IGCSE Geography / Fragile environments and climate change

What causes deforestation

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 7: Fragile environments and climate change, specification point 7.1b, 7.S3. Free lesson.

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Deforestation is the permanent clearing of forest so the land can be used for something else. Knowing its causes and the way roads shape its pattern helps you explain deforestation in the Amazon.

What deforestation means

Deforestation is the permanent clearing of forest for another use. Examples here are from the Amazon in Brazil, an emerging country. Six causes are important, and they often link together because roads allow people and businesses to reach the forest. Commercial timber extraction means logging trees for sale. Loggers take valuable tropical hardwood and cut roads to remove the trunks. Agriculture includes cattle pasture, soya, palm oil and small farms that clear a plot by cutting and burning trees. Mining strips forest to reach gold, iron ore and other minerals.…

Which cause is largest in the Amazon

The causes are not equal in importance. Cattle ranching is by far the largest, responsible for about 80% of deforestation in the Amazon. Loggers take valuable trees, but ranchers clear the land to grow grass for cattle. Mining caused about 9% of Amazon deforestation from 2005 to 2015. When assessing the causes, rank cattle ranching first and include its figure. Roads often come first, then allow other causes, such as logging, settlement and farming, to spread into the forest.

How deforestation makes a fishbone pattern

From above, clearing spreads outwards from the roads. The main road runs through the forest, and cleared land follows it in a straight line. Side roads branch off at right angles, like bones from a fish's spine. The pale cleared strips become pasture and crops, and grow wider over time. Dark green forest remains furthest from roads. Describe where the clearing is, using its direction, shape and distance from roads. A clear pattern description says that clearing follows the main road in a line, with side roads branching off at right angles, while forest remains further away.

How to explain causes in an exam answer

For a four-mark question asking for two causes, use two different causes and explain what each one leads to. Adding so helps connect the cause to its effect.

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