Study Shows the Amazon is Unsuitable for Agriculture
Folha de S. Paulo
October 22, 2000
A new study, undertaken by a partnership between the World Bank and the NGO IMAZON (the Institute for Man and the Environment of the Amazon), shows that 83% of the Amazon's extensive land area is unsuitable for traditional farming and cattle ranching, and better suited for a forest economy. Perhaps the biggest factor contributing to the unsuitability of the land for agriculture is the extremely high precipitation, which causes soil erosion and a general lack of soil nutrients. Approximately 20% of lands deforested for use in agriculture have been abandoned, and most of the cattle ranches on deforested land support far fewer cattle than in other locations, leading to diminished profits. The paper, laboriously entitled "Sustainable Forest Management, Economic Changes in Soil Usage, and Implications for Public Policies in the Amazon," should be available on the internet within a month's time.