Deforestation In Amazon

Recent research suggests that beef livestock is the primary cause of deforestation (specifically in the Brazilian Amazon) (Nepstad et al. 2014). In the Pantanal region of Brazil, 80% of land is used for cattle ranches (Nepstad et al. 2014). This is of particular concern because the Pantanal region is the largest freshwater wetland in the world harboring the largest concentration of fauna in the Americas (Nepstad et al. 2014). Using such a vast amount of land for cattle ranches around the world means destruction of habitat and severe loss of biodiversity (Nepstad et al. 2014). Clear cutting in the Amazon is a major issue, where deforestation has remained at 19600km2/year for a 9-year period starting at 1996 (Bowman et al. 2012). However, in 2010 deforestation decreased significantly, only to increase again in 2011 demonstrating human ignorance (Bowman et al. 2012). Since the largest use of land amongst agricultural activities in the Amazon is due to cattle ranching, it plays a major role in deforestation and land

55% of the worlds land is dedicated to producing ruminant-feed (non-cereal resources) (Oltjen and Beckett 1996). Cattle are extremely inefficient when it comes to land use, where 1kg of beef requires 27 m2-49 m2 of land, triple its closest livestock competitor (pork), and the ratio of energy needed to produce 1kg of beef is 1.4 times that of pork (De Vries and De Boer 2010). Not to mention, cattle produce less progeny in comparison to pigs and chicken, which results in the land use per animal increasing once again (De Vries and De Boer 2010). This means beef is one of the most land consuming agricultural activities that we partake in because not only does it takes more food (energy, and hence land), but also require more land to reproduce and be mobile in (De Vries and De Boer