1. Amazon Rainforest Our rain forests around the world are being destroyed at a rate of 36 football fields deforested each minute.

2. Amazon Rainforest Covers most of the Amazon Basin

3. Amazon River  It moves more fresh water into the ocean then any other river

4. What is a rainforest?  A complex ecosystem with many layers.  Canopy  Lower Story  Forest Floor

5. The Amazon   Tropical Wet Rainforest.   Covers more than 2 million square miles.   Mostly located in Brazil.   Many different species of trees, plants, and animals.

7. Deforestation  Deforestation ~ the clearance of forests by logging and/or burning (also known as slash and burn).  The logs are sold and the cleared land is turned into farmland or a place to graze cattle.

8. Deforestation: Slash and Burn

9. “Slash and Burn”

11. Why does deforestation happen?  Logging  Agriculture (subsistence farming)  Cattle Ranching  The soils are too poor to sustain agriculture & grazing. Farmers are forced to clear more land every couple of years

12. Why does deforestation happen?  Poor People with Little education They must make a living somehow  Need money more than they think they need to protect the rainforest

13. What does deforestation look like?  The lighter areas are where the forest has been cut down. Satellite Image

15. Change Over Time  What differences can you see between 2000 and 2006?  What can be the result of this?

16. Biodiversity  Wide range of species  Plants  Animals  Insects  The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species alone

17. Deforestation results in declines in biodiversity.  80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in tropical rainforests  We lose137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation

18. Deforestation contributes to climate change  Deforestation causes carbon dioxide to build up in the atmosphere  Trees and plants remove carbon dioxide from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

19. Deforestation adds to climate change  Trees provide shade and shade moderates temperatures. With shade, the temperature may be 98 degrees during the day and 60 degrees at night.  Without the shade, temperatures would be much colder during the night and much hotter (around 130 degrees) during the day.

20. Deforestation has social effects  Indigenous peoples lose their homeland

21. Profit or Protect?  Developing (newly industrialized) countries have to be careful how they spend the little money they have  Priorities are food, clothes, and houses for their people  Protecting the rainforest takes a distant second  How can we help them protect the rainforest?

22. Sustainable Development  Finding ways to use the resources of the rainforest without destroying it  Is it possible?

23. Land Use Conflict  The groups we will look at all have a different view on how to use or preserve the rainforests.

24. Does this editorial cartoon support using the rainforest to make money (economic development) or does it encourage people to protect (preservation) the rainforest?