Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest , and recover of degraded pastures. In August 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer abolished an Amazonian nature reserve the size of Denmark in Brazil's northern states of Pará and Amapá. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest The cattle sector of the Brazilian Amazon, incentivized by the international beef and leather trades, has been responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the region, or about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the world's largest single driver of deforestation. By 2017, 20% of land forested before 1970 in the Amazon had been deforested, and 90% of that been converted
Selective logging in the Amazon rainforest of the selective logging operations in the Amazon were illegal during the early 2000s. Since much of the logging practices were unregulated, high damage extraction operations rendered the forest land susceptible to drought and fire. In recently logged forests, canopy gap fractions are highest in log decks, however, the overall effect on forest gap fraction is negligible because of the decks small surface area. Selective logging in the Amazon rainforest Selective logging or partial forest removal is the practice of cutting down one or two species of trees while leaving the rest intact. Selective logging is often considered a better