Deforestation (Brazil) - Final exam prep

Local response to deforestation (ICF)

ICF (International Conservation Fund)

Founded in 2019, located South-East Amazonia, Brazil

protect land with:

• guard posts that discourages potential invaders

• create sustainable incomes with Brazil nut harvesting

• annual income for kayapo communities

aim: To ensure Kayapo culture, economic, political and territorial autonomy.

outcome: kayapo have successfully defended their land, satellite images reveal no deforestation.

negatives

• Potential conflicts with external interests

• limited funding for long-term projects

• reliance on consistent local governance

National response to deforestation (The forest code)

Forest code (national)

Introduced 1985

Updated from 1965-2023

Legally covers rivers, forests, soils

Enforced with inspections, sanctions (administrative and criminal)

aim: balancing agricultural land use as well as restoration of degraded areas

to conserve biodiversity

outcome: critics argue that the revised Forest Code has led to a decline in environmental protections and increased deforestation. 

positives

• claim to be “ensuring environmental protection”

• Actively monitoring deforestation through rural environmental registry (CAR)

negatives

• reduced required forest cover on private land from 80% to 50%

• code has been difficult to enforce

• increased deforestation, loss of up to 190 million acres of forest

• unclear regulations and inadequate support for sustainable practices

• conflicts with local communities

Global response to deforestation (REDD+)

Redd+

Introduced in cop19

Purpose: incentivizing developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by preserving their forests

Stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

Aims:

• reduces emissions from conservation of forest-carbon stocks

• sustainable management of forests, enhancement of forest carbon stocks

Outcomes:

• projects have led to significant carbon storage and improved livelihoods, others have yielded mixed results

• failure to create a large-scale funding mechanism

not successful, why

• Impacts on wellbeing in local communities have been mixed

• Deforestation is still a significant issue

• backlash from political groups in favor of weaker environmental policies

• lack of transparency

• difficult to assess overall effectiveness

Geospatial (global forest watch)

Global forest watch

Geospatial technology program (GIS, GNSS, Remote sensing)

Established in 1997 - established by world resources institute (WRI)

Started as a network of NGO’S, Worked its way up by working with governments to address changes with deforestation

Aim:

• Detect illegal gold mining and logging

• To provide precise information

• Track fires

Outcome:

• increased awareness of deforestation trends

• enhanced decision-making by governments and organizations

• the potential for more effective forest protection and restoration efforts

good because

• Satellite-derived alerts

• indicates areas of potential deforestation/tree cover disturbance

• based on LANDSAT (land satellite) imagery

• help monitor forest health

• provides detailed mapping at a global scale

• real-time monitoring

• accessible on the internet

• identifies large-scale events

Location ( relative and absolute ) of brazil

14.2°S, 51.9°W
Central-eastern part of south America

Bordering the Atlantic ocean

North east of Bolivia

What is Deforestation

the conversion of forest to other land use independently of whether human-induced or not

Human characteristics of Brazil

Speak Portuguese, spanish, english

pop concentrated on south eastern coast

major cities: sao paulo, rio de janero, brasilia (capital)

pop 211.1 million

305 distinct ethnic groups

Geographic characteristics of Brazil

60% of Brazil is the amazon basin (1.5 million miles²)

60% of brazil is rainforest

12.2% of world forests are in brazil

tropical rainforests

2.9m km² of forest

Characteristics of deforestation

• Climate change when forests are located between HCO and LGM

• habitat loss

• increased soil erosion

• climate change exacerbation and biodiversity decline, often driven by agriculture

• urbanization

• mining

Human and natural causes for deforestation 

human

• Agricultural expansion

• Projects to improve infrastructure

• Poor forest management

• Wars and civil distribution

• Pursuit of economic development

natural

• Insects, pests, diseases

• Wildfires

• Short term: Storms, drought, landslides, volcanos

• Long Term: Climate change

Interconnection between human and natural causes

• Overall, human activity is the driver of deforestation

• Human activities are speeding up natural climate change

• Human disturbances like selective logging and land clearing, forest edges become more prone to natural disturbances 

• Clearance areas for agriculture and cattle ranching are more susceptible to fires

Causes for deforestation (agricultural expansion)

• responsible for 73% of global deforestation

• supported by government subsidies to promote food security

• cattle ranching accounts for 80% of forest clearing in the Brazilian rainforest

Causes for deforestation (poor forest management)

• lack of workforce capacity to enforce laws

• international criminal police organisation (INTERPOL) estimates forestry crimes total 51 billion USD - $152 billion USD per year (3/4 of this comes from Indonesia and Brazil)

• high corruption because forest products provide high financial rewards

• logging licenses often encourage rapid wasteful exploitation for short term financial gain

Causes for deforestation (wildfires)

• affects about 3% of global forest area each year

• primarily in dry temperate & tropical regions

• e.g australia, canada, chile, greece

• some forests naturally regenerate after a fire, or even depend on fires to regenerate

Causes for deforestation (pursuit of economic development)

• underlying driver for deforestation

• as countries develop economically, deforestation occurs rapidly

• event in warmer climate

• forest dieback has been documented n every vegetated content over the past three decades

impacts of deforestation on the economy

• Brazil could face losses of $317 Billion per year if amazon deforestation continues - short term gain for individuals

• non-timber forest products need forest ro survive (rubber, Brazil nut and açai) - contributes income to 6 million households in Brazil

• forest sector makes up 1.2% of brazils GDP - most of deforestation that happens is illegal

impacts of deforestation on society

social

• indigenous communities - 422 indigenous reserves, 700,000 indigenous people live in reserves

• deforestation on indigenous lands has increased by 129% between 2013 and 2021

• health - air pollution = respiratory issues

• vulnerable groups will me harmed more, long term effects from toxic pollutants can cause cardiovascular diseases and premature death

impacts of deforestation on the environment

environment

• biodiversity - 3 million species live in the amazon rainforest

• estimated 137 plant, animal, insect species lost in amazon east year

• waters absorbanccy is reduced, as well as quality and increased erosion

• adding to climate change - reducing carbon sink, less trees to take in more carbon