✅C&W Case Study - The Amazon

Question 1

What area does the Amazon cover?

Answer 1

7,000,000km^2

Question 2

Which countries does the Amazon cover?

Answer 2

Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia etc
Near equator, more rain due to atmospheric circulation

Question 3

How much of the world’s rainforest does the Amazon make up?

Answer 3

More than half

Question 4

How many different species are there in the Amazon?

Answer 4

10 million- very biodiverse- insects, animals, plants
80,000 plant species

Question 5

How much of the world’s CO2 does the Amazon absorb?

Answer 5

35%

Question 6

How much of the world’s Oxygen does the Amazon produce?

Answer 6

20%

Question 7

What is the average rainfall per year?

Answer 7

3000mm

Question 8

Average temperature

Answer 8

Usually between 25 to 27 C

Question 9

Why does up to half of rainfall never make it to the ground?

Answer 9

It is intercepted by the forest canopy and re-evaporated into the atmosphere

Question 10

What happens to water intercepted by the canopy?

Answer 10

It drips to the ground from leaves or flows down the tree via stemflow

Question 11

What percentage of freshwater entering the oceans each day comes from the Amazon river?

Answer 11

15%

Question 12

What can deforestation increase?

Answer 12

Rainfall downwind of the area

Question 13

What are the main drivers of change to the Amazon water cycle?

Answer 13

Deforestation, land use changes, climate change

Question 14

How can land use change affect the water cycle?

Answer 14

Cutting down trees for farming means water can fall straight to the ground, causing soil erosion and runoff

Question 15

Why is soil nutrient poor?

Answer 15

Due to heat and moisture, organic matter decays too fast hold nutrients for long

Question 16

Why does deforestation reduce rainfall in the area?

Answer 16

Because the water cycle is disrupted as evapotranspiration does not occur and less water is stored in plants, and more in soil
Plus atmosphere gets less humid in the area due to lack of evapotranspiration, therefore less rain

Question 17

Why is water less likely to evaporate from soils?

Answer 17

Because it forms a thin layer on a leaf so can evaporate quickly with less energy, but when it reaches the soil it soaks in

Question 18

What does a decrease in evaporation lead to?

Answer 18

Local warming and droughts

Question 19

What do rainforests act as?

Answer 19

Carbon sinks

Question 20

How do plants store Carbon?

Answer 20

As sugars, in the form of starch in their leaves

Question 21

How does deforestation by burning affect the carbon cycle?

Answer 21

No respiration by trees, no photosynthesis, no new biomass, less decay

Question 22

What human factors can affect carbon cycle stores and transfers?

Answer 22

Industry and burning of fossil fuels, burning of forest

Question 23

How do warmer oceans affect carbon stores?

Answer 23

Warmer oceans cannot hold as much CO2 so absorb less carbon

Question 24

What physical factors can affect carbon cycle stores and transfers?

Answer 24

Tress and plants, temperature changes, type and number of animals in an area

Question 25

How can extreme events of climate change alter vegetation?

Answer 25

Heatwaves, drought and storms can lead to vegetation deaths and fires

Question 26

How will the Amazon have changed by 2050?

Answer 26

Forest dieback due to vegetation succession and fire is predicted to result in the Amazon region becoming a net source of Carbon Dioxide

Question 27

Why do forest fires increase with climate change?

Answer 27

A dry seasons lengthen and become more intense, trees have more time to dry out and forest fires become more common

Question 28

What has been done in the Amazon to mitigate climate change?

Answer 28

National parks and forest reserves have been created

Question 29

What are examples of national parks?

Answer 29

Turnucumaque National Park and Para Rainforest Reserve

Question 30

What is the Amazon often used for?

Answer 30

Biofuel production

Question 31

What initiative is in place to reduce deforestation?

Answer 31

Land owners are paid not to cut down their trees and clear property rights are established to reduce land grabbing and illegal logging

Question 32

What agreements are in place to mitigate climate change?

Answer 32

Latin American Technical Co-Operation Network in Watershed Management
The Tarapoto Process
Amazon Co-operation Treaty Organisation

Question 33

What do the Latin American Technical Co-Operation Network in Watershed Management do?

Answer 33

Aims to promote the adoption of the concept of watershed as the planning and management unit most appropriate for rational use of natural resources

Question 34

What does the Latin American Technical Co-operation Network in Watershed Management follow?

Answer 34

3 of the UN Development Goals

Question 35

What is the aim of the Tarapoto Process?

Answer 35

Recognising the Amazon Co-operation Treaty as the most effective instrument for discussion and agreement on policies for the region

Question 36

What is an important achievement for the Tarapoto process?

Answer 36

The development of regional criteria and indicators for the sustainability of the rainforest, recognising that each country’s management has an impact on the region’s forest resources

Question 37

What is the objective of the Amazon Co-operation Treaty Organisation?

Answer 37

To promote harmonious development in the region and the well-being of their populations, and to strengthen the sovereignty of countries over the Amazon territories

Question 38

What is currently being implemented within ACTO?

Answer 38

More than 20 initiatives, projects and programs in areas such as environment, indigenous affairs etc

Question 39

What do national parks and rainforest reserves protect the forest from?

Answer 39

Deforestation from illegal loggers and farmers

Question 40

How much of the Amazon has been deforested?

Answer 40

Close to 20%

Question 41

Amazon Humidity

Answer 41

Between 77% (dry season) to 88% (wet season)

Question 42

How many trees in Amazon rainforest

Answer 42

About 300 billion

Question 43

Why so much rainfall in the Amazon

Answer 43

Near equator, ITCZ (intertropical convergence zones), areas of low pressure and heavy rainfall

Question 44

Human threats to Amazon: Cattle farming

Answer 44

Clearing room for cattle
80% of Amazon’s deforestation

Question 45

Human threats to Amazon: Mining

Answer 45

10% of Amazon’s deforestation
Often for Gold- valuable
Use water in extraction which creates large reservoirs of polluted water. Spillages of this polluted water can happen. In 2019, 12m^3 of water drained from collapsed dam in Brazil, Brumadinho

Question 46

Threats to Amazon: Wildfires

Answer 46

Especially bad in El Nino years.
90% of burning in Brazilian Amazon in 1990s was in El Nino years
However, in Amazon, wildfires only really burn dry leaves

Question 47

Mitigation in Amazon: Soya Moratorium

Answer 47

Soya bean industry banned made a commitment to not buy beans produced in deforested Amazon land.
By 2009, less than 1% of soy beans were grown on deforested land since 2006

Question 48

Mitigation in Amazon: Cattle Moratorium

Answer 48

Slaughterhouses agreed to only buy cattle from ranches registered with the Brazilian Rural Environmental Land Registry. Brazilian’s biggest domestic beef buyers suspended contracts with suppliers involved in Amazon’s deforestation.

Question 49

What makes the rain forest fragile

Answer 49

Its complexity
Most of its energy and nutrients are stored above ground and therefore are vulnerable to disturbance.
Nutrients are eaten or decay quickly when they land