Extent of DeforestationCovering an area of 5.5 million square kilometres, the Amazon Rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. Located in Northern South America and a part of the Amazon Basin, the rainforest covers territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Columbia with 10% and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
Geographical Extent of the Amazon
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The Amazon is so amazing, so vast, so beautiful, that it almost defies description.
And it’s disappearing — fast. |
Over the past 40 years, however, about one fifth of the Amazon Rainforest has been deforested with an average of just under 20,000 square kilometres being deforested each year from 1990 to a peak of 27.5 thousand square kilometres in 2004. Although deforestation in the Amazon has significantly decreased in the last ten years, with an average of less than thirteen thousand square kilometres deforested each year, a large portion of the Amazon has fallen victim to the issue of deforestation and along with it has come the destruction of a vast range of endemic plants and animals species, and vast range of Indigenous communities.
Deforestation Over the Years
A great video highlighting the progression and increasing extent of deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. With the aid of a timelapse from Landsat satellite imagery, Bruce Pengra from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) explains how deforestation has changed over the years and its continually growing extent.
A great video highlighting the progression and increasing extent of deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. With the aid of a timelapse from Landsat satellite imagery, Bruce Pengra from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) explains how deforestation has changed over the years and its continually growing extent.
So Where Has This Deforestation Occurred?
Let's have a look at Brazil first.
The most concentrated area of deforestation in the Amazon is located within Brazil and is known as the ‘Deforestation Arc’.
Let's have a look at Brazil first.
The most concentrated area of deforestation in the Amazon is located within Brazil and is known as the ‘Deforestation Arc’.
This arc occupies most the rainforests’ east-west expanse and has been under human pressure, for many years, from interest groups from all over the country, which are occupying public lands for the development of agricultural and cattle-raising activities. As stated before, 60% of the Amazon Rainforest is located within Brazil and this includes the totality of the States of Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Rondonia, Amapa, Para, Mato Grosso and Tocantins. However, deforestation does not occur in all these states, but rather they form the boundary of the so called ‘Deforestation Arc’, as can be seen by the map on the right. This chain of 8 states is home to approximately 20 million people, thus making it an area subject to large-scale human pressure, frontier expansion and an area of the rainforest harboring much of the resources needed by the population. Thus, deforestation is prominent in such areas as it is a way to extract Amazonian resources, clear land for agricultural expansion, support the local population, etc. Most of the deforestation is concentrated along the so-called ‘Deforestation Arc’, within the boundaries defined by the southwest of the State of Maranhao, the north of Tocantins, the south of Para, the north of Mato Grosso, the entire State of Rondonia, the south of Amazonas and the southeast of Acre. Furthermore, as can be seen by the map to the right, other pockets of heavily deforested areas, outside the arc, include central Roraima, along the Amazon River in Manaus, in the states of Santarem and on the outskirts of Amazonas. Moreover, in conjunction with much of the area being deforested in the Arc, there have been new advancements of deforestation outside of the Arc, towards the west, mainly along the Trans-Amazonian Highway and Cuiaba-Santarem Highway. This is shown in the NASA satellite to the right. This new expansion indicates that deforestation, in the future, will not only be confined to the ‘Deforestation Arc’, but will most likely further expand into the surrounding regions of the Arc, meaning that eventually more and more of the Amazon Rainforest will be deforested. |
Deforestation Arc
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Click image to enlarge The ‘Deforestation Arc’ is constituted by a total of 249 municipalities and covers an area of 1.7 million square kilometres. A study in 2003-2004, revealed that approximately 82% of the deforestation which occurred in the part of the Amazon Rainforest located in Brazil, occurred in about 50 municipalities in the States of Mato Grosso, Para and Rondonia (States of the ‘Deforestation Arc’) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Deforestation Along Highways
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Click image to enlarge In the above NASA satellite image, Highway BR 230 is also known as the Trans-Amazonian Highway and Highway BR 163 is also known as the Cuiaba-Santarem Highway. It is evident that deforestation has occurred along these highways. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
Geographical Extent of Deforestation in the Amazon
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Click image to enlarge The above map shows the extent of deforestation across the whole of the Amazon Rainforest ____________________________________________________________________________________________ |
Now let's see where else this deforestation occurred, outside of Brazil.
Since 1970 over 700,000 square kilometres of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed in Brazil and although much of the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest occurs in Brazil, deforestation is still a threat in countries outside Brazil as can be seen by the map to the left. Whilst deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil has decreased significantly, deforestation in Amazon countries outside Brazil have sharply increased. This can be seen by the following graph. |
From the graph, it can be deducted that Peru had the largest extent of forest loss in 2012, losing 162,000 hectares, an increase of 65,000 ha or 67 percent over 2011. Venezuela (12,600 ha), Suriname (8,506 ha), and Guyana (6,981 ha) followed. In terms of percentage change, Suriname (84 percent) and Guyana (69 percent) had the largest rate of increase over the period. Bolivia saw an 83 percent decrease in deforestation. Regardless of the figures, it is quite evident that deforestation has been an issue in countries outside of the Brazil and the extent of deforestation of the Amazon is not confined to Brazil only.
Thus, to conclude, from this it can be seen that the geographical extent of deforestation in the Amazon, although largely occurring in Brazil, is not only confined to Brazil, but rather across the whole rainforest. Whilst, over 75% of deforestation of the Amazon occurs in Brazil, deforestation in Amazon countries outside Brazil is also quite prominent. If not managed appropriately and further steps are not taken to address and resolve the issue, then the extent of the issue will only increase. It is imperative that this is prevented.
Thus, to conclude, from this it can be seen that the geographical extent of deforestation in the Amazon, although largely occurring in Brazil, is not only confined to Brazil, but rather across the whole rainforest. Whilst, over 75% of deforestation of the Amazon occurs in Brazil, deforestation in Amazon countries outside Brazil is also quite prominent. If not managed appropriately and further steps are not taken to address and resolve the issue, then the extent of the issue will only increase. It is imperative that this is prevented.