Conflicts in the TRF

Starter• Watch the video clip and try to come

up with as many problems as you can see– Here– Here

Lesson Objectives

• To know there are several conflicts in the tropical rainforest

• To understand why these problems exist

• To develop an opinion on each issue

Commercial farmers, wanting land to grow crops, like soya.

Who uses the Amazon?Miners, wanting to extract minerals, such as bauxite.

Loggers, who gain a highprice for timber like mahogany.

Cattle ranchers, who needareas for their cattle to graze.

Tucurui Dam

Mining for gold and bauxite

But miners have caused damage to the rainforest by cutting down large areas of forest and using chemicals to extract metals from the ground.

Mercury is a poisonous chemical used to purify gold which gets into rivers and soils.

The mining industry is very important to the expansion of the Brazilian economy.

Logging involves cutting down of trees and sawing them for timber.

Logging

The construction of the 5,000 km TransAmazonian Highway began in the 1970s but some sections are still not paved.

Accessing the Amazon

Slash and burn is a technique used to clear rainforest and provide land for settlement, crops and ranching.

This causes large areas of land to be deforested.Without a cover of trees, the soil becomes worn out and washed away by rain. Eventually, it becomes difficult to grow crops and either fertilizers must be used or a new area must be cleared.

Slash and burn agriculture

Task – Use pg 52 if needed

• Create the following table in your books

Problem

descriptio

n

Advantages Disadvantages My

opinion