Transcript Land Use Conflict in the Amazon Rainforest

By Sam Irving
Land Use Conflict in the
Amazon Rainforest
The Geographic
Setting
 Cover 6% of the Earth’s surface.
 Home to about 50% of the world’s living
species.
 Nicknamed “the lungs of the Earth.”
Essential Question
 How should the resources
of the Amazon rainforest
be used and preserved?
Land Use Conflict
 What do you think this means?
 :Arguments about the best ways to
use the land.
 Let’s look at the six sides to this
conflict.
How does this guy use the rainforest
to survive?
Native Amazonians
 Lived in the rainforest for 12,000 years.
 A sustainable way of life.
 Using the resources without causing longterm damage.
 Hunting, Fishing, Subsistence Farming
 Want legal ownership of their
homelands.
 Save the Forest to Save Us!
 Why don’t they want development?
What’s this guy doing?
Rubber Tappers
 First came to the Amazon in the
1870s.
 Collect sap from rubber trees to
make rubber.
 Sustainable (doesn’t hurt the trees)
 Want to create protected reserves.
What’s going on?
Loggers
 Enter the Amazon in the 1960s.
 Clear-cut forests and sell lumber.
 Deforestation
 Is this Sustainable?
 Provide forestry jobs, helping the
Brazilian economy.
 In 2004 alone, Brazil exported over
$5 billion worth of wood.
What’s this?
Settlers
 Entered the Amazon in the 1960s with
gov’t encouragement.
 Poor people looking for rainforest land
to farm.
 Poor soil forces settlers to clear-cut
new fields every few years.
 Is this sustainable?
 ?
Cattle Ranchers
 Also entered in the 60s.
 Clear-cut to create grassland to feed
cattle.
 Feed the world with beef and help the
Brazilian economy.
 The U.S. is one of the biggest buyers of Brazilian
beef.
 Some estimate 55 feet of rainforest are cleared
for every hamburger sold in the U.S.
b
Environmentalists
 Became active in the 1970s.
 Protect the biodiversity of the
rainforest.
 A 2.5-acre patch of rainforest contains about
125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds,
750 species of trees, and 1,500 species of
flowering plants .
 Over 100 plant, animal, and insect species are
lost everyday due to deforestation.
 Want slower, smarter rainforest
development.
Ideas for Reducing Land
Use Conflict
 Promote Ecotourism: attracts
people who would like to visit a
unique ecosystem.
 Encourage sustainable development.
 Ex. Shade-grown coffee
 Ex. Strip logging
 Buy Products that protect the
rainforest.
What do you think?
How do we get from here
to here?
Assignment: Letter to the Brazilian Gov’t
 ELT: Investigate issues and justify possible
resolutions involving people, places, and
environments.
 Write a letter to the Brazilian Gov’t
explaining your ideas on how to best use and
preserve the resources of the Amazon
Rainforest.
 Describe two actions and explain how these
actions will meet the needs of at least three
groups involved in the land-use conflict.
Works Cited
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.
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