Geography of Brazil- Jack Coulson
How is the industrialization in Brazil impacting the Amazon forest?
Over the past 40 years, more than 20% of the Amazon has been cut down due to deforestation. Deforestation has taken a great impact on Brazil's geographic state leaving it lacking resources and habitats for animals to live in. The industrialisation of Brazil has impacted many aspects of Brazils modern world. The main source of trade for Brazil was that they had a lot of agricultural advancements speeding up process of crops meaning them more income. With a lot of farms in Brazil as well, there is many different varieties of crops grown. The Amazon also contains a great deal of natural resources needed to produce manufactured products which is why governments focus on the Amazon as it is huge and contains a lot of natural resources for more income.
How has Industrialization affected world wide countries and Brazil?
StatisticsBrazil is a very important producer for goods such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco to the rest of the world. “At the end of the 20th century, agriculture has employed about 23% of Brazil’s population for agriculture and has produced about 9% of Brazil’s gross domestic products.” (Streissguth, Thomas.) Brazil until this day has remained an important supplier to the rest of the world's economy due to the vast resources available in Brazil.
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DangersHowever, there are some serious problems including social and environmental problems associated with farming in Brazil. Unfortunately, opening up new lands for farming often has brang environmental destruction specifically to the Amazon rainforest.
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SuppliersIn addition, the industrialization of Brazil is very important to many countries as they are the main supplier for a lot of goods that are not scarce in Brazil and quite frequent to find. Along with the many resources available, Brazil also produces the best quality products due to the natural environment and frequent rainfall. This helps Brazil produce the best goods quicker to supply the world and gain income.
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How has industrialization in Brazil encourage deforestation of the Amazon forest?
During the past 40 years, up to about 20 percent of the amazon has been cut down. This is due to the start of industrialisation in Brazil and other European countries as well. “The first European explorers came to South America in search for valuable trading goods and natural resources. Over centuries, entrepreneurs had used the access to these things to their advantage and carried out busy foreign trade in timber, spices and minerals. Many more types of resources such as lead, gold, silver, nickel, tin, copper, zinc, aluminium, titanium, iron and phosphate.” (Wallace, Scott. "Last of the Amazon.") Precious and valuable stones can also be found in Brazil. Brazil is also the home to the third largest reserve of timber in the entire world, which is the Amazon forest. The Amazon contains many different types of hardwood trees which can be used to produce many types of products.The industrialization and the need for these resources, specifically different types of wood, is what started industrialization in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Without these natural resources available it would be very difficult to produce different products.
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What would be different if Brazil did not begin to industrialize or industrialize less?
Brazil would be very different if it didn’t industrialize because it would not have started trade and get income causing Brazil to be where they are now. There would be a lot of negative effects and some positive effects if Brazil did not industrialize. This would effect Brazil's overall income as well as other factors such as the state of the Amazon rainforest. Many people would lose their jobs and remain in poverty if industrialisation did not happen. The reason Brazil became as popular is it is was through it's industrialisation as they possess many types of natural resources which can be found in farms all over Brazil as well as the Amazon rainforest.
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The negatives would be that the country would be very poor and not be able to sustain an economy. Brazil is already suffering from poverty in many areas, so by not going through industrialisation, it would be worse then it already is leaving many people in extreme poverty. A lot of Brazil's population has picked up agriculture, which means if industrialization did not happen, it would leave countless amount of people jobless and in poverty. However, the positives of this would be that the rainforests in Brazil, specifically the Amazon, would be safe from deforestation meaning the wild life will be able to live safely. However, the downside to this is that they would not be able to find other resources that they would not have available.
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In a way there are many good reasons that deforestation in the Amazon has helped fuel Brazil and its economy as they have many varieties of different resources meaning a lot to trade with other countries for. Even though the Amazon is at risk, this needs to be done to keep Brazil up and running as that is where they get their main income from. Now a days they get a lot of their income through tourism, however they would’ve never been able to succeed this if they never industrialised. The tourism of Brazil had to begin somewhere and it started through industrialisation due to the money they made through exports and the resources and technology they had gained through imports. Industrialisation is very important and needed to be done even if it meant it would hurt Brazil geographically.
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What was the cause to start industrialization in the Amazon instead of other areas?
The after war time frame to 1962 was a period of extraordinary import substitution, particularly of customer merchandise, with fundamental commercial enterprises developing at low rates. “The 1968 to 1973 period was one of very rapid industrial expansion and modernizations. The 1974 to 1985 phase was highlighted by import substitution of basic inputs and capital goods and by the expansion of manufactured goods exports.” ("Brazil - The Economy - Import-Substitution Industrializations, 1945-64.").
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With this in mind the idea of starting the exports of natural resources to other foreign countries to gain income and get other goods needed was critical in order to keep the industry in Brazil moving. Thus the reason of starting exporting goods from the Amazon that other countries needed and could only be found in Brazil. Along with quality came quantity and this was important to Brazilian traders as they would want the same for their imports making Brazil a reliable source for goods.
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Positives about deforestation and industrialisation in Brazil?
The industrialisation enhanced public welfare. At the point when the Brazilian economy was just comprised of the coffee industry, there were not many different occupations. Be that as it may, as industrialisation had set out on, endless empty employments were recently made, which affected decreasing unemployment. Likewise there was a checked increment in cash compensation in industry. From this increment of cash wages in industry, we can without much of a stretch assume that public welfare additionally had been enhanced because of industrialisation. Taking into account these beneficial outcomes of the Brazilian economy, Brazil could turn into the main mechanical country of Latin America. Brazil unquestionably favored the achievement of its industrialisation. The Amazon is hurt and in danger due to industrialisation and habitats have been destroyed, however without any of this happening, industrialisation would have never been able to start within Brazil. Industrialisation has affected the Amazon in many ways however all of it's suffering has been put to good use.
Sources:
I have provided a list of sources as well as their MLA citations. |
http://countrystudies.us/brazil/62.htm
"Brazil - The Economy - Import-Substitution Industrialization, 1945-64." Brazil - The Economy - Import-Substitution Industrialization, 1945-64. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2016. Book Streissguth, Thomas. Brazil in Pictures. Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.: Lerner Publications, 2003. Print. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/last-of-amazon/ Wallace, Scott. "Last of the Amazon." (n.d.): n. pag. National Geographic. National Geographic Magazine. Web. 15 May 2016. http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/0910/nhw/nhw1.html "WHKMLA : The Industrialization of Brazil (until 1960)." WHKMLA : The Industrialization of Brazil (until 1960). N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2016. |