Human Population
The last census determined that there is an estimated of about 21,000,000 people living in the Amazon in 2010, the majority in the few big cities such as Manaus. Although census have occurred every ten years since 1991, the data is unreliable due to vast amounts of unrecorded people, births, deaths, and, in some cases, tribes themselves. This limited recorded data is also in part due to vast majority of the region being covered in vegetation that makes it impossible to locate every member of every tribe. Due to this making a data graph would be impossible. Although this data may be inaccurate, the estimated growth rate from 1991 to 2000 was 1.63. This growth rate increased to 2.09 between 2000 - 2010 due to increased fertility rates, partly because of better documentation, and the immigration of people to urban cities due to job opportunities, making it easier to include everyone in the census. It is believed that the population will continue growing at an increasing rate, yet the total population will not become extremely large due to the vast inhabitable area.
Human Impacts
1st Impact - Deforestation, mainly a problem at a local level, is widely used in the Amazon to clear land of trees by burning the area. This leads to the release of carbon into the atmosphere, and can sometimes even result in a large wildfire. Once deforestation is complete, the person who burned the area uses it to mine, get oil, farm, etc. before leaving that plot of land to go on to another in search for more fertile land or new resources. This leaves behind a trail of burned land that cannot be used for years. This also results in an increase of carbon in the atmosphere, partly due to less trees being left to filter out the carbon dioxide. This problem is throughout the rainforest, caused by both tribes and people of small villages. The only way to stop this is by enforcing strict laws against the use of burning and deforestation to clear forest land. This effects of deforestation are especially seen in Western Brazil, Peru, and Chile where law is less enforced due to the extremely dense forest. Deforestation has been occurring repeatedly for many years now and is only an increasing issue.
Deforestation in the Amazon
2nd Impact - The impacts of mining are numerous and dangerous to the environment. The biggest impact of mining is pollution. For example, a byproduct of the extraction of gold from the Amazon rainforest is mercury. This mercury is released into either the atmosphere or running water. In 1995, a study conducted found that 90% of fish caught by rural villagers south of gold mining areas of the Tapajos River in Brazil were contaminated by methyl mercury. This form of mercury can damage the nervous system of humans. Mining has only increased since then and many plants do not have adequate pollution control measures. To prevent the widespread contamination of the environment, the governments of these countries must ensure that these companies imply pollution control devices and teach employees the importance of protecting the environment. Mining occurs throughout the rainforest, though the strongest effects are shown in Brazil.
3rd Impact - Oil Extraction has always had a humungous impact on the Amazon ecosystem environment. One of the best examples of the negative impacts is the Texaco and Petroecuador venture into taking oil from water in the Amazonian region of Ecuador. Starting from 1970, Texaco repeatedly released toxic wastes into the environment, killing wildlife. The worst example of this was in 1992, when a Oil spill occurred causing the Rio Napo to turn black causing a natural emergency in multiple parts of Brazil and Peru. These oil extractions continue and result in both pollution and the destruction of environment, through the building of oil pipes through forests and oil spills. The only prevention to this is ensuring extremely safe operations and enforcing strong pollution laws or ending oil extraction from the Amazon forever. Oil extraction still has a major effect throughout the ecosystem, especially in Peru and Ecuador.
An oil rig in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil