Post #17 Deforestation

The image on the left is an image of tropical deforestation in Brazil, South America. The governement has issued free plots of land to poor people in Brazil under the condition that they clear it if they wish to keep it. The problem with this however is after a short time (5-10 years) of cattle grazing the land becomes infertile and uninhabitable. So the the cattle grazers must move onto a new plot of land and clear yet more rainforest. This is a viscious cycle that may untilamtely lead to the death of tropical rainforests in this part of the world. The consequences of these actions is vast amount of cleared, compacted and uninhabitable tracks of land that none can use. Because it has no use and all the biodiversity of the tropical rainforest in this area is now gone. Thereby rendering huge amounts of once lush tropical rainforest now useless barren grassland. Crop rotation or leaving parts of the land they clear fallow for a year could prevent the destruction the land, making it so after the land is cleared it can still be maintained as fertile land. This in turn will halt further clearing and destruction of the land because a sufficient amount of productive land is in use and is sustainable.