Question

It is beyond doubt that the deforestation has a negative impact on the climate change. Does it also have negative effects on the economic growth of Brazil.

Answer 1

Brazil once had the world's highest rate of deforestation and also had the largest area of land cleared annually in 2005. Since 1970 the Amazon rainforest has lost over 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 sq mi). The Amazon was about 5,400,000 square kilometers (2,100,000 sq mi) in 2012, which is just 87 per cent of the original size of the Amazon.

Although there are still many direct and indirect deforestation factors, Brazil's main contributors are, by far, cattle ranching, food demand, and logging cattle ranching is, as it sounds, the problem of vast areas of forest being lost for cattle farms. It relates to food demand, as Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef. Soybeans are another major commodity in the Brazilian Amazon. In addition, Brazil is the world's largest soybean exporter Soybeans need large parcels of land to be farmed, and this land is largely obtained through deforestation. Lastly, logging, the process of obtaining wood for timber and other uses

Also leading to the positive results seen in the country was the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA). ARPA is introduced by the Government of Brazil, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (GEF) and operated by the World Bank, with partners such as the German Government, WWF and other foreign donors.

The plan has extended the protected forest areas of the country considerably. It currently finances a total of 58.3 million hectares in 114 federal and state lands (including lands in restricted and sustainable use); the local communities are also interested in the management and protection of these regions.

Further control over deforestation in the Amazon and the compliance of the Forest Code, Brazil will set an precedent for the rest of the world if it can also resolve the challenge of reconciling output productivity increases, improved competitiveness and natural resource security. By doing so, Brazil would be integrating natural resource security into the country's development and economic growth strategy.

The value of growing production without destroying further land extends both to large-scale farming and family farming, which covers 25 per cent of the country's agricultural land and accounts for over 80 per cent of farms and 75 per cent of the field workforce.