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The

Deforestation of the Amazon: Understanding Ecosystems and Their Value


Rainforest information 50-90% of Earth's species in tropics 40% of medicines are derived from plants and animals 300 million hectares of tropical rainforest in Brazil 6-11 species lost in Amazon per day Cattle farming 1 human job for every 2000 cows or 1 job every 3000 hectares Average long-term cattle production = 0.7 cows per hectare Slash-and-burn agriculture 2-3 harvests of crops expected before land degradation $250-475 per hectare to fertilize degraded land $70 per hectare to slash and burn new land Produces 80% of Amazon food production $460 per hectare revenue for 1 year of agriculture Land ownership 3.4 hectare -- average peasant farm size Land prices may increase 100% per year Average population density in Amazon: 4 people per 100 hectares Amazonian deforested real estate value $300 per hectare -- amount for which farmers would part with their land Amazonian forested land costs $150 per hectare Ecotourism Costa Rica: (highly unique area) $2,000 per person (cost of trip) $1273 total spent in country $86 per person-day (to local economy), average stay = 3 days Galapagos: (highly unique area) $1337 total spent $102 per person-day (to local economy) La Selva: (less unique area): $22 per person-day Admission to Monteverde Reserve, Costa Rica: $15

Genetic diversity Merck paid $1,000,000 over 2 years to Costa Rica for bioprospecting rights Estimate for pharmaceutical value of tropical forest species: $21 per hectare Population and forced displacement 4 million people in Amazon 150,000 evicted per year Agroforestry Value of intensive hardwood plantations: Teak: 245m3 per hectare (65 years to grow) Gmelina: 150m3/= per hectare (10 years to grow) Forestry-coffee mixed plantations: $2-$61/hectare when coffee prices are low, $120-$176/ hectare when coffee prices are high Timber resources Only 30-50 species (out of several hundred) are economically valuable Amazon basin has low merchantilable timber: 5 m3 per hectare World and tropical hardwood prices: $35 per m3 1 sawmill = 34 employees 1 veneer factory = 300 employees Forest management (vine removal and tree thinning): $120 per hectare Stumpage fees (paid to government by loggers): $5 per m3 Saw mills pay $35 per m3 for cut logs Annual increase in value of standing mahogany trees = 5% per year Economic Value of non-timber resources $422 per hectare for extractable nontimber resources (fruits, latex, nuts, etc.) Environmental costs/benefits Americans willingness-to-pay to protect tropical rainforests: $110-230 per hectare (one-time payment) Global environmental damages due to carbon release: $20 per ton carbon emitted 100-200 tons of timber produced per hectare cleared Plant biomass is 50% carbon Cost of losing forest carbon storage (climate-related damage and mitigation): $1,000-$2,000 per hectare Price peasant farmers are willing to accept to stop cutting forest: $5-10 per ton of timber 27 trees damaged for every tree extracted by logging

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