Amazon Rainforest: Fascination, threats and conflicts Study: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Study: Integrated Climate System Science Course: Climate and Society Course leader: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Scheffran

Amazon Rainforest: Fascination, threats and conflicts

Diana Süsser Date: 11/1/2011

http://www.hkroeger.de/uploads/pics/amazonas_01.jpg

1 Introduction 2 Fascination of the Amazon rainforest

2.1 Location and size 2.2 Need for its protection

3 Threats to the Amazon

3.1 Pressures on the rainforest 3.2 Human pressures on the rainforest 3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts 5 Conclusion and outlook 6 Discussion 7 References

Structure

• 1. Introduction

! 80 percent of all primeval forests are destroyed !

• about 18 % of the

Amazon forest are destroyed

• about further 18 %

are strong degraded

2.1 Location and size

Amazon rainforest

• size: ~ 7 million km²
• largest contiguous tropical

rainforest on earth

• stretches over 9 south-

american countries

• about 60 % located in Brazil

Central and South America compose 40% of global tropical forest land cover

2 Fascination of the Amazon rainforest

Figure 1: South American rainforests. http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio 217/jmz28/rainforest%20overview.html

2.2 Need for its protection Biodiversity

• most bio-diverse region in the world
• around one third of all on earth living plants and animals are living here
• some counts: about 30,000 vascular plants, with 5,000-10,000 tree

species alone, more than 400 mammal species, about 3,000 fish species

• many species are undetected until today

→ Silman (2007) emphasizes that 'such productivity and biodiversity of

tropical forests is largely sustained by optimum temperatures, light, rainfall year round, and efficient nutrient cycling'

http://www.maya-culture.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/tukan3-klein.jpg

2 Fascination of the Amazon rainforest

2.2 Need for its protection Home for indigenous

• about 200,000 indigenous,

in 170 various groups

• some of the groups have the status
• f unapproachable
• threatened by deforestation through

illegal lumbering and cattle farmer

• one of the largest freshwater reservoir on earth
• provides about 20% of the world-wide freshwater
• hydrological cycle affects the climate over wide parts Southamericas

Sweetwater vapour of the Amazon river

'Before 1500 A.D., there were about 6 million indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon. By the 1900s, there were less than 250,000' (The Nature Conservancy)

2 Fascination of the Amazon rainforest

2.2 Need for its protection Significance for the world climate

• 80 to 120 billion tones carbon are

constrained in plants and soil

• equal to the ~ 400 times of average

greenhouse gas emissions in Germany

• Brazil is the fourth largest climate

contaminator → 75% of the emissions come from deforestation

2 Fascination of the Amazon rainforest

3.1 Pressures on the rainforest

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.2 Human pressure

• n the forest:

Exploitation of forest resources → biomass (timber, biofuel), soil (agriculture) 3.3. Climate pressure

• n the forest (indirect

antropogenic as well)

Overview of exploitation

• Deforest. of

forest for soja growing

• Deforest. of

forests for cattle fields Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.2 Human pressure on the rainforest

Overview of exploitation

• Deforest. of

forest for soja growing

• Deforest. of

forests for cattle fields

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

What is becoming of the Amazonian forest?

Figure 2: Threats to the Amazon forest. UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009).

Since 1990:

• deforestation dynamic has

developed independently of public investment!

• development by financial

power of sawmill owners, cattle and soya farmers

3.2 Human pressure on the rainforest

Overview of exploitation

• Deforest. of

forest for soja growing

• Deforest. of

forests for cattle fields

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

Figure 3: Deforestation causes in the Brazilian Amazon. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0801- amazon.html

major threatens come from:

• illegal traded timber
• unsustainable expansion of soya fields

and cattle ranching

• thers:
• illegal mining and hunting
• urbanisation, dams, fires
• production of bioethanol from sugar cane

in the south and southeast of the country

• Amazon region is also being considered for

the production of fuel from biomass

Overview of exploitation Clearing of forest for soja growing Clearing of forests for cattle fields

• Brazil is the world’s

second-largest soya producer (52 million t in 2006) → accounting for 23 per cent of the global total

• since 2006: soya

Moratorium → no trade

• f soya from new

cleared forest

Figure 4: Soya production in the Amazon. http://photos.mongabay.com/09/soy_brazilian_amazon_1990-2005_400.jpg

Leo Freitas / Greenpeace

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.2 Human pressure on the rainforest

• 70-80% of all cleared areas

are cattle fields

• Brazil has the largest cattle herd in

the world (200 million heads in 2003)

• 40% of all brazilian cattles living in

the Amazon, about 70 million animals

Overview of exploitation Clearing of forest for soja growing Clearing of forests for cattle fields Figure 5: Total cattle herd numbers in

• Brazil. UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009).

→ increase in total herd number is related to the increase total deforestation

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.2 Human pressure on the rainforest

regional:

• cheap production costs
• (most illegal) and cheap land acquisition
• cattle producers offer a good

infrastructure → selective deforestation and construction of abattoirs

• unhuman labour conditions

→ often sclaves Why is the cattle breeding so attractive? global:

• increase meat consumption
• increasing meat price

→ increasing export of meat and leather

Overview of exploitation Clearing of forest for soja growing Clearing of forests for cattle fields

Hope: cattle Moratorium signed by four companies (JBS-Friboi, Bertin, Marfrig und Minerva)

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.2 Human pressure on the rainforest

* Henry (2010) underlines that 'the impact of climate change in South America is strongly negative' According to the IPCC (2007)...

• “... recent warming is strongly affecting terrestrial biological systems“
• especially vulnerable to changes due to global warming are among
• thers tropical forests

→ vegetation shift → migration → changes in fundamental ecological processes and biodiversity, however, significant variations between species in response to climate change

Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater

3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

Climate Change security risk for the Amazon rainforest

• potential alteration of hydrological

cycle as a result of reduction in evapotranspiration

• increase of drought due to

significant warming of oceans → 'savannization' → extinction of a significant number

• f species (Mortality)

Simulations relating to biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest show that by 2095 climate change induced habitat modification could be so extensive as to threaten the survival of 43 per cent of rainforest plant species (Miles et al., 2004). Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater „In the middle of the Amazon Basin, people have no water to drink.“ (Greenpeace)

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

Figure 6:Causal loop

• diagram. Fearnside (1995)

3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

Climate Change security risk for the Amazon rainforest

• possible increased cloudiness in northeast corner (increased evaporation

due to temperature rises over oceans) → decrease productivity

• possible decreased cloudiness in the west because of reductions in

evapotranspiration due to deforestation

• rise in temperature by 2100 of 2.6–3.7 °C against a 1990 baseline (IPCC

2007, A1B scenario)

• uncertainties about future preciptitation

Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

Figure 7: Causal loop diagram. Fearnside (1995)

3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

Climate change secutrity risk on carbon storage

• today: tropical forests contribute a carbon sink of 1-3 gigaton (1 billion

metric tons) per year

• future predictions: from 2050 onwards the Amazon region will be able to

absorb less and less carbon from the atmosphere; this is because higher air temperatures combined with increasing dryness will reduce carbon fixing by the rainforest → reduction of carbon storage in the Amazon region → terrestrial biosphere becomes a global source of carbon in future

Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

Climate Change security risk on food and freshwater

• decrease of inland water levels and less water

availablity from the Andes

• serious consequences for agriculture: rising

temperatures, increasing droughts and soil degradation

• warming of as little as 1–2 °C has a negative

impact on grain production, however, soya yields are forecast to rise

• disappear of many natural fish species habitats

due to overfishing, increasing dryness and rising temperatures; migration is interrupted by drying up of river channels a.s.o.

Figure 8: Part of the conflict constellations after WBGU (2007) Vulnerability to c. c. Climate change security risk

• n:
• Amazon
• CO2 storage
• food and

freshwater

3 Threats to the Amazon rainforest

3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Conflicts over land: soil degradation Loss of biodiversity

Figure 8: World map of environmental conflicts (1980–2005): Causes and

• intensity. UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009).

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Figure 9: Loss of human lives due to conflict over land 1997-2007, Brazil. UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009).

• in 2006 1,317 families

were expelled from their land , with more than twice the number of families experiencing the same fate in 2007

• in 2007 19 people were

assassinated over land rights issues

.

Key word: DEFORESTATION 'Resource use is already an issue with major potential for conflict in the region' (WBGU, 2007).

Indigenous groups industrylised farmers

→ livelihood → nature reservation → agriculture → timber

government landowners Economic growth

→ agriculture → timber

Soya and Cattle Moratorium – agreements

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Key word: DEFORESTATION

Indigenous groups industrylised farmers

→ livelihood → nature reservation → agriculture → timber

'Resource use is already an issue with major potential for conflict in the region' (WBGU, 2007).

government landowners Economic growth

→ agriculture → timber

Various land using interests and negative influence on the forest

• expansion of large cattle and

soya farms → noticeable increase in violent conflict; expulsions of small farmers in the Amazon region; majority of large landowners have no title to the land (CPT, 2007).

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Key word: DEFORESTATION 'Resource use is already an issue with major potential for conflict in the region' (WBGU, 2007).

Indigenous groups industrylised farmers

→ livelihood → nature reservation → agriculture → timber

government landowners Economic growth

→ agriculture → timber

Soya and Cattle Moratorium – agreements

Economy growth depends

• n agriculture

– not longer right!

• economic growth →

protecting forests can accompany economic improvement, as the economy expanded during the same period in which deforestation slowed (August 2009 and July 2010)

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Key word: DEFORESTATION 'Resource use is already an issue with major potential for conflict in the region' (WBGU, 2007).

Indigenous groups industrylised farmers

→ livelihood → nature reservation → agriculture → timber

government landowners Economic growth

→ agriculture → timber

Soya and Cattle Moratorium – agreements

Government: Lack of will and power for self-assertion

• illegal forest clearance is usually

carried out without regard to statutory requirements, but the majority of these offences go unpunished due to bad monitoring

• f protection and lack of

punishments

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

Indigenous groups Industrylised farmers government

Key word: CLIMATE CHANGE

global green house gas emitters nature of the forest

landowners 3.3 Climate pressure on the rainforest and conflicts

4 Human- and climate-induced conflicts

→ → conflicts over conflicts over land and resources land and resources may increase as may increase as farmland is further farmland is further expanded and as a expanded and as a result of the effects result of the effects

• f climate change
• f climate change

(WBGU, 2007) (WBGU, 2007)

5 Conclusion and outlook

According to the WBGU 2007: 'The collapse of the Amazon rainforest, which cannot be ruled out, would radically alter South America’s natural environment, with incalculable economic and social consequences.'

1) Part of the global percentage change in maximum dry periods under scenario A1B in a simulation by the Max Planck Institute (MPI, 2007) 2) Part of the conflict causes after UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009). 3) Part of WBGU (2007), based on Schellnhuber et al. (2005)

Climate Change

1) 2) 3)

• between August 2009 and July 2010

deforestation has dropped by 14%

• record low rate of deforestation

→ Creation of the Soya and Cattle Moratorium sustainable use

• f resources/

stop deforestation E x p l

• i

t a t i

• n
• f

R e s

• u

r c e s / d e f

• r

e s t a t i

• n

6 Discussion

Central questions: What can we do to protect the Amazon rainforest? How we can minimze the conflicts there?

Thank you for your attention! Questions?

Questions?

Questions?

http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/images/20 05_mea_frog.jpg

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7 References

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(Springer) Berlin, Heidelberg and New York; 396 pp. Morton, D C, DeFries, R S, Shimabukuro, Y E, Anderson, L O, Arai, E, del Bon Espirito-Santo, F, Freitas, R and Morisette, J (2006) Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the Southern Brazilian Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103: 14637–41.

Marengo JA (2004) Interdecadal variability and trends of rainfall across the Amazon basin. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 78: 79-96. Miles, L, Grainger, A and Phillips, O L (2004) The impact of global climate change on tropical forest biodiversity in Amazonia. Global Ecology and Biogeography 13: 553–65. Nature Conservancy – Rainforests, http://www.nature.org/rainforests/explore/threats.html, Access on 6/12/2010 Nepstad, D C, Verissimo, A, Alencar, A, Nobre, C, Lima, E, Lefebvre, P, Schlesinger, P, Potterk, C, Moutinho, P, Mendoza, E, Cochrane, M and Brooksk, V (1999) Largescale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire. Nature 398: 505–8. Oldeman, L R, Hakkeling, R T A and Sombroek, W G (1991) World Map of the Status of Human-Induced Soil Degradation – An Explanatory Note. Global Assessment of Soil Degradation GLASOD. International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), Wageningen. Phillips OL, Lewis SL, Baker TR, & Malhi Y (2007) The response of South American tropical forests to contemporary atmospheric change. In: Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic

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Rodenbeck C, Houweling S, Gloor M, & Heimann M (2003) CO 2 flux history 1982-2001 inferred from atmospheric data using a global inversion of atmospheric transport. Atmosph Chem Phys 3: 1914-1964. Silman MR (2007) Plant species diversity in Amazonian forests. In: Tropical Rainforest Responses to Climatic Change. Eds: MB Bush & JR Flenley. New York: Springer-Praxis Publishing Ltd, 269-294. UNEP, FAO, UNFF (2009) Vial Forest Grapic Tropical rainforest conservation, http://www.mongabay.com/, Access on 7/12/2010