Water And Carbon: The Amazon Rainforest Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is Mitigation in terms of the Carbon cycle?
Mitigation is taking action by different players at different scales in order to influence carbon transfers and reduce the impacts of climate change.
What agreements are there to help mitigate climate change?
- 1997: The Kyoto Protocol signed in Japan by 162 countries, including the UK.
- 2015 Paris agreement: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealt with greenhouse gases, emissions, mitigation, adaptation and finance, starting in the year 2020. 197 countries, including the UK.
- 1992: The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Most of the world’s countries passed an agreement called ‘Agenda 21’
- 2009: The Copenhagen agreement, 183 countries, including the UK.
Rio Earth summit, 1992
The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Most of the world’s countries passed an agreement called ‘Agenda 21’ aiming to:
• to cut environmental pollution to conserve resources and to protect natural habitats and wildlife.
The Kyoto Protocol, 1997
The Kyoto Protocol signed in Japan by 162 countries, including the UK, agreed:
• to cut carbon emissions by agreed amounts by 2010 to halt climate change.
By 2006, it had been ratified by 162 countries, but the USA was criticised for refusing to adhere to it. This treaty expired in 2012.
The Copenhagen agreement, 2009
The Copenhagen agreement, 183 countries, including the UK, agreed:
• to cut carbon emissions in order to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels
• to explore carbon markets and carbon trading to deliver $30bn of aid to developing nations before 2012, and $100bn a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries’ in coping with the impacts of climate change
• the emerging nations (China, India, Brazil and South Africa) should monitor their own efforts to reduce carbon emissions and report to the UN every two years, with some additional international checks on progress.
• However the agreement had only limited success as it was not legally binding.
The Paris Agreement, 2015
The Paris agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealt with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year
2020. 197 countries, including the UK, agreed:
• to keep the rise in global temperatures to below 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels
• to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally
• for rich countries to help poorer nations by providing “climate finance” to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.
• to aim to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C.
So far only 174 countries have ratified the agreement which went into effect on 4 November 2016.
How effective have international agreements been in tackling global warming?
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
brought countries together to agree on common actions to reduce carbon emissions and ways of mitigating and adapting to the effects. - However the UNFCCC does not have the authority to enforce the agreed actions, it is up to the individual countries that ratified the agreement to make the necessary changes.
- Some countries may have signed the agreement but may lack the motivation and/or means to implement it.
- Individuals may be aware that a global agreement has been made, but they may choose not to change their way of life and usual practices.
- Some countries which are responsible for high levels of carbon emissions, may choose not to ratify the agreement because it could be detrimental to their economic growth.
- Emissions may fall anyway without the need for an international agreement.
How have the Uk responded to climate change in terms of mitigation?
• The 2008 Climate Change Act set the target that by 2050 carbon dioxide emissions would be is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline.
• This target has already been met, UK emissions were 42% below 1990 levels in 2016.
The UK met this target by adopting the following measures:
• phasing out the use of coal
• increasing the reliance on renewable energy sources, in particular wind energy
• reinvesting in nuclear power
• improving the provision of recycling
• expanding the production of biofuels
• purchasing overseas ‘carbon credits’
tightening building regulations to ensure that new homes are carbon efficient.
Amazon Rainforest statistics
- 300 billion trees
- 15000 species
- Stores one fifth of the world’s carbon
- 5.5 million km squared over nine countries
Carbon in the Amazon Rainforest
- Stores between 80-120 billion tons of carbon.
- Tropical rainforests around the world form a carbon sink of 1-3 GtC/year.
- Increase in above ground biomass of between 0.3-0.5% per year.
- This is due to increased sequestering of carbon from the atmosphere.
- This seems to have offset increasing CO2 emissions - negative feedback in the system.
A study in 2015 revealed that the Amazon forest is losing it’s capacity to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
1990 - XXX
2015 - XXX
?
1990 - 2 billion tonnes
2015 - halved
Now, Latin American emissions have overtaken uptake of CO2 for the first time.
Water in the Amazon Rainforest
- Average discharge of the Amazon is around 175,000 ms - 15% of the fresh water entering the oceans each day.
- Rio Negro - tributary of the Amazon is the second largest river by water flow in the world.
- Average rainfall in the Amazon is approx. 2300 mm annually, with some areas in the NW exceeding 6000 mm. Up to half of this may be intercepted by the canopy
- Additional water evaporated from the ground or from transpiration.
- About 48% of the rain that falls, will be returned to the atmosphere to fall again. Only about 30% actually reaches the sea.
What are the causes of deforestation in Brazil?
- Intensive agriculture, e.g. Soya plantations and cattle ranching.
- Logging
- Demand for wood as fuel.
- Construction of large dams and reservoirs drown forest.
- Mining and industry clear forest to reach minerals.
- Government-organised forest colonisation schemes clear forest for farming.
What is ‘Avanca Brazil’? (Simplified)
Government Policy to use the resources of the Rainforest to develop Brazil’s economy.
Why do deforestation-stimulating activities occur in Brazil?
- Overpopulation and poverty in Brazilian cities creates political difficulties.
- The government wants to open up the Brazilian rainforest to take advantage of its timber and mineral wealth.
- Beef producers require more land to herd massive numbers of cattle for the beef trade.
- Brazilian industry requires more power if it is to develop and maintain its industrial strength.
The above 4 factors led to a situation in Brazil where the government began to encourage poor people from the cities to settle in the forest and clear it for farming.
• In some cases, land was given away.
• This actively promoted the destruction of the forest.
How does the timber industry contribute to an increase in deforestation via the Brazilian Government?
• Timber companies were given rights to remove forest and sell timber abroad.
• The Brazilian government receives a portion of the timber companies’ profits and uses it to pay off international debts.
• Effectively, export tax and corporation tax.
How does the illegal timber market cause issues within Brazil?
Illegal growing and felling of timber is also leading to rapid deforestation, fuelled by demand for cheap supplies of plywood and tropical timber locally and abroad.
• Illegal timber is estimated to account for 80% of all timber produced in the Brazilian Amazon.
• As the area is rich in resources, licenses were given to mining companies to clear forests and mine for metals such as iron ore and copper.
Transport in the Amazon
• Roads are being built across the Amazon rainforest to allow access to logging companies, mineral exploration companies, soya plantations, cattle ranches and hydroelectric power (HEP) stations.
• To construct these roads, large tracts of forest were cleared.
• The longest road is the Trans-Amazonian Highway, a 5,300km road, built across Brazil from east to west.
• The highway was designed to facilitate settlement and exploration of resources in this vast under-populated river basin.
• It has allowed the movement of people and goods to previously inaccessible areas.
• Settlement soon followed upon completion of the highway’s construction.
Settlements in the Amazon
• A new capital city, Brasilia, was built from scratch during the 1950’s and 1960’s on the southern edge of the Amazon rainforest.
• This was to encourage settlement of the region.
• Today it has a population of 2.3 million.
• To construct this city, large areas of forests were cleared.
• More deforestation occurred on the outskirts of the city where small, temporary housing settlements were built for migrant workers who moved to this area in order to construct the new capital city.
• Instead of returning to their original homes upon completion of the city, these workers chose to stay and avail of the greater opportunities in Brasilia.
Hydroelectric Power in the Amazon
An unlimited water supply and ideal river conditions led to the development of many HEP stations.
• Over 125 new HEP stations have been built in the Brazilian rainforest area.
• One example is the Tucurui Dam which caused over 2,500km squared of rainforest to be flooded.
• More than 8,000 people lost their homes and thousands of animals died.
What is ‘Avanca Brazil’? (Detailed)
• In January 2000, the Brazilian government announced its plans for Avanca Brasil (Advance Brazil).
• This was a £50 billion plan to cover much of the Amazon rainforest with 10,000km of highways, hydroelectric dams, power lines, mines, gas and oilfields, canals, ports, logging concessions and other industrial developments.
• Scientists predict that these planned developments will lead to the damage of or loss of roughly 40% of Brazil’s remaining Amazon rainforest.
• However, the government is finding it difficult to raise the money for these projects.
What is the current state of interest in the Amazon?
There are vast areas of the Amazon rainforest still intact.
• However, there are now 7,595 companies registered in the Brazilian Amazon and deforestation rates are growing at an alarming rate.
• This region now produces some 30 million cubic metres of logs a year or 90% of Brazil’s total tropical timber production.
What are the impacts of intensive agriculture on the Tropical Rainforest biome?
• Intensive agriculture, especially the intensive production of soya beans, is also having a major impact on the TRF biome.
• Intensive agriculture completely disrupts the natural ecological balance of a biome.
• The primary effects of intensive agriculture on the TRF biome are:
1. Deforestation
2. Destruction of natural habitat
3. Introduction of exotic species
• The expansion of intensive agriculture (soya plantations) in Brazil is contributing to the loss of 40 hectares of rainforest every minute, day and night.
• The rate of forest clearance is driven by the increasing worldwide demand for soya and its products.
What are the three main types of damage caused to the Amazon Rainforest?
1 - Soils are damaged.
• Intensive agriculture has a huge impact on tropical soils because of the increased use of agrochemicals and mechanisation which can lead to soil compaction and also soil erosion.
2 - Animals and plants cannot survive in the plantations and so the natural ecological balance that existed is disrupted or completely destroyed.
3 - Plants grown in plantations are not native to the rainforest biome.
• These huge monoculture soya plantations bring a further threat to the natural habitat with the introduction of genetically modified organisms that have the potential to escape and invade natural communities.
Agricultural intensification has also led to the construction of waterways, roads and railroads which have contributed to the destruction of the biome and a loss of biodiversity
