Selasa, 30 Julai 2013

indonesia forest

Indonesian Forest Facts

The forests of Indonesia, along with their thousands of plant and animal species, are being destroyed at an alarming rate due to massive illegal logging and clearing for palm oil plantations. Indonesia’s tropical forests are of global importance, covering over 98 million hectares (242,163,274 acres). The rapid deterioration of tropical forests is causing incalculable losses in terms of biodiversity and is pushing species such as the orangutan ever closer to extinction.
“Twelve percent of all mammal species, 16% of reptile and amphibian species, and 17% of bird species are found on the 17,000 islands that constitute Indonesia.”
Until twelve and a half thousand years ago, orangutans were found throughout Southeast Asia ranging all the way to the island of Java and into southern China. Orangutan populations probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions. Today, however, the few orangutans left in the tropical rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra number less than 60,000. Approximately 7,300 are found in northern Sumatra in the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra while the rest are found in Borneo, in the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan Tengah (Central Indonesian Borneo), Kalimantan Barat (West Indonesian Borneo), and Kalimantan Timur (East Indonesian Borneo) and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak in the northern third of Borneo. Kalimantan Tengah (Central Indonesian Borneo) is the orangutan capital of the world with more than 50% of all wild orangutans found there.
distribution
Most of Indonesia’s forests are found in the Indonesian half of New Guinea, and on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The forests of Indonesia represent 10% of the world’s remaining tropical forests. Indonesia’s forests are the second largest in the world after the forests of Brazil. Unfortunately, over the years Indonesia has lost up to 80% of its original forest habitat and continues to lose 6.2 million acres (2,509,051 hectares) a year. Indonesia entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008 and 2009 for having the highest rate of deforestation of any country in the world!
Indonesia is one of the five most species-rich countries in the world, with a high rate of endemic species. Twelve percent of all mammal species, 16% of reptile and amphibian species, and 17% of bird species are found on the 17,000 islands that constitute Indonesia. Of Indonesian species, 772 species are threatened or endangered, giving Indonesia the third highest number of threatened species of any country in the world. Of Indonesia’s approximately 40 primate species, 20 have lost more than half their original habitat in the last ten years; orangutans are among those species.
Illegal loggers working in the forest in Lamandau.
Illegal loggers working in the forest in Lamandau.

Indonesia’s Forests Are Disappearing at an Alarming Rate

Indonesia’s forests represent 10% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforests.  By 2001 Indonesia had lost 99 million acres of forest during the previous 32 years, which is equivalent to the combined size of Germany and the Netherlands. The current rate of forest loss is accelerating.
Indonesia is one of the five most species-diverse countries in the world, home to 12% of all mammal species, 16% of all reptile and amphibian species, and 17% of all bird species. It also contains 33% of insect species, 24% of fungi species, and 10% of higher plant species. Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP), site of Camp Leakey, is home to more than 230 bird species, at least 17 reptile species, and 29 mammal species.
After Malaysia and the United States, Indonesia has the third highest number of threatened species with 772 species. However, Indonesia has the absolute highest number of threatened mammal species with 147 species – an increase of seven species since the year 2000. According to a recent article in the conservation journal Oryx, 1000 orangutans are lost in Sumatra each year; in Borneo, the number is probably even higher.

Illegal Logging Largely to Blame for Forest Depletion

A study done in 2000 by the Indonesia-United Kingdom Tropical Forest Management Programme concluded that 73% of logging done in Indonesia was illegal. While Indonesia’s forest ministry official harvest figures are just under 882 millioncubic feet per year, the combined log consumption capacity of plywood, sawn wood, and pulp and paper industries is 2.6 billion cubic feet per year, which means that industries obtain between one-half and two-thirds of their logs from illegal or unsustainable sources. Illegal logging produces 1.8 billion cubic feet of logs annually, resulting in state financial losses of approximately $3.37 billion. The value of timber stolen from TPNP alone is currently estimated at $8 million each year although it has been much higher in the past.
“After Malaysia and the United States, Indonesia has the third highest number of threatened species with 772 species. However, Indonesia has the absolute highest number of threatened mammal species, with 147 species. ”

Increased Demand for Palm Oil Causes Conversion of Forests

World demand for palm oil has increased by 32% over the last five years with the recent rapid expansion of the food and industrial manufacturing industries, growing at a rate of 7% each year. In fact, palm oil is the world’s best-selling vegetable oil, representing 40% of the total global trade in edible oils. Indonesia accounts for 31% of the world’s production of palm oil, and is expected to be responsible for 41% by 2005. The aim of the former Suharto government was to create a total of 13.5 million acres of palm oil plantations by 2000.  By 1999 the figure had reached 7.4 million acres, which is nearly five times the size of Bali.
The sudden increase in palm oil use has led to the clearing of Indonesia’s tropical forests to create monoculture palm oil plantations. Studies in Malaysia and Indonesia have shown that between 80 and 100% of the species of fauna inhabiting tropical rainforests cannot survive in oil palm monocultures (Wakker 2000). In 1999, nearly 800,000 acres of forest were converted for palm oil. Global demand is expected to increase by 50% in the next five years, primarily because palm oil profits are assured by cheap labor, low-priced land, a lack of effective environmental controls, easy availability of finance and support, and a short growth cycle.

Demand for Paper Production Increases, Leading to More Logging

As much as 40% of the wood used by Indonesian pulp producers between 1995 and 1999 came from illegal sources. Massive expansion in plywood, pulp, and paper production in the last two decades has brought demand for wood fiber to exceed the legal supply by 1.2-1.4 billion cubic feet per year. Pulp and paper subsectors have expanded by nearly 700% since 1987.

Timber and Plantation Companies Burn Forests to Clear Land

Approximately 22 million acres of land were damaged by the 1997 and 1998 fires in Indonesia that were largely caused by timber and palm oil plantation companies clearing land. According to Remote Sensing Solutions GMBH, the 0.80 to 2.57 billion tons of carbon released during that time was the biggest ever measured, corresponding to 13 to 40 percent of the annual global production by burning fossil fuels like oil, coal, and gas. The estimated financial consequences of the fires were over $3 billion from losses in timber, agriculture, and non-timber products, plus the loss of hydrological and soil conservation services as well as biodiversity benefits. Haze from the fires cost an additional $1.4 billion for health treatment and lost tourism revenues.
Poachers were killing proboscis monkeys along the river en route to Camp Leakey until OFI began patrolling the area.
Poachers were killing proboscis monkeys along the river en route to Camp Leakey until OFI began patrolling the area.

Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) Works Towards Research, Conservation, and Education

OFI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of wild orangutans and their rainforest habitat. Co-founded by Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas and a group of scientists and laypeople in 1986, OFI operates Camp Leakey, an orangutan research area within Tanjung Puting National Park. OFI also runs the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine facility in Pangkalan Bun, which is home to 330 displaced orphan orangutans, and co-manages the Lamandau Reserve, where rehabilitated orangutans are released into the wild. Through its field programs, OFI also provides employment for over 200 local Indonesians in the vicinity of Tanjung Puting National Park and Lamandau Reserve.  OFI partners with Boston-based World Education to empower farmers in the local villages around TPNP, raise their crop yields, and provide alternative employment in the agricultural and agroforestry sectors.  The goal is to build a “social fence” around the Park that local people will not breach.
- See more at: http://www.orangutan.org/rainforest/indonesian-forest-facts#sthash.OWFpq2qj.dpuf
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about zhangjiajie national forest park in china

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
1 tianzishan wulingyuan zhangjiajie 2012.jpg
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Map showing the location of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Map of China
LocationZhangjiajie, Hunan, China
Coordinates29°19′39″N 110°24′58″ECoordinates: 29°19′39″N 110°24′58″E
Area4,810 ha (11,900 acres)
Established1982
The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Chinese: 湖南张家界国家森林公园;pinyin: Húnán Zhāngjiājiè Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán; literally "Hunan Zhangjiajie National Forest Park") is a unique national forest park located in Zhangjiajie City in northern Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. It is one of several national parks within the Wulingyuan Scenic Area.

History[edit]

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
outdoor elevator
In 1982 it was recognized as China's first national forest park with an area of 4,810 ha (11,900 acres).[1] Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is part of a much larger 397.5 km2 (153.5 sq mi) Wulingyuan Scenic Area. In 1992, Wulingyuan was officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[2] It was then approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources as Zhangjiajie Sandstone Peak Forest National Geopark (3,600 km2 (1,400 sq mi)) in 2001. In 2004, Zhangjiajie Geopark was listed as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
The most notable geographic features of the park are the pillar-like formations that are seen throughout the park. They are the result of many years of erosion. The weather is moist year round, and as a result, the foliage is very dense. Much of the erosion which forms these pillars are the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants which grow on them. These formations are a distinct hallmark ofChinese landscape, and can be found in many ancient Chinese paintings.
One of the park's quartz-sandstone pillars, the 1,080-metre (3,540 ft) Southern Sky Column, had been officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" (阿凡达-哈利路亚山, pinyin: Āfándá hālìlùyà shān) in honor of the eponymous film in January 2010.[3] According to park officials, photographs from Zhangjiajie inspired the floating Hallelujah Mountains seen in the film.[4] The film's director and production designers said that they drew inspiration for the floating rocks from mountains from around the world, including those in the Hunan province.[5][6]

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ "Zhangjiajie Scenic Spot". www.travelchinaguide.com. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  2. ^ "A Brief Account of Zhangjiajie". www.zhangjiajie.com.cn. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  3. ^ ""Avatar" inspires China province to rename mountain". China Daily. January 26, 2010.
  4. ^ "Found! The stunning mountain that inspired Avatar's 'floating peaks'". Daily Mail(London). January 27, 2010.
  5. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (January 14, 2010). "Avatar's Designers Speak: Floating Mountains, AMP Suits And The Dragon".
  6. ^ Renjie, Mao (December 24, 2009). "Stunning Avatar". Global Times. Retrieved January 25, 2010.

External links[edit]

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Amazon rainforest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Amazonia" redirects here. For other uses, see Amazonia (disambiguation).
Amazon rainforest
Forest
Amazon Manaus forest.jpg
Amazon rainforest, near Manaus, Brazil.
CountriesBrazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela,Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname,French Guiana

Part ofSouth America
RiverAmazon River

Area5,500,000 km2 (2,123,562 sq mi)

Map of the Amazon rainforest ecoregions as delineated by the WWF. Yellow line approximately encloses the Amazon drainage basin. National boundaries shown in black. Satellite image fromNASA.
The Amazon rainforest (Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish:Selva Amazónica, Amazonía or usually Amazonia; French: Forêt amazonienne; Dutch:Amazoneregenwoud), also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is amoist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 square kilometres (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations contain "Amazonas" in their names. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

Etymology

The name 'Amazon' is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with a tribe of Tapuyas and other tribes from South America. The women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe.[1] Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the mythical Amazons of Asia and Africa described by Herodotus and Diodorus in Greek legends.[1]

History

See also: History of South America#Amazon

Natural

The rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rain forest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes at least until the current ice age, when the climate was drier and savanna more widespread.[2][3]
Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. From 65–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics. During the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band that lay mostly above latitude 15°N. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum.[4] However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.[5]

Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest.
During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the drainage basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin. As the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created that enclosed a lake; now known as the Solimões Basin. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, joining the easterly flow toward the Atlantic.[6][7]
There is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation. Analyses of sediment deposits from Amazon basin paleolakes and from the Amazon Fan indicate that rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present, and this was almost certainly associated with reduced moist tropical vegetation cover in the basin.[8] There is debate, however, over how extensive this reduction was. Some scientists argue that the rainforest was reduced to small, isolated refugia separated by open forest and grassland;[9] other scientists argue that the rainforest remained largely intact but extended less far to the north, south, and east than is seen today.[10] This debate has proved difficult to resolve because the practical limitations of working in the rainforest mean that data sampling is biased away from the center of the Amazon basin, and both explanations are reasonably well supported by the available data.
More than half of the dust needed for fertilizing the Amazon rainforest is provided by the Bodélé depression in Sahara. Up to 50 milliontonnes per year are windblown across the Atlantic Ocean.[11][12]

Human activity

Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago.[13] Subsequent development led to late-prehistoric settlements along the periphery of the forest by AD 1250, which induced alterations in the forest cover.[14]

Geoglyphs on deforested land in the Amazon rainforest, Acre.
For a long time, it was thought that the Amazon rainforest was sparsely populated, as it was impossible to sustain a large population through agriculture given the poor soil. ArcheologistBetty Meggers was a prominent proponent of this idea, as described in her book Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. She claimed that a population density of 0.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (0.52 /sq mi) is the maximum that can be sustained in the rain forest through hunting, with agriculture needed to host a larger population.[15] However, recent anthropological findings have suggested that the region was actually densely populated. Some 5 million people may have lived in the Amazon region in AD 1500, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers.[16] By 1900 the population had fallen to 1 million and by the early 1980s it was less than 200,000.[16]
The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542.[17] The BBC's Unnatural Histories presents evidence that Orellana, rather than exaggerating his claims as previously thought, was correct in his observations that a complex civilization was flourishing along the Amazon in the 1540s. It is believed that the civilization was later devastated by the spread of diseases from Europe, such as smallpox.[18]

Left - nutrient-poor soil; right - terra preta
Since the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land dating between AD 0–1250, furthering claims about Pre-Columbiancivilizations.[19][20] Alceu Ranzi, a Brazilian geographer, is accredited with first discovering the geoglyphs whilst flying over Acre.[21] The BBC'sUnnatural Histories presented evidence that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristinewilderness, has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years through practices such asforest gardening and terra preta.[18]
Terra preta (black earth), which is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest, is now widely accepted as a product of indigenous soil management. The development of this fertile soil allowed agriculture and silviculture in the previously hostile environment; meaning that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as has previously been supposed.[22] In the region of the Xingu tribe, remains of some of these large settlements in the middle of the Amazon forest were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among those were evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas.[23]

Biodiversity


Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest threatens many species of tree frogs, which are very sensitive to environmental changes (pictured: Giant leaf frog)

Scarlet Macaw, which is indigenous to the American tropics.
Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia.[24] As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. One in ten known species in the world lives in the Amazon Rainforest.[25] This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.
The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species,[26]tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds andmammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200fishes,[27] 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region.[28] One in five of all the bird species in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon, and one in five of the fish species live in Amazonian rivers and streams. Scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843invertebrate species in Brazil alone.[29]
The biodiversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer (247 acres) may contain more than a thousand types of trees and thousands of species of other higher plants. According to a 2001 study, a quarter square kilometer (62 acres) of Ecuadorian rainforest supports more than 1,100 tree species.[30]
One square kilometer (247 acres) of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants. The average plant biomass is estimated at 356 ± 47 tonnes per hectare.[31] To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest have been registered in the region with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued.[32]
The green leaf area of plants and trees in the rainforest varies by about 25% as a result of seasonal changes. Leaves expand during the dry season when sunlight is at a maximum, then undergo abscission in the cloudy wet season. These changes provide a balance of carbon between photosynthesis and respiration.[33]
The rainforest contains several species that can pose a hazard. Among the largest predatory creatures are the black caiman, jaguar,cougar, and anaconda. In the river, electric eels can produce an electric shock that can stun or kill, while piranha are known to bite and injure humans.[34] Various species of poison dart frogs secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins through their flesh. There are also numerous parasites and disease vectors. Vampire bats dwell in the rainforest and can spread the rabies virus.[35] Malaria, yellow fever and Dengue fever can also be contracted in the Amazon region.

Deforestation


Deforestation in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil, 2007
Main article: Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest
Main article: Trans-Amazonian_highway
Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas. The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land.[36] Prior to the early 1960s, access to the forest's interior was highly restricted, and the forest remained basically intact.[37] Farms established during the 1960s were based on crop cultivation and the slash and burn method. However, the colonists were unable to manage their fields and the crops because of the loss of soil fertility and weed invasion.[38] The soils in the Amazon are productive for just a short period of time, so farmers are constantly moving to new areas and clearing more land.[38] These farming practices led to deforestation and caused extensive environmental damage.[39] Deforestation is considerable, and areas cleared of forest are visible to the naked eye from outer space.
In the 1970s construction began on the Trans-Amazonian highway. This highway represented a major threat to the Amazon rainforest.[40]Fortunately for the rainforest, the highway has not been completed, hereby reducing the environmental damage.
Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415,000 to 587,000 square kilometres (160,000 to 227,000 sq mi), with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle.[41] Seventy percent of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970, is used for livestock pasture.[42][43] In addition, Brazil is currently the second-largest global producer ofsoybeans after the United States. The needs of soy farmers have been used to validate many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon. The first two highways successfully opened up the rain forest and led to increased settlement and deforestation. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km2 or 8,646 sq mi per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years (19,018 km2 or 7,343 sq mi per year).[44] Deforestation has declined significantly in the Brazilian Amazon since 2004.[45]
  • NASA satellite observation of deforestation in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil. The transformation from forest to farm is evident by the paler square shaped areas under development.
    •  
  • Fires and Deforestation in the state of Rondônia.
    •  
  • One consequence of forest clearing in the Amazon: thick smoke that hangs over the forest.

Conservation and climate change

See also: Gaviotas

Amazon Rainforest
Environmentalists are concerned about loss of biodiversity that will result from destruction of the forest, and also about the release of the carbon contained within the vegetation, which could accelerate global warming. Amazonian evergreen forests account for about 10% of the world's terrestrial primary productivity and 10% of the carbon stores in ecosystems[46]—of the order of 1.1 × 1011 metric tonnes of carbon.[47] Amazonian forests are estimated to have accumulated 0.62 ± 0.37 tons of carbon per hectare per year between 1975 and 1996.[47]
One computer model of future climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Amazon rainforest could become unsustainable under conditions of severely reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, leading to an almost complete loss of rainforest cover in the basin by 2100.[48][49] However, simulations of Amazon basin climate change across many different models are not consistent in their estimation of any rainfall response, ranging from weak increases to strong decreases.[50] The result indicates that the rainforest could be threatened though the 21st century by climate change in addition to deforestation.
In 1989, environmentalist C.M. Peters and two colleagues stated there is economic as well as biological incentive to protecting the rainforest. One hectare in the Peruvian Amazon has been calculated to have a value of $6820 if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainably harvested); or $148 if used as cattle pasture.[51]
As indigenous territories continue to be destroyed by deforestation and ecocide, such as in the Peruvian Amazon[52] indigenous peoples' rainforest communities continue to disappear, while others, like the Urarina continue to struggle to fight for their cultural survival and the fate of their forested territories. Meanwhile, the relationship between non-human primates in the subsistence and symbolism of indigenous lowland South American peoples has gained increased attention, as has ethno-biology and community-based conservationefforts.
From 2002 to 2006, the conserved land in the Amazon rainforest has almost tripled and deforestation rates have dropped up to 60%. About 1,000,000 square kilometres (250,000,000 acres) have been put onto some sort of conservation, which adds up to a current amount of 1,730,000 square kilometres (430,000,000 acres).[53]
  • Anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases broken down by sector for the year 2000.
    •  
  • Aerosols over the Amazon each September for four burning seasons (2005 through 2008). Theaerosol scale (yellow to dark reddish-brown) indicates the relative amount of particles that absorb sunlight.
    •  
  • Aerial roots of red mangrove on an Amazonian river.
A 2009 study found that a 4 °C rise in global temperatures by 2100 would kill 85% of the Amazon rainforest while a temperature rise of 3 °C would kill some 75% of the Amazon.[54]

Remote sensing


This image reveals how the forest and the atmosphere interact to create a uniform layer of "popcorn-shaped" cumulus clouds.
The use of remotely sensed data is dramatically improving conservationists' knowledge of the Amazon Basin. Given the objectivity and lowered costs of satellite-based land cover analysis, it appears likely that remote sensing technology will be an integral part of assessing the extent and damage of deforestation in the basin.[55] Furthermore, remote sensing is the best and perhaps only possible way to study the Amazon on a large-scale.[56]
The use of remote sensing for the conservation of the Amazon is also being used by the indigenous tribes of the basin to protect their tribal lands from commercial interests. Using handheld GPS devices and programs like Google Earth, members of the Trio Tribe, who live in the rainforests of southern Suriname, map out their ancestral lands to help strengthen their territorial claims.[57] Currently, most tribes in the Amazon do not have clearly defined boundaries, making it easier for commercial ventures to target their territories.
To accurately map the Amazon's biomass and subsequent carbon related emissions, the classification of tree growth stages within different parts of the forest is crucial. In 2006 Tatiana Kuplich organized the trees of the Amazon into four categories: (1) mature forest, (2) regenerating forest [less than three years], (3) regenerating forest [between three and five years of regrowth], and (4) regenerating forest [eleven to eighteen years of continued development].[58] The researcher used a combination of Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) andThematic Mapper (TM) to accurately place the different portions of the Amazon into one of the four classifications.

Impact of early 21st century Amazon droughts

In 2005, parts of the Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in one hundred years,[59] and there were indications that 2006 could have been a second successive year of drought.[60] A July 23, 2006 article in the UK newspaper The Independent reported Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought.[61][62] Scientists at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savanna or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the combination of climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.[63]
In 2010 the Amazon rainforest experienced another severe drought, in some ways more extreme than the 2005 drought. The affected region was approximate 1,160,000 square miles (3,000,000 km2) of rainforest, compared to 734,000 square miles (1,900,000 km2) in 2005. The 2010 drought had three epicenters where vegetation died off, whereas in 2005 the drought was focused on the southwestern part. The findings were published in the journal Science. In a typical year the Amazon absorbs 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide; during 2005 instead 5 gigatons were released and in 2010 8 gigatons were released.[64][65]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Taylor, Isaac (1898). Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature. London: Rivingtons. ISBN 0-559-29668-1. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  2. ^ Morley, Robert J. (2000). Origin and Evolution of Tropical Rain Forests. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-98326-8.
  3. ^ Burnham, Robyn J.; Johnson, Kirk R. (2004). "South American palaeobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 359 (1450): 1595–1610. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1531. PMC 1693437.PMID 15519975.
  4. ^ Maslin, Mark; Malhi, Yadvinder; Phillips, Oliver; Cowling, Sharon (2005). "New views on an old forest: assessing the longevity, resilience and future of the Amazon rainforest"(PDF). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 30 (4): 477–499. doi:10.1111/j.1475-5661.2005.00181.x. Archivedfrom the original on October 01 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
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  45. ^ INPE: Estimativas Anuais desde 1988 até 2009
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  49. ^ Radford, T. 2002. "World may be warming up even faster".The Guardian.
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  51. ^ Peters, C.M.; Gentry, A. H. & Mendelsohn, R. O. (1989). "Valuation of an Amazonian forest". Nature 339 (6227): 656–657.doi:10.1038/339655a0.
  52. ^ Dean, Bartholomew. (2003) State Power and Indigenous Peoples in Peruvian Amazonia: A Lost Decade, 1990–2000. InThe Politics of Ethnicity Indigenous Peoples in Latin American States David Maybury-Lewis, Ed. Harvard University Press
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  54. ^ Amazon could shrink by 85% due to climate change, scientists say
  55. ^ Wynne, R. H.; Joseph, K. A.; Browder, J. O.; Summers, P. M. (2007). "A Preliminary Review of Neotropical Primates in the Subsistence and Symbolism of Indigenous Lowland South American Peoples". International Journal of Remote Sensing28: 1299–1315. doi:10.1080/01431160600928609. Retrieved September 4, 2008.
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  57. ^ Isaacson, Andy. 2007. With the Help of GPS, Amazonian Tribes Reclaim the Rain Forest. Wired 15.11:http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-11/ps_amazon
  58. ^ Kuplich, Tatiana M. (October 2006). "Classifying regenerating forest stages in Amazônia using remotely sensed images and a neural network". Forest Ecology and Management 234 (1–3): 1–9. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.05.066.
  59. ^ Environmental News Service – Amazon Drought Worst in 100 Years
  60. ^ Drought Threatens Amazon Basin – Extreme conditions felt for second year running
  61. ^ "Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'", The Independent, July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  62. ^ "Dying Forest: One year to save the Amazon", The Independent, July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  63. ^ "Climate change a threat to Amazon rainforest, warns WWF",World Wide Fund for Nature, March 22, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  64. ^ 2010 Amazon drought record: 8 Gt extra CO2
  65. ^ "Amazon drought 'severe' in 2010, raising warming fears", BBC News
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