Geography Year 8:Coltan and Impacts of Deforestation

3 facts about Coltan

• A natrual mineral found in the Congo and is used for chips in Phones or Play stations or electronic devices.

• Congo’s coltal production is an estimated 700 tonnes, which is 80% of the world’s Coltan.

• The rainforests are being cut down so that traditional miners, large scale miners and children can mine this lucrative material.

• The prices of Coltan increased by 10 times when the play station 2 came out.

2 reasons why the Congo is important

1. The trees in the rainforest absorp the carbon dioxide in the air, the Congo Basin absorps the more carbon dioxid than the Amazon, not just because of the rainforest but also due to peat bogd, a type of soil which absorps carbon dioxide.

2. It spans across 6 countries, this means that is provides food, as well as habitats for endangered species.

3 enviromental effects of Coltan

• Rainforests are stripped because they need to mine the land.

• Animals living there are becoming endangered because of habitat loss, this also leaves them vulerable to poachers. Furthermore, Gorillas and Elephants were consumed by starving child miners and wayward miners.

• Chemicals which are used to wash and sort soil containing Coltan, this chemical often ends up in water bodies which pollute the water.

3 social effects of Coltan

• People have always fought over the land which can lead to conflicts.

• People loose their home to mining as the miners cut it down for mining.

• Children are taken at a young age to be soldiars, most don’t know the difference between right and wrong.

Economic impacts of Deforestation

• Some of the raw materials underground remain untapped and they are worth over $24 trilllion.

• Illegal logging takes place in the Congo by local Congolese and foreign companies.

• A staggering 90% of DR Congo’s logging revenue was lost to tax avoidance in 2012.

Enviromental impacts of Deforestation

• Without trees, there are no roots to hold the soil in place, this leads to soil erosion,

• The soil can then be washed away taking the nutrients needed for plant to grow, this means that it will become harder for the plants to grow.

• It can also washh up in rivers, this pollutes the water supply for humans and destroys sea life and plant habitats.