Slash and Burn Agriculture
What is it?
Slash and burn agriculture is when trees are cut down to fuel mainly cooking fires. The remaining vegetation is then burned off. This process releases nutrients from trees that plants need to grow. The area is cropped for a few years until the nutrients run out, and then will be abandoned so vegetation can grow again. After 20-25 years, the landowners return again.
How does it affect the rainforests?
Because of an increase in people needing food, the farmers are forced to return to lands before they are ready. This can cause soils to become too poor to even grow native vegetation, causing deforestation as well as erosion.
Slash and burn agriculture is when trees are cut down to fuel mainly cooking fires. The remaining vegetation is then burned off. This process releases nutrients from trees that plants need to grow. The area is cropped for a few years until the nutrients run out, and then will be abandoned so vegetation can grow again. After 20-25 years, the landowners return again.
How does it affect the rainforests?
Because of an increase in people needing food, the farmers are forced to return to lands before they are ready. This can cause soils to become too poor to even grow native vegetation, causing deforestation as well as erosion.
Mining
What is it?
Tropical rainforests are rich in precious metals. Miners rely heavily on hydraulic mining techniques, blasting away at river banks, clearing floodplain forests, and using heavy machinery to expose potential gold-yielding gravel deposits. In a separation process, mercury and cyanide--both highly poisonous compounds--are used. Though most of it is removed, some is washed into waterways. Mining also exposes previously buried metal sulfides to atmospheric oxygen causing their conversion to strong sulfuric acid and metal oxides, which can also run off into local waterways. How does it affect the rainforests? Building roads and clearing out mining spaces causes deforestation and disrupts surrounding wildlife. Additionally, the loud sounds often scare wildlife away. While deforestation and chemical pollution from mining can impact the rainforest environment, downstream aquatic habitats fare worse. Increased sediment loads and reduced water flow can seriously affect local fish populations. The mercury, cyanide, sulfuric acid, and metal sulfide runoff only makes the water pollution worse. Miners can also bring diseases into indigenous populations. |
Endangered Species
The golden lion tamarin is an endangered species in the tropical rainforest. This is primarily due to hunting, because its fur sells for a high price on the black market.