Extension Activity

DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON

Directions:

If you have studied ecosystems, earth science, or environmental science, then you may be able to relate the plight of the Uru-eu-wau-wau to larger issues throughout the Amazon and Earth as a whole. This activity asks you to consider the events of the film as part of a larger issue of Amazon deforestation, looking for connections between the film and additional data about the Amazon.

1. Examine the graph, satellite imagery, and information on deforestation practices on the following pages. 2. Infer what processes are depicted in these images by connecting them to the events seen in the film. 3. Either alone or with classmates, prepare a presentation/report in which you argue either for or against policies to protect the Uru-eu-wau-wau land, using these images along with observations from the film as evidence to support your argument. 4. In your argument, consider how the practices depicted here and in the film have the potential to impact ecosystems beyond the Amazon rainforest. 5. Also, keep in the mind, the Uru-eu-wau-wau are one of many indigenous groups in the Amazon, and the images here are not specific to their particular land territory.

If more contextual information is needed to accurately interpret the data in the graph and the satellite imagery, refer to this article from the NASA Earth Observatory website: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145649/mapping-the-amazon

Amazon Deforestation Rate: 2001 - 2019

Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145988/tracking-amazon-deforestation-from-above

DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON

Deforestation over time in the Amazon: June 14, 2013 - June 12, 2018 Since the 1970s, satellites have observed multiple waves of clearcutting as they have spread across the southern Amazon. With fire, chainsaw, axe, and heavy machinery, people have cleared more than a sixth of the forest that once existed. In parts of the Amazon where forests still stand, thinning canopies hint at significant degradation due to logging, drought stress, and understory fire activity.

Satellites have provided scientists with unparalleled views of these changes. In addition to simply tallying how much forest has been cut, scientists have deciphered much about how deforestation has unfolded over four decades. One of the themes that emerges is just how dynamic deforestation has been.

“It is not a uniform process by any means,” said Eugenio Arima, a land system scientist from the University of Texas at Austin. “If you look at deforestation patterns carefully, you can see the fingerprints of economic and institutional history etched into some parts of the landscape.”

In many Amazon countries, deforestation has tended to follow rivers, which are often the main transportation routes to remote parts of the rainforest. Prior to the 1970s, this was the case for Brazil as well.

Image and text adapted from: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145888/making-sense-of-amazon-deforestation-patterns

The Territory Curriculum Guide | CFI Education 8

DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON

By the 1970s, deforestation began to change dramatically, as forest clearing spread from federal highways in a fishbone pattern that was the product of a major infrastructure and settlement initiative launched by the Brazilian government to develop the rainforest. This resettlement effort was largely aimed at providing homesteading land for families and small-scale, independent farmers.

The creation of highways and 100-hectare plots led to an unmistakable orthogonal pattern on the landscape. Secondary roads were often built perpendicular to the main arteries, and spreading out into forest areas in radial patterns.

Deforestation patterns in the Amazon: June 28, 2018 - September 12, 2019

The government-run settlement programs of the 1970s did not last. Within a few years, loan programs, tax breaks, and other incentives encouraged wealthy financiers to invest in large-scale cattle ranching and soy farming operations. These operations would often rip down large areas of forest and leave the downed trees and brush to dry out for a few months or even years, appearing to satellite images as a change in the “greenness” of the canopy. Where the land is flat and well-drained, a distinctive rectangular deforestation pattern associated with farming often emerges.

In some areas where large-scale ranch and farm operations did not develop, loggers, land grabbers, small farmers, and ranchers continued to move in and compete for new territory. These outfits followed the old logging roads that would spread outward from a town. As loggers and miners pushed into undeveloped parts of the forest, they built roads that generally followed the natural contours of the land and formed curving, dendritic shapes.

Image and text adapted from: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145888/making-sense-of-amazon-deforestation-patterns

The Territory Curriculum Guide | CFI Education 9