Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest The completion of the roads was followed by a wave of resettlement; these settlers had a significant effect on the forest as well. Research conducted by Leydimere Oliveira et al. has shown that the more rainforest is logged in the Amazon, the less precipitation reaches the area and so the lower the yield per hectare becomes. Thus for Brazil as a whole, there is no economic gain to be made by logging and selling trees and using the logged land for pastoral purposes. A September 2016 Amazon Watch report concludes that imports of crude oil by the US are driving
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest Amazon has resulted from farmers clearing land for small-scale subsistence agriculture or for mechanized cropland. Scientists using NASA satellite data found in 2006 that clearing for mechanized cropland had become a significant force in Brazilian Amazon deforestation. This change in land use may alter the region's climate. Researchers found that in 2003, a peak year of deforestation, more than 20 percent of the Mato Grosso state's forests were converted to cropland. In 2005, soybean prices fell by more than 25 percent and some areas of Mato Grosso showed a decrease in large deforestation events, suggesting that the rise and fall