World Wildlife Fund

Logging opens up the forest to slash and burn cultivators who cut remaining forest to grow crops.
© WWF-Canon / Mark EDWARDS

Market forces, population pressure and infrastructure advances are continuing to pry open the Amazon rainforest. As pressures on the region grow in intensity, it is becoming increasingly clear that the price to be paid is not only loss of biodiversity and habitat – but also a decreasing quality of life for people.

Forests
While data from the government of Brazil shows that deforestation rates for the Brazilian Amazon from August 2006 to July 2007 had fallen for the third consecutive year, deforestation still proceeded at an alarming speed. During the government's survey period more than 2.7 million acres disappeared - equaling about four football fields of rainforest per minute. There are also data that shows deforestation rates have increased since the end of that reporting period. A recent WWF report shows that 55 percent of the Amazon's forests could be gone by 2030, releasing billion of tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with major contributions to global warming.

Agriculture
Commercial agriculture is a major threat to the region's biodiversity, as soybean farming and cattle ranching are among the most acute causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Unsustainable subsistence farming is also a threat. At one time, many migrants were encouraged to settle in the Amazon region. But instead of adapting their farming methods, they simply continued to use the techniques they learned back home. Unfortunately these techniques were suited to other soils and climates and inadequate for the Amazon region. Because land productivity in the Amazon usually falls sharply after three years, migrants are then forced to move - only continuing the cycle of destruction.

Infrastructure development and international finance
Major road projects provide conduits for poorly planned development and increased deforestation in newly opened areas of the Amazon. Other forms of destruction that have brought serious consequences to the region include floods caused by the construction of river dams for hydro-electrical power as well as mining that contributes to soil erosion and water contamination with toxic chemicals, such as mercury. Oil and gas exploration and the construction of pipelines also pose potentially serious threats to the region.

Climate Change
Climate change and deforestation could convert the majority of the Amazon rainforest into savanna, with massive impacts on the world’s biodiversity and climate. Climate-modelling studies are projecting a warmer and drier environment for the region, which will likely lead to a substantial decrease in precipitation over much of the Amazon. Such changes would result in significant shifts in ecosystem types – from tropical forest to dry savanna – and loss of species in many parts of the Amazon.

Wildlife trade
The remote borders between Amazon countries are ideal places for traffickers to export wild animals. Birds in the Amazon are prime targets, and some are sold live while others are killed to supply feathers, skins and other body parts. Reptiles are highly valued for their skins and live reptiles are also popular pets. In the past ten years, the world demand for reptiles by pet shops, educational and scientific institutions as well as for food, has dramatically increased. Of all mammal species from the Americas that are traded, 95 percent are found in Brazil – one of the major suppliers of primates along with the Guianas and Peru.