Page 22 - The World About Us

Deforestation
1.1.1
2.1.5

Why are the rainforests so valuable to people?

Natural tropical rainforests provide
a very hos le environment for humans
to live in. There are high temperatures
with sweltering humidity, poor soils and
all manner of wildlife that make life
difficult. Much of the naturally
occurring vegeta on is high in the
forest canopy, along with much of the
poten al prey for hun ng. This is why,
tradi onally, human popula on
numbers have been very low in
rainforests.
However, over the last century
human popula ons in rainforest areas
have expanded rapidly. In most cases fig.57 Newly cut logs float down the Kumai River in Kalimantan, Borneo.
the newly arrived people have been However, grasses will grow which rainforest plants are currently used as
coming in search of the abundant allows ca le ranchers to move into medicines – with many more perhaps
natural resources found in the forests.
areas recently deforested. undiscovered.
The most obvious resource is
The tropical climate is a valuable Beneath the soil, vast mineral
mber. Rainforest hardwoods are an resource for growing oil palms – a deposits are found. The largest iron ore
excellent source of mber – whether tropical species which produces high mine in the world, Carajás in Brazil,
for construc on, carpentry or paper quality oil used in food, cosme cs and extracts 300 million tonnes of iron ore
manufacture. In the last 40 years, 20%
soaps. Millions of hectares of forest in each year, as well as gold, manganese,
of the Amazon rainforest has been cut
Indonesia and Malaysia have been copper and nickel. Gold mines, both
down. This is more than was cut down logged and then planted as oil palm legal and illegal, are found through
in the previous 400 years.
planta ons. These planta ons provide rainforest areas. The toxic wastes from
The explana on for this rise in over 85% of the world's 52 million these mines, which use mercury to
logging can be found in the improved tonnes of produc on per year. process the gold, can have a lethal
road links opening up parts of the Europeans use or consume an average impact on local ecosystems.
jungle previously inaccessible to of 60kg of palm oil each year. As well In some areas, rainforests are
loggers. This, along with modern as palm oil, the rainforest climate is becoming a tourist a rac on, bringing
chainsaws and the insa able global ideal for growing rubber trees. The latex in local and interna onal visitors to see
demand for mber, could mean that, at from the tree sap is used in the the marvels of the jungle. These
current rates, all the Amazon's forest manufacture of car tyres.
tourists bring in money which can help
could disappear within a century.
Rainforests are not just sources of support poor and marginalised se lers
When rainforest is cut down the mber and palm oil. Many rainforest as well as indigenous people. This new
complex interrela onship between plants have been found to contain ‘ecotourism’, if managed wisely, could
soil, fungi, bacteria and trees is broken chemicals that have been used to fight help protect some forests from further
and soils quickly lose their fer lity. diseases including cancers. Over 125 destruc on.

fig.58 Carajás iron ore mine, Brazil. fig.59 Forest cleared for a palm oil planta on in Sumatra, Indonesia.

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Biodiverse ecosystems are under threat from human activity.