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Road construction can lead to deforestation by providing an entryway to previously remote land. The 5,404-km Interoceanic Highway, which runs from Brazil to Peru, is a concern for conservationists as the road cuts a strip through the biodiverse Amazon rainforest. The road expansions often lead to logging and illegal logging, where opportunists slash down trees without permission from authorities. The cleared land then attracts an influx of settlers and disturbs the peace that once reigned the small villages.

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The need for bauxite

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The conversion of forests into agricultural plantations is a major cause of deforestation.  The increase in global demand for commodities, such as palm oil and soybeans, are driving industrial-scale producers to clear forests at an alarming rate. Indonesia, the largest producer of palm oil, was named the “Fastest Forest Destroyer,” in the 2008 Guinness World Records. Even when efforts are made to replenish barren plantations, the depleted soil is not able to produce the same biodiversity it once was.

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Our planet once housed an estimated maximum of 15 million people in prehistory. It now sustains a whopping 7 billion and counting. With overpopulation, there is an increase in global needs and wants, leading to expansion and deforestation. The planet’s forests are being devastated at an even rate with population growth.

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The Deforestation of the Amazon (A Time Lapse)

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Forest loss amounted to 5,831 square kilometers, an area half the size of Los Angeles.

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Cultivations and livestock farming
We should consider, infact, that with regards to the substitution of forest areas with cultivations and livestock farms, the impact is much higher because after the extraction of the most precious trees which are destined for timber commercialization, forests are set on fire causing a great impact on local animals and plants. The most disastrous year for the Amazon forest has been 1991 when over 50,000 fires where registered by aerial views or satellite images.
Timber extraction
Centuries-old trees are cut down to make timber or cellulose for the furniture or paper industry. Any system employed for wood cutting causes serious damage to the ecosystem, and these damages are amplified by construction of roads required for vehicles and to trasport chopped timber to its destination. For this reason, also many other economically unattractive trees which have an important biological and ecological value are are cut down.
Firewood collection
This activity is undertaken especially by native populations, which due to recent population growth, must provide energy sources for their survival. This phenomenon adds to large-scale industrial timber exploitation.
Road Construction
Besides the construction of roads to transport timber, also dam construction and industrial exploitation of mines contribute to massive deforestation

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The causes of deforestation

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Deforestation jumped 16 percent in the Brazilian Amazon for the year ended July 31, 2015, but still remained well below historical levels.

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The rainforest is being destroyed for colonisation

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In theory, logging in the Amazon is controlled by strict licensing which allows timber to be harvested only in designated areas, but in practice, illegal logging remains widespread in Brazil and Peru.

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Unsustainable timber harvesting

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The rainforests are also being cleared for palm oil production and large plantations take up a lot of space, which is created by clearing the rainforest by using techniques such as slash and burn, where they start a controlled fire,

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But production of beef, leather and other cattle products isn't the only reason for converting rainforest into artificial grasslands. In a region where land prices are appreciating quickly, cattle ranching is used as a vehicle for land speculation, much of which is illegal. Forestland has little value—but cleared pastureland can be used to produce cattle or sold to large-scale farmers, including soy planters.

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The conversion of forests into agricultural plantations is a major cause of deforestation. The increase in global demand for commodities, such as palm oil and soybeans, are driving industrial-scale producers to clear forests at an alarming rate.14 Aug 2013

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Forest clearing for livestock ranching is another contributor of deforestation. Since 1990, Brazil, a top exporter of beef, has lost an area of forest that is three-fourths the size of Texas. A strong global demand for beef, supported by governments such as in Brazil, is expanding this kind of deforestation.

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Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. In Brazil, this has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. Today the figure in Brazil is closer to 70 percent. Most of the beef is destined for urban markets, whereas leather and other cattle products are primarily for export markets.

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Plantation crops

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Road construction can lead to deforestation by providing an entryway to previously remote land. The 5,404-km Interoceanic Highway, which runs from Brazil to Peru, is a concern for conservationists as the road cuts a strip through the biodiverse Amazon rainforest. The road expansions often lead to logging and illegal logging, where opportunists slash down trees without permission from authorities. The cleared land then attracts an influx of settlers and disturbs the peace that once reigned the small villages.

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Ecuador's rate of forest loss in the Amazon increased between 2001 and 2012. One of the top concern for environmentalists is the government's decision to open Yasuni National Park for o

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Some causes are To make more land available for housing and urbanization
To harvest timber to create commercial items such as paper, furniture and homes
To create ingredients that are highly prized consumer items, such as the oil from palm trees
To create room for cattle ranching

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We need a lot of resources like timber for furniture and pulp for paper manufacturing. The rainforests are even being cleared for mining now as rescohrces like bauxite which is needed for aluminium production is in high demand.

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129.5 pounds of beef every year

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Peru's rate of forest loss has been trending upward over the past decade. Reasons for the rise include the development and completion of the Transoceanic highway, which connects Pacific ports to the heart of the Amazon; a surge in gold mining in Madre de Dios and other regions along the eastern slope of the Andes; and increased logging and hydrocarbon development.

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Population growth needs more land to house people on so large sections of rainforest are cleared

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We are destroying the Amazon for medicines. As 25% of our modern medicines originate from the rainforest

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The result of this shift is forests in the Amazon were cleared faster than ever before in the late 1970s through the mid 2000s. Vast areas of rainforest were felled for cattle pasture and soy farms, drowned for dams, dug up for minerals, and bulldozed for towns and colonization projects. At the same time, the proliferation of roads opened previously inaccessible forests to settlement by poor farmers, illegal logging, and land speculators.

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Iron Ore mines

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Grazing animals for  beef is a huge reason for deforestation because everyone wants it we consume loads

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Land cleared for ranches and plantations to grow things in bulk

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Our population is growing, therefore more houses are needed so areas in the rainforests are being cleared to make way for settlements and places for people to live.

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The Amazon is being cleared for resources such as paper. By cutting down trees there are plenty of sources for paper to be created.

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The Amazon is being destroyed for settlement as the population of Brazil expands

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Commercial logging

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Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. In Brazil, this has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching. Today the figure in Brazil is closer to 70 percent.26 Jan 2017

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The Amazon is being cleared for paper. The rainforest trees are being cleared and replaced with plantation trees (which produce a pulp which is good for making paper). This is killing all of the other species causing a loss of biodiversity in the rainforest.  This is happening a lot in Jari due to the high demand for paper around the world. Every year we use around 85 billion kilograms of paper, which means that land is needed for plantation trees.

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Cleared for roads and transportation:
Large sections of forest cleared for highways to transport goods

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A reason for deforestation is for bauxite. This is used in tin and can which is something we use everyday.

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The Amazon is being cleared for Bauxite mines. Bauxite is a main component for Aluminium and Aluminium is used for many everyday items, eg: cans, foils etc.

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The Amazon is being cleared for mining metals such as aluminium. This is in high demand in our modern world.

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Trees are being cut down for mining copper (bauxite)

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There is high demand for things like beef, so there need to be a lot of cows. Lots of land in the rainforest is being cleared to make way for farms so that the animals have space to graze.

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The forest is being cleared for paper

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The Amazon is being destroyed for farming and plantations such as palm oil

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The forest is being cleared because people clear the forest for plantations for example (palm oil)

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One of the causes of deforestation is that tress are being moved due to animal grazing. Animals such as cows are placed there to graze because there is more space provided in the rainforest. That way, more cows can be there and therefore more beef would be provided giving the companies more money. If the companies were to set their animals to graze in a place such as the UK, it is a relatively small space since lots of it is used for habitation and as a result there would be less animals. In the end, it would be more advantageous for a company to let their animals graze in a more open space.