Causes of Amazonian Deforestation
One main cause in the Amazon is the spread of highways. Recent development of regions in the Amazon resulted in a need for new roads and highways. The opening of highways over the last 20 years promoted new and easy access to forested areas. This expansion combined with government incentives for development of the region, made it possible for activities which causes rapid deforestation, such as land speculation, cattle ranching, timber extraction, clearing for cash crops like rubber, cocoa and sugar cane and exploration for oil and minerals.
The Pacific side of the Pucallpa Gap on the Trans-Amazon Highway.
Although Brazil is one of the fastest growing countries, economically as well as population wise, there are still many people living in poverty. Most of these people are farmers and have recently moved from outside the Amazon basin to the inner Amazon during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Unsuccessful farmers tend to be unstable, selling out and moving on to new frontiers where they will deforest again, which is very evident in satellite images of the Amazon. The issue is no longer how to prevent migration to the Amazon from the rest of the country but how to ensure that the farmers already in the Amazon remain on the deforested land. This would in turn reduce migration and further deforestation inland.
Areas of Deforestation is evident in satellite images.
The poor farmers in the Amazon depend on the resources from the forest for their very survival. Land is needed for crops, trees are burned and used for fuel, and fodder for their animals. The Amazonians do not have very much experience with agriculture and they do not have very much technology. They simply use slash and burn farming, with the belief that setting fire on the forest will rejuvenate the land (which holds true for some forests). In some pine forests, fire can help spread seeds and the heat helps release nutrients in the soil, however, this does not happen in a rain forest. Last year, there were 20,469 forests set in the Amazon, a 28% increase since 1996. The land becomes very dry and useless and the farmers move on to another area and deforest again.
Another cause of deforestation is not the result of farmers but overseas companies looking for more rare and exotic woods which have increased in the last few years by 28%. Many Asian companies buy into logging companies in the Amazon with permits and begin to deforest in numerous amounts.
