Amazon Rainforest

• Selective logging does not contribute massively to deforestation, however clear felling does
• In the Amazon, mainly gold is mined for, with 10000 acres of land in 1999 being used for gold mining
• energy development in the Amazon means that areas are deforested so that HEP can be implanted next to the Amazon river which involves flooding large areas of forest
• cattle rearing Is said to have accounted for 80% of destruction in Brazil
• the cultivation of soybean has caused much forest clearance in Amazonia
• the trans-amazonian highway began in 1972 and is 4000km long
• ecotourism aims to educate visitors on the rainforest, the profits sty in the local community and renewable resources are used
• the FSC is a non-profit organisation promoting responsible and sustainable forestry