A number of techniques are used to prevent this loss of nutrients. The most popular of which is the use of fertilizers. In the context of rainforest soil, fertilizers offer little, if any, help.
A large portion of the rainforest soil is rich in nitrogen. Therefore, nitrogen is not the primary deficient nutrient, rather organics are, and the addition of nitrogen into the soil will not affect crop yields. An alternative to traditional fertilizers is the use of green manure. Green manure is basically the use of decayed plant material as fertilizers. Although green manure is effective at increasing the organic compound level in soil, this benefit is decidedly short-lived due to the inability of rainforest soil to retain nutrients.
A technique that indirectly prevents the loss of nutrients is the use of pesticides to combat intruding weeds. These chemicals, when exposed to the forces of nature, wash off into other areas of the rainforest and leach into the clay layers below where the chemicals may lay dormant for many years.
Some pesticides can be toxic to plant and animal life, inhibiting growth and causing illness. Without an effective root structure, provided by the previously inhabiting tress, the soil loses much of its structural integrity and is far more prone to erosion than forested land. In addition, during the rainy season, a lack of canopy cover exposes the land to excessive rainfall, draining nutrients from the fertile topsoil to the clay layers.
During the dry season, the same lack of canopy cover leads to over-exposure of the land by the sun, baking the land and destroying the drought-sensitive crops. Although the Amazon rainforest is not a watershed, due its high levels of precipitation and thin top soil layer, it has similar runoff patterns characteristic of watersheds.
For reasons similar to agriculture, ranching is not very adaptable to the land of the Amazon Rainforest. The grasses required to feed cattle, like the crops maintained in agriculture, are not resistant to the natural forces of the Amazon Basin and quickly deplete the nutrients of the surrounding soil.
The nutrients that were once in the soil are removed from the ecosystem, shipped away as ground beef. Studies on land use have also suggested that the continuous movement of cattle on the unprotected land results in soil compacting, which increases the density of the soil material, resulting in decreased root penetration, water infiltration, and gas exchange.
The possible solutions to preventing nutrient loss are similar to those suggested for agricultural systems. Cattle ranching remains a very important industry in Brazil and is becoming even more vital to the Brazilian economy.
The Brazilian commercial cattle herd is the largest in the world. By , Brazilian beef output is expected to reach 7. One problem in Brazilian beef exporting has been the existence of foot and mouth disease in some Brazilian states. This has caused the United States to be very stringent with Brazilian beef imports. However, the United States and Europe are still major importers of Brazilian beef. Although many fast food chains claim not to use rainforest beef, this claim is simply not valid.
The USDA doesn't have an adequate system of labeling where beef is from. Thus beef grown in the rainforest can pass through a processing plant in the US and still be labeled as domestic meat. It produces the second largest amount of beef in the world after the United States. We change lives. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. And we can prove it. Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription.
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Points of Progress. A Christian Science Perspective. Monitor Movie Guide. Monitor Daily. Photo Galleries. About Us. Get stories that empower and uplift daily. See our other FREE newsletters. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy. Select free newsletters: The Weekender. Today's Highlights. Christian Science Perspective. It is one of the Amazon farms that has committed to preserving forest, protecting wildlife, and improving social and labor conditions. Over the past decade, AgroSB has been accused of illegal deforestation , keeping workers in slave-like conditions, and spraying a community occupying one of its farms with pesticides — accusations it has strongly denied.
The company pledged to stop buying cattle from the farm. That same year, Joesley Batista, CEO of its controlling company, almost brought down the government of President Michel Temer after secretly recording him appearing to endorse bribery — Temer was indicted but never tried and has always denied the charges, claiming the recording was edited.
In an email, a spokesman for AgroSB said any deforestation had occurred before the company acquired Lagoa do Triunfo in Cattle farming fed its growth from remote Amazon outpost to busy town, and there are clear signs of wealth here. Just outside town, big money was being splashed at a horse racing meet in a field full of 4x4s.
As two jockeys spurred their horses down the rudimentary race track, a commentator bellowed and men waved wads of cash as their bets came in. Bueno built his business more than 20 years after arriving here with just the clothes on his back.
Both men were critical of what they saw as overzealous environmental controls. Logging is the process of cutting and processing trees to create wood-based products. Large portions of our forests are cut down in order to build houses and produce paper products.
Deforestation in tropical regions from logging and timber conversion accounts for 15 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. As the global population increases and more houses are built, logging is becoming a top deforestation driver. Clearcutting is a highly invasive method of tree removal that destroys all trees and seed sources from an area.
This method of logging is used for paper products and lumber, but is also common in ranching, to expand croplands and grazing pastures. This aggressive removal of forests threatens plant and animal species in addition to the natural regrowth of tree saplings.
Selective logging, or the removal of only a few trees per area, is mildly less invasive and used for high-value wood products, but smaller trees are still damaged in the process and species native to those areas are still displaced.
A study has shown that selective logging can actually double the total number of trees felled per year instead of reducing the amount. Both clearcutting and selective logging make forests vulnerable to flooding and fires, since water is no longer hindered by trees and shrubbery, and logged areas are dried out by sunlight and made more susceptible to flames. Forests are set ablaze to clear space for cattle and feed crops, taking vegetation and wildlife with them.
These intentional fires — often called slash-and-burn fires — alter water cycles, compromise soil fertility, and threaten communities of people living and working within the forests. In , intentional fires set in Indonesia roared out of control, resulting in one of the largest wildfires in recorded history. Hundreds of people, animals, and plants perished in the flames.
Blankets of thick smoke hung in the air of neighboring countries like the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia for months, and locals were advised to stay inside. Fast forward to and flames continue to engulf forests, fueled by the desire of large corporations and farming industries to increase their profits.
Agriculture is believed to be responsible for the recent Amazon fires — specifically land clearing for soy production, to feed livestock around the world. Brazil has already experienced over 70, fires so far in — more than double the amount in , and corporate greed is likely to blame.
Intentional agricultural fires are scorching our planet, killing endangered wildlife, and threatening native communities. A growing global population leads to the expansion of cities and highways, often to the misfortune of biodiverse forests. Roadways like the Interoceanic Highway , stretching over 1, miles across Brazil and Peru, rip through lush forests to make room for cars and trucks.
The construction of roads throughout forests, especially the Amazon rainforest, increases the probability of animal deaths caused by loss of habitat and motor accidents. New roads make the process of illegal logging and poaching more convenient as well. In the past 40 years, at least 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed. Farmers annihilate scores of trees by bulldozing, burning, or chopping them to create grazing areas and produce crops, mostly for cattle.
The chart above displays Amazon rainforest loss from to It is self-explanatory: tree populations continue to decline. Palm oil production has been a recent whipping boy for deforestation and species endangerment, but animal agriculture is 10 times more destructive to our rainforests, causing over 60 percent of Amazon deforestation.
Sadly, those species, along with millions of indigenous people residing within the Amazon Basin, are facing disaster as a surge of forest fires continues tearing through their homes. As previously mentioned, Brazil has already experienced over 70, fires so far in , which is a significant increase from the 42, fires in At least 20 percent of the Amazon has already been cleared and around 80 percent of that land has been used for cattle.
The wild species diversity in the area is threatened by the rapid increase in livestock feed production and the 40 million cattle per year that this region produces. Current deforestation rates are increasing and soon the Amazon will not be able to sustain the interconnected ecosystems within it.
If the demand for meat continues to rise, as the FAO expects it to , farmers will eventually run out of arable land and move on to the next forest.
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