Effects on people and the environment
People
- Loss of land for indigenous peopleNative tribes who live in the rainforest. or those who have lived in the area for generations.
- Loss of the traditional way of life.
- Amerindians influenced by new technologies, eg guns and radios.
- Land reserved for indigenous people often lacks legal protection and faces intrusion and aggression from developers and loggers.
- Amerindians dying of 'Western' diseaseIllness affecting plants and animals., eg flu and measles because of a lack of immunityWhen a person's body is not prone to a disease because they have a resistance to it..
- Farming systems being altered as there is less land to 'shift' to different plots to practise shifting cultivation.
- People who make a living from the rainforest lose their income.
Environment
- Land clearance for farming, transportationTo move objects or people from one place to another. and mining causes deforestation. hardwood treesTrees such as Teak and Rosewood which produce high quality timber. take many years to grow - they are difficult to replace.
- Clearing the rainforest threatens the survival of many rare plant, bird and animal species and could lead to their extinction as their habitat is destroyed.
- Fertile but fragile soils that make farming possible are quickly washed away when the trees are cleared.
- If soil is washed into rivers it can lead to flooding.
- Loss of vital ingredients for life-saving medicinesDrugs which are taken to cure illness and disease; and prevent people from dying., many of which still remain undiscovered.
- Increased global warming and climate changeThe long-term alteration of weather patterns. because there are fewer trees to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- Higher world temperatures cause sea levels to rise, flooding low-lying places, eg the Maldives and the Netherlands.
- Rainforest areas turning to desertA natural region that experiences less than 250 mm of precipitation and has either hot or cold temperatures throughout the year. caused by a devastating break in both the water and nutrient cycles.
