NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest . In Brazil, this has been the case since at least the 1970s: government figures attributed 38 percent of deforestation from 1966-1975 to large-scale cattle ranching.

Detailed explanation-2: -The main cause of deforestation is clearing of land for agriculture and livestock. Although the annual rate of deforestation in Brazil has been sharply declining in recent years, it still amounts to 2.6 million hectares (the size of Luxembourg).

Detailed explanation-3: -Cattle ranching has been the primary driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, as huge swaths of rainforest are cleared to make way for agriculture.

Detailed explanation-4: -Cattle ranching depletes the land of nutrients because cattle often eat to the very dirt, destroying all biomass on a piece of land and making it very hard for the habitat to restore itself. Slash and burning is also often employed to clear land for cattle to graze.

Detailed explanation-5: -But the main cause of global deforestation is, without question, cattle ranching. This is especially true in Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of beef. As much as 90 percent of all forest that’s been cleared in the Brazilian Amazon is now covered in pasture, most of which is for cattle.