Deforestation in Amazonia
The Amazon rainforest, spread over Brazil and several neighbouring countries, is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth. It holds an enormous share of the world's species, stores vast amounts of carbon, and recycles moisture that produces rain far beyond the forest.
Drivers of deforestation:
- Cattle ranching, widely regarded as the largest single driver; forest is cleared for pasture, partly to supply international beef and leather markets.
- Commercial agriculture, especially soybean for animal feed and export.
- Logging, legal and illegal, for valuable timber.
- Roads such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway built from the 1970s, which opened the forest to settlers, ranchers and loggers.
- Mining, hydroelectric dams and settlement schemes.
Impacts: loss of biodiversity, release of stored carbon, disruption of rainfall, soil degradation (rainforest soils are poor because most nutrients are held in the vegetation) and displacement of indigenous peoples. Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper and union leader who campaigned to protect the forest and create extractive reserves, where communities harvest rubber and nuts sustainably, was murdered in 1988. The case shows how global demand for commodities drives local forest loss.
The African ivory trade
African elephants are killed for their ivory tusks, which are carved into ornaments and luxury goods. Large-scale poaching in the 1970s and 1980s sharply reduced elephant numbers. The trade is regulated by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), signed in Washington in 1973. In 1989 CITES moved the African elephant to Appendix I, banning international commercial ivory trade. Kenya publicly burned its stockpile of seized ivory in 1989 to show it would not profit from the trade. Later, CITES allowed limited one-off sales of stockpiled ivory from some southern African countries; critics argue that such sales can stimulate demand and provide cover for illegal ivory. The debate pits trade bans against sustainable-use arguments that ivory income could fund conservation.
Key points
- Cattle ranching and soybean are leading drivers of Amazon deforestation.
- Roads open forests to further clearing.
- Chico Mendes: rubber tapper, extractive reserves, killed 1988.
- CITES (1973) banned international ivory trade from 1989 by listing elephants in Appendix I.
Common mistakes
- Assuming rainforest soils are fertile; they are usually nutrient-poor once forest is removed.
- Thinking CITES bans all hunting; it regulates international trade.