8
Trans-Amazon Road (Transamazonica) cuts through
North East drought stricken area in Brazil
Amazonas, BR 364 Road
Access provided by road building schemes of 1970s
onwards
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Cattle Ranching AGRICULTURE commercial /
INDUSTRIAL
The greatest cause for concern is not from the
small scale ranching by peasants, but rather
from the large scale commercial ranchers who keep
larger cattle and larger herds
name Sue Branford experience Brazil specialist
It seems to me clear that McDonalds must still
today be buying beef from ranches on land until
recently occupied by Guarani and Kadiweu Indians
and, at least until 1982, to have bought beef
from ranches created on recently-cleared tropical
forest.
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Large scale cattle ranching
High inputs e.g. vets.
To supply beef to meat packing firms. INDUSTRIAL
DEMAND FOR HAMBURGERS
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INDUSTRIAL DEMAND for timber
Logging threatens the rain forests.  Thousands of
acres of rain forest are lost to logging every
year.
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Images obtained through recent aerial
reconnaissance by Greenpeace expose logging
operations in lands belonging to the Kayapó
Indians, which is strictly prohibited by
Brazilian law.
New evidence of large-scale illegal mahogany
logging deep in the Amazon rainforest was
released by Greenpeace today. The U.S. is the
world's largest importer of Brazilian mahogany.
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SOCIAL DEMANDS exotic holidays
For boat-based expeditions, we utilize our two
larger vessels the M/N Tucunare and the B/F
Esperanza. These hardwood vessels are equipped
with 12 and 8 bunks, respectively, have a full
complement of safety gear, and licensed and
experienced crews.
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Changing Social Fashion
Sustainable development
A banner in an Amazonian river town admonishes
residents to "Be intelligentdon't destroy the
environment."
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Amazon Eco-Tourism
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Yacumama Lodge Eco-Tour, Amazon River Headwaters,
Peru
Or.... For the truly adventurous, you can glide
through the tree tops on our canopy skyway
system, similar to one used by Sean Connery in
the movie "Medicine Man."
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DAY 1- River Cruise and Amazon Yarapa River
Lodge DAY 2- Remote lakes of the jungle and Pink
Dolphins DAY 3- Giant water lilies, village, and
canoeing DAY 4- Macaws and trip back to Iquitos
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Amazon destruction speeds up - Changing Technology
The information shows the speed of deforestation
increased by 40 between 2001 and 2002. Figures
from the National Institute for Space Research
(INPE) show more than 25,000 square kilometres of
forest were cleared in a year - mainly for
farming.
In the last 15 years, 243,000 square kilometres
have been deforested, the equivalent of 5 of the
Brazilian Amazon.
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Soya is Brazil's leading export, worth 5 billion
this year, and is key to paying the country's
foreign debts. It has already taken over large
swathes of the cerrado, the dense and
species-rich savannah of central Brazil. One
environment journalist told BBC News Online
"Soya is a real threat to the Amazon. This is a
clear example of what the recent protests in
Seattle against the World Trade Organisation were
all about".
Changing technology
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Changing Technology and Laws the FUTURE
The proposed changes would in effect mean a loss
of almost a third of the rainforest to allow more
cattle-ranching, with eucalyptus and pine
plantations, to replace the existing ecosystem.
More exploitation? And Degradation?
An experimental farm into replanting forest on
damaged soil More Conservation? and regeneration?