National Institute for Space Research’s Prodes monitoring system published data of Amazon Forests, which shows that has deforestation has reached a 15-year high in the Amazon Rainforests of Brazil.
In 2021, there was a 22% increase in deforestation, making it the most devastating year since 2006.
Factors Leading to a Decline in Amazon Rainforests
Cattle Ranching: Cattle ranching is practiced for beef, leather and other cattle products for exporting to global urban markets.
In Brazil, 38 percent of deforestation has been attributed to large-scale cattle ranching since 1975.
Subsistence Agriculture: Subsistence agriculture, facilitated by government programs with an aim to alleviate urban population pressure by redistributing land to the poor has led to increase in deforestation.
Commercial Agriculture: Commercial farming of Soybean in the rainforest is one of the most important contributors to deforestation since 1990s.
Forest have been directly converted into soy fields, and increase in land speculation has encouraged ranchers and small farmers to move deeper into rainforest areas.
Infrastructure: Increased government incentives in the form of loans and infrastructure spending for roads, highways and dams have led to deforestation. For eg. Trans-Amazonian Highway bisecting the Amazon rainforests.
Commercial Logging: Even though there are licencing requirements for logging, yet illegal logging remains widespread in Rainforests of Brazil and Peru. Roads constructed for the purpose of logging have given access to remote areas of the rainforests.
Hydroelectric Projects: Construction of hydroelectric projects for agriculture and industries has flooded vast areas of Amazon. For e.g. the Balbina dam flooded some 2,400 square kilometers of rainforest when it was completed.
Mining: High prices of mineral and precious metals have led to unprecedented invasions in the rainforest, which has led to clearing of forest cover.
