Managing rainforest change in the Amazon
The Amazon supplies food, timber, minerals and electricity, but each use changes a globally important ecosystem. Geography helps weigh those competing claims.
Part of your national curriculum
- Human and physical geography: Understand the key processes in biology relating to biomes, vegetation belts and ecosystems
- Human and physical geography: Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water
- Human and physical geography: Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence, and be influenced by, climate change
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water
Key learning points
- • Why forest is cleared
- • Local and global consequences
- • Strategies
- • Making a geographical judgement
This lesson at a glance
- 32 minutes
- 19 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 19
Visual introductionPicture this
Managing rainforest change in the Amazon
The Amazon supplies food, timber, minerals and electricity, but each use changes a globally important ecosystem. Geography helps weigh those competing claims.
In a nutshell
Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 19
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Why forest is cleared
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 19
Learn
Why forest is cleared
Cattle ranching, commercial crops such as soya, logging, mining and road building all bring income and jobs. Roads also open previously remote forest to settlement, so their indirect effect can spread far beyond the strip initially cleared.
Reset break
Part 4 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 19
Learn
Local and global consequences
Deforestation destroys habitats, interrupts water cycling and exposes soil to erosion. Burning and decay release stored carbon, while fewer trees remove less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Indigenous communities may also lose land, livelihoods and culturally important places.
Quick check
Part 6 of 19
Quick check
Part 7 of 19
Reset break
Part 8 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 19
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Strategies
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 19
Learn
Strategies
Protected areas, recognition of Indigenous land rights, selective logging, replanting and satellite enforcement can reduce damage. Agroforestry grows crops among trees, keeping more canopy and biodiversity than a single-crop plantation.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 19
Learn
Making a geographical judgement
No strategy should be judged by one statistic. A strong evaluation considers environmental protection, local income, enforcement, timescale and who carries the costs. A policy that works on paper may fail if illegal clearing is more profitable than compliance.
Reset break
Part 12 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 19
Challenge round
Part 14 of 19
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 15 of 19
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Roads also open previously remote ____ to settlement, so their indirect effect can spread far beyond the strip initially cleared.
Reset break
Part 16 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 19
Game · Recall cards
Deserts cluster around…
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 18 of 19
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Managing rainforest change in the Amazon
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Deserts cluster around…
2. On a climate graph, bars usually show…
3. Tundra vegetation is low-growing mainly because of…
4. Rainforests sit mainly at…
Lesson round-up
Part 19 of 19
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaPart 1 of 19 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand the key processes in biology relating to biomes, vegetation belts and ecosystems
- Not looked at yet
Understand the use of natural resources, including energy, food, minerals and water
- Not looked at yet
Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence, and be influenced by, climate change