less than 35 acres, and have few tools or conveniences. 39% of the countries farmland is owned by less than 1% of the population, their average size of farm land is more that 25,000 acres. More often than not, farms are now not efficient enough anymore, since the soil in the Amazon is generally not as fertile as elsewhere in more moderate climates. Crops would begin to fail after a few years and force the farmers to clear even more land. There also is the different point of view between Brazilians and the rich world’s environmentalists, who want to preserve the forest for two main reasons: a) because burning them could eventually contribute to world climate change, and b) because they know that forest loss will reduce bio-diversity. Both are long term worries, although, recent research suggests that burning trees is now beginning to affect the local climate of the Brazilian rainforest too, making it drier and more liable to accidental fires. DeforestationDeforestation is a confounding problem in the Amazon Rainforest. According to Brazilian government, 6,347 square miles of rainforest was destroyed from illegal logging and farming in 1998-99. This remains constant with the 1997-98 deforestation rates. About 80% of timber harvested in the region is harvested illegally. The effect of extreme deforestation is very apparent in Pargomina, a city in the north of Brazil. The air is bitter with sawdust and smoke. Dozens of sawmills are slicing up prime rainforest tree trunks, and each is surrounded by dozens of charcoal kilns spewing out black smoke. For hundreds of miles around, the landscape is bare of trees except for the odd stump. No one takes any notice of government regulations that restrict logging, explains a manager at one of the sawmills; and if officials try to enforce them, they can be easily bribed. “Everyone is out for the quick buck here,” he says. (2)When environmentalists show their concern o...
