Chong Boon Secondary SchoolSec 1 Geography Unit 3Section 4

Learning Questions

1. Where can we find deforestation?

2. Reasons for deforestation?

3. Measures to lower impact of deforestation.

Global distribution of deforestation

•Over 320 sq km of rainforests disappear each day.•Deforestation occurs at all places where we find rainforests.•Key areas include the Amazon Basin and Indonesia.

Key causes for deforestation

•Need for space•Residential purposes• Industries•Agriculture•Need for resources•Mining• Logging

Residential Space•With development, more space is needed to house the increasing population.•Cities grow into the surrounding areas.•Rainforest often suffer as conservation is not taken to be as important as development.

Sao Paolo Brazil

Industries

•Industries need space.•Cheapest land found in unused areas.•Rainforests cleared to provide land for industries.

Typical Processing Plant

Agriculture

• Subsistence Agriculture• Farming solely for the purpose of

consumption• Tribal communities and small

homesteads• Deforests small plots of land to feed

family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlBu-qaNMMg

Agriculture

• Commercial Agriculture• Large-scale farming for profit• Big companies buying/renting land from

government• Destruction of large areas of rainforests• Replacement of rainforest with grass to

allow for grazing• Replacement of rainforest with

commercial crops like Soy Beans / Sugarcane / Corn / Oil Palm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egyrnWZjOl4

Cattle ranching

• Raising of cattle on large farms.• 80% of amazon deforestation is for cattle

ranching.•Most beef produced is exported to USA

and Britain.• Overseas demand leading to local

deforestation.

Logging

•The cutting down of timber•High demand of wood for furniture, firewood and construction•Demand in Developed Countries (DCs) push the supply from the Less Developed Countries (LDCs).

Mining

• Extraction of precious metals and gemstones•Gold, Copper, Tin, Diamonds, etc• Forests above the mines are cleared.• Forests leading to the mines are

cleared for road construction to transport equipment into the mines and the materials out of the mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-cWB1ft6J4

Turn to Pg 96 Now!

•Read the news article on Pg 96.•From the article, what are the causes of deforestation?•What is the relationship between deforestation and ‘people moving into cities’ ?

Get into pairs / groups of 2 to 4

• Send 1 representative to collect some resources • You have 10 minutes to discuss and

write down your answers on the cards given. •We will display the cards at the back

of the room later.