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The prosess of cutting and burning down vast forested areas in order to grow palm oil plantations or for other farming practices.
By clearing large areas of trees in the amazon, one of the largest carbon sinks is lossed. This means that a key transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to biophere is removed and the store of carbon in the atmosphere increases. This has negative implications on the planet.
By removing the trees via combustion, there is a large output of carbon dioxide. Trees are roughly 50% carbon and when they die naturally, the carbon is slowly released as the tree decomposes, however when the tree is burned, this stored carbon is released immediately, causing faster and more detrimental damage.
The rate of fires in the amazon raised by 85% between 2012 and 2013
Implications on the carbon cycle
The combustion of rainforests such as the amazon lead to decreased carbon stores and transfers of carbon in the bioshere, this subsequently reduces the transfers into the lithosphere. The combustion leads to increased transfer of carbon from the bioshere to atmosphere, where it contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Implications of slash and burn
Roughly, trees absorb 180 tonnes/ha where as grassland absorbs 16.2 tonnes/ha. This is a signifigant oss of carbon transer and will have negative implications, localy and globaly.
Globaly, it will increase the quantity of carbon stored in the atmosphere and will enhance the greenhouse effect, furthering the effects of climate change.
Localy, it will disrupt the carbon cycle and will cause a shift in the carbon stores.
Forest Fires are unlikley in the amazon due to humid, damp conditions however due to increased global temperatures the dry period in the amazon is increasing, making the reainforest more suseptable to natural forest fires
Unnatural forest fires are started by slash and burn techniques however these are usualy under control, this stopps the damage going further than nesasary.
In 2019 alone, 906000 hectares (3500 squ miles) of the amazon rainforest was destroyed by fires.