Module 5 - WORKSHEET - Changes in forest cover

Jacaranda Text Ch 3.2 (page 52) Where have all the trees gone?

Study the text and answer the questions below.

1. Refer to figure 1. What are the three main causes of deforestation in the Amazon?

The three main causes of deforestation in the Amazon are cattle ranching (65-80%);
small-scale agriculture (20-25%), for example slash-and-burn farming; and large-scale
farming (5-10%), for example soya bean cropping. Combined, these three factors are
responsible for up to 95 per cent of the deforestation taking place.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of road building in the Amazon?

Advantages

Improved transport for moving goods and people

Improved communications
Improved opportunity to access isolated areas
Provides more land
Alternative to river transport
Faster means of transport
Roads help to improve access
Business benefit from mine resources and forest timbers establish
large cattle ranches and farms
Make more land available
Reduce population pressure (encouraging people to move to new places)

Disadvantages

Increased soil erosion, due to high rainfall in region, may affect water quality
Risk of spreading diseases etc. to remote tribes
Increased access allows an increase in clearing and deforestation
Disturbance to wildlife and habitats
Possible fragmentation of forest impacting on wildlife movement
Loss of biodiversity

3. Why would subsistence farming in the Amazon be referred to as slash-and-burn

farming?

Subsistence farming in known as slash-and-burn farming because the main method

of clearing the rainforest is to cut some of the growth and burn the rest.
This provides a clear area of land and the ash helps to fertilise the soil.
Once the soil loses fertility and the rainforest starts to grow back, the plots are
abandoned and new ones created.
Secondary forest takes over the abandoned plots.
4. In what ways would the environmental changes of small-scale subsistence farming
differ from those of large-scale soya bean cropping?

Slash-and-burn farming tends to be done on a small scale and a variety of different

crops are planted, such as vegetables and fruit trees. Larger shade trees are kept so
that the soil does not remain bare and exposed for any length of time. No artificial
fertilisers, insecticides etc. are used.

Large-scale soya bean cropping involves clearing (cutting and burning) extensive
(large) areas of land, then planting seeds in orderly rows. Soils can be exposed to
wind and water erosion. If soil quality is poor, large inputs of fertilisers may be
needed. Pesticides and herbicides may also be used, which can also affect water
quality in nearby streams when washed off after rain. Fields are usually fenced off to
protect plants, although this could restrict the movement of native animals.

Consequently, slash-and-burn farming may have fewer environmental impacts than

large-scale cropping and has been sustainably done for centuries.