Mining and Farming: Impact on the Tropical Rainforest

 The are many problems that the Tropical Rainforests have to face daily. Two of the main problems are mining and Farming. 

Mining
Gold, Copper, Diamonds and other important metals and gemstones are found in the Rainforests. These things are regularly extracted by miners, which cause destructive damages to the Rainforests ecosystem. Also it causes problems for people living nearby or downstream. Mining leads to direct forest loss, due to the clearing of land in the Rainforest. Indigenous people are forced to move and roads are being constructed, through previously unreachable land which as a result is opening up the Rainforest. Also it is causing water, air and land pollution as well.   

The affects after mining has taken place.

Mining today mainly revolves around gold deposits. Gold is extracted in both river channels and floodplains where rivers once were. These deposits are mined by large-scale operators and small-scale miners. These both rely on hydraulic mining techniques to blast away at river banks and clear floodplain forests. Gold is usually extracted from gravel, using a sluice box to separate heavier sediment and mercury for combining the metal. Most of the mercury is removed to be reused or burnt off. Although some may end up in rivers. 
Small-scale miners are less skilled when using the mercury. As a result of this, statistics show that they release 2.91 pounds of mercury into the waterway, for every 2.2 pounds of gold produced. Although the mercury doesn't harm the water, it causes problems when entered into a food chain. Transformed mercury compounds are toxic and bioaccumilative( absorb in organisms). As a result, top predators such as birds of prey, will have the most mercury in their system. This is because it is passed up by every animal in the food chain before it. 


Mining would have a huge impact on the local tribes in different ways. Firstly, the mercury spread to the animals may result in them dying. Therefore the indigenous people wouldn't be able to eat them. The lack of food, would result in them having less to eat, making them undernourished. If their was a great amount of animals dying, there is a risk that the human's may because of starvation.  Also, as there is a large area being destroyed to mine, this could be the tribe's housing. As a result of this if they were affected by the water or land pollution, they wouldn't have the equipment to cure it. They would lose all their belongings, which would include their hunting equipment too. This could result in them unable to hunt, therefore becoming hungry. If this lasted for a long period of time, this could be another way they die from starvation.  


Farming
Farming in the Tropical Rainforests is unable to take place because of the lack of nutrients, in the acidic soil in the forests. Nevertheless, many agricultural projects are still carried out on Rainforest land. 

Slash and burn technique taking place.

Generally, forest clearers use slash-and-burn techniques, to clear the land and on a greater scale than the technique is usually carried out on. The agriculturalists burn hundreds to thousands of hectares, rather than than the 2 to 10 acres burned usually. The slash-and-burn technique, is a method where trees and shrubs are cut down. After, the soil is burned to release nutrients locked up in vegetation, to produce a layer of nutrient rich material above the former soil. The area is then planted and for a few years there is active growth. Although after, fertilizer is required, to keep the growth going. Fertilizer could be washed into streams, affecting fish and aquatic life. Once the land has been used, it is a huge amount less productive and only a small number of cattle can survive in the area.  
When the land is appropriate for farming, usually large single crops like rice, citrus fruits, coffee, cocoa, tea and rubber are grown there. However there are a few different problems with this type of single crop growth, apart from the loss of forest. Firstly, it makes the crop highly exposed to disease and pests, as shown in Brazil and India. Also this type of planting, can become highly economically risky, because of the price changes so common in international markets. 


We believe farming in the Tropical Rainforests will have a huge affect on the tribes. This is because the area where they have set up their housing, may be at risk of being cut down and burned. Because of this, a huge amount of people would lose their homes and everything they owned. This would result in survival being hard as they wouldn't have the equipment they need to hunt for their food or the land for them to grow crops. Also in the burning stage, people may die if they get caught in the fire or are around that area because of the smoke coming off of it. If they were burned they wouldn't have the equipment needed to attempt to heal the wounds. This would result in them becoming more ill and eventually dying.