Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Ms. Boyle, and welcome to our local and global geography unit, why are trees and forests important? In today's lesson, we are going to be mapping the changes in forests around the world.

I hope you're excited and ready to learn, let's get started.

By the end of the lesson today, you will be able to research the significance of forests to local communities around the world.

In today's lesson, we will come across these key words.

Let's read and define each one.

First, let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Indigenous, hectare satellite image, deforestation.

Great job, well done.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

Indigenous describes people who are the original inhabitants of a place rather than the people who moved there from somewhere else.

A hectare is a measurement of land.

Each hectare is 10,000 square metres.

A satellite image is a photograph taken from high above using a satellite and deforestation is the complete removal of trees.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

First, we are going to look at how forests around the world have changed.

We already know how they have changed in the UK over time.

Has there been a similar change to global forests? Then we will look at one example of a global forest to research why woodland is significant to the local people who live there.

So let's begin with how have forests around the world changed? Maps can give us information about the location and extent of forests globally.

The world has a total forest area of 4.

06 billion hectares, which is 31% or almost one third of the total land area.

You can see this shown here by how much of the world map is coloured in.

This map shows the type and distribution of global forest area in 2020.

Let's check your understanding.

Which word is missing from the sentence? Forests covered.

of the land globally in 2020.

Is the answer, A, one quarter B, one third, or C, one half.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is B, well done.

Forests covered one third of the land globally in 2020.

The map also tells us about where forests are distributed across the world.

Did you know that more than half, 54% of the world's forests are in only five countries? The Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China.

There are other large areas of forest, but these countries contain the most.

Some parts of the world have no large forest cover at all.

We can also use the map to see where the different types of forests are located.

This is very similar to the biomes map that we looked at in a previous lesson.

Tropical forest, seen here on the map in lime green, makes up the largest proportion of the world's woodland at 45%.

This is followed by boreal forest, which is in blue and temperate forest, which is in bright green.

Can you remember the link between climate and vegetation buds? This helps us to understand why certain trees only grow in certain areas.

Let's check your understanding.

Most of the world's woodland is A, boreal, B, temperate or C, tropical.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

The answer is C.

Well done, most of the world's woodland is tropical.

Did you remember that 45% of the forests worldwide and therefore the largest group are tropical forests.

So what has changed in the amount of global forests.

Is it's the same pattern as woodland in the UK, a large decline and then a slight increase since 1900? Yes, many countries have much less forest today than they did in the past.

Shortly after the end of the last great ice age, which was 10,000 years ago, 57% of the world's habitable land was covered by forest.

Over the last 10,000 years, the world has lost one third of its forests.

This is an area twice the size of the United States.

Humans have removed woodland through deforestation.

There are two reasons that humans cut down forests, for forest resources.

This is when people want the resources that the forests provide.

This could be the wood for fuel, building materials or paper.

Another reason that humans cut down forests is for the land.

People want to use the land they grow on for something else, such as farmland to grow crops, pasture to raise livestock or land to build roads and cities.

Let's check your understanding.

Is this statement true or false? Over the last 10,000 years, the world has lost one third of its forests.

Pause the video and select the correct answer.

That is true, well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, humans have cut down trees for forest resources, and land, or B, forests have naturally reduced in size.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is A, well done.

The world has lost one third of its forests over the last 10,000 years, and this is because humans have cut down trees for forest resources and land.

The UN estimates that 10 million hectares of forest were cut down each year between 2015 and 2020.

That's an area the size of Portugal every year, nearly all 95% of this deforestation occurs in the tropics.

This map shows us the location of just the tropical forests.

They are located either side of the equator, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

Tropical rainforests have a climate that is hot and wet all year round.

Remember, there are no seasons.

We are going to concentrate on an area of tropical forest, the Amazon rainforest in South America, which is experiencing deforestation.

A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees that experiences a high amount of rainfall.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world and is very important locally and globally.

You may have already done some work on the Amazon and already be familiar with the rainforest and some of its issues.

That's great.

This knowledge will help you in today's lesson.

If you have never studied the rainforest before, don't worry because I am here to help you.

Scientists have used satellites to track the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest for several decades.

We will look at some of the evidence for deforestation and then patterns of change in this tropical rainforest.

If you take a look at this satellite image, the area that is a yellow or sandy colour is deforested land and the darker area is rainforest.

Satellites show areas of forest that have been cut down or burnt like in these two images here.

Scientists can measure the area of forest that has been lost and compare this image to the next time a photograph is taken.

This helps them to keep track of any changes.

The state of Rondonia in western Brazil, once home to an area of forest slightly smaller than the UK, has become one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon.

Let's take a look at this satellite image of this area.

The green areas are rainforest and the yellow areas have been deforested.

Let's take a look at how this area has changed over time.

This image here is in the year 2000.

We can see that there is lots of forest land.

Here is an image of the same area in 2006, we can see that the area of forest land has decreased substantially.

Here is an image of the same area of land again in 2012.

We can see that over the span of 12 years from 2000 to 2012, deforestation substantially changed this area of land in the Amazon rainforest.

Between 1990 and the mid 2000s, ranchers, soy farmers, land speculators, loggers and miners came to the Amazon frontier and cleared virtually anything they wanted.

In 2023, the rate of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon fell by nearly 50% compared to the previous year.

Although the clearing of forests hasn't stopped, not as many trees are being removed.

People now have a much better understanding of how important the Amazon rainforest is.

Satellite based monitoring plays a key role in slowing and stopping deforestation.

Scientists have been able to send alerts out to rangers if they notice any deforestation on satellite images.

Then rangers can fine or arrest illegal deforesters.

Let's check your understanding.

Match the satellite image to the date it was taken.

Look carefully at each image.

Remember, the dark green areas are forest and the yellow sandy areas are where forest has been cleared.

Pause the video and do this now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

The image from the year 2000 was the image of the most forest.

By 2006, lots of the land had been cleared and was bare, and by 2012, even more land had been cleared.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of how deforestation can be seen on satellite images.

For your first task today, I would like you to write answers to these two questions.

One, describe the images of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia in Brazil.

Talk about the changes we can see to the amount of rainforest, bare ground, and new pasture or crops.

Then I would like you to answer the question, why are satellite images useful in tracking and preventing deforestation? Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back and well done for completing the task.

Did your answers include any of the following information? For question one, describe the images of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia in Brazil.

A great answer would be, the images show that over 12 years from 2000 to 2012, roads and clearings pushed west to northwest from Buritis to towards the Jaciparana River.

The deforested area along the road into Nova Mamore expanded north to northeast all the way to the BR-346 highway.

By 2003, an estimated 67,764 square kilometres of rainforest had been cleared.

For question two, why are satellite images useful in tracking and preventing deforestation? A answer would be, satellite imagery can be used to identify how much deforestation has happened and track any new changes.

Images can be used as evidence for forest rangers.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of how forests around the world have changed.

We have just found out an awful lot about how forests around the world have changed, and in particular, how tropical rainforests are being deforested at an alarming rate.

We are now going to look at why these forests are important to local people.

We know that the Amazon rainforest is extremely important to us all on earth, no matter where we live.

It is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet and provides a habitat for millions of plant and animal species.

The Amazon rainforest helps to regulate the climate.

It stores huge amounts of carbon.

This helps to reduce the greenhouse effect, which leads to global warming and many important medicines are made from plants in tropical rainforests.

Let's check your understanding.

Can you remember some of the reasons why the Amazon rainforest is globally important? Pause the video and see if you can recall any of these reasons now.

Let's take a look at the answers together.

Did you say, it is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet and provides a habitat for millions of plant and animal species? It stores huge amounts of carbon.

This helps to reduce the greenhouse effect, which leads to global warming.

The Amazon rainforests helps to regulate the climate and many important medicines are made from plants in tropical rainforests.

Well done if you remembered all four reasons, but what about at a local level? What about the people who live locally? The Amazon rainforest is also home to around 47 million people.

2 million of this population are indigenous peoples who have lived in and with the rainforest for thousands of years.

Indigenous people have a lot of important knowledge about the rainforest.

They live in a sustainable way with the forest.

This means that they do not use up all of the rainforests resources today and leave none for tomorrow.

They are not responsible for the huge scale of deforestation that we have seen.

One of these indigenous groups is the Awa.

You might have already learned something about these indigenous people in a previous geography unit.

The our people live in an eastern region of the Amazon rainforest.

About 350 Awa are known to be living in the Amazon today, but it's thought 100 more have had no contact with the outside world, meaning they're some of the last uncontacted people on the planet.

The Awa rely on the Amazon rainforest for food, shelter, resources, and medicine.

The hour know their forests like you know the layout of your home.

Everything the Awa need comes from the rainforests.

Their shelters, called Tapai, are made from tree branches and palm leaves.

The our sleep in hammocks made of tree fibres.

The Awa people are hunter gatherers.

They live in such remote parts of the Amazon that they do not get their food from shops.

They gather it or hunt it themselves.

They fish, pick fruit, and collect honey in the rainforest.

They hunt with two metre long bows and arrows made from the wood of the trees.

Without the rainforest, the Awa would not have food to eat.

Let's check your understanding.

The Awa people are hunter gatherers.

What does this mean? Pause the video and answer now.

Did you remember that hunter gatherers collect their own food? They do not buy it.

The Awa fish, pick fruit, collect honey and hunt animals with bows and arrows.

Because there aren't many of the Awa people, this is a sustainable way of living in the rainforest.

The Awa people also burn tree resin, which is sap, to provide them with light and use rainforest plants to make medicines.

The Awa depend on the forest for their survival.

The Amazon rainforest is significant to the Awa people because it provides them with shelter, food, resources and medicines.

Sadly, the forest in which the Awa live is being illegally cut for timber by outsiders, and as the dense rainforest that used to cover vast areas disappears, these hunter gatherers are vanishing with them.

Deforestation has a negative impact on the Awa people and their way of life.

As one of the Awa people called Blade said, "if you destroy the forest, you destroy us too." Indigenous communities are helping to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Both maps that you can see here are exactly the same and show areas where the Amazon rainforest has not been cut down or cleared as dark green.

We call this being intact.

The map on the right shows indigenous managed territories in the Amazon River basin, which includes portions of Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Research shows that these groups are defenders against deforestation, protecting some of the most carbon rich parts of the Amazon.

What do you notice about these two maps? Did you spot on the maps that the brown areas matched up with the dark green areas? So indigenous lands have had less deforestation.

Places with the most intact rainforest are the same areas as land owned by indigenous people.

Indigenous communities are unsung heroes of conservation.

Despite living in remote parts of the forest, some indigenous peoples are using technology to prevent deforestation of their lands.

Using satellite based data, they get notifications of deforestation in a nearby forest.

They investigate the cause, document evidence using the Forest Watcher mobile app and drones, and then present their findings to community-wide assemblies to talk about which actions to take next.

A 2021 analysis found that after 36 indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon used these satellite based alerts, deforestation rates declined by 52% in one year.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false, most deforestation in the Amazon is happening on indigenous people's land.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is false, well done.

Now it's time to justify your answer.

A, indigenous people prevent deforestation because they need the Amazon to survive, or B, indigenous people are in charge of the whole of the Amazon rainforest.

Pause the video and select the correct justification.

The answer is A, well done.

Indigenous people prevent deforestation because they need the Amazon to survive.

They have a reason to want to protect it.

For your final task today and to help us answer the question of why trees are important locally, can you complete the following diagram? Why is the Amazon rainforest important to the Awa people? Try to give examples of what they use it for and group each reason into one of the four circles.

If you think of any extra reasons, you can draw some extra arrows and circles.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back and well done for completing the task.

Did your answers contain any of the following? So for why is the Amazon rainforest important to the Awa people? First, we have shelter.

Awa shelters, called Tapai, are made from tree branches and palm leaves.

Then we have resources.

They use tree resin for light, wood for bows and arrows and tree fibres to make hammocks.

Then we have food.

The Awa fish, pick fruit, collect honey and hunt animals in the rainforest.

And finally we have medicine.

The Awa use rainforest plants to make medicines.

Well done for demonstrating your understanding of why forests are important to local people, by exploring how the Amazon rainforest is important for the Awa people.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's review our learning today.

We have learned that maps can give us information about the location and extent of forests globally.

We found out that some parts of the world, such as the Amazon, are experiencing deforestation.

We saw how satellite imagery can be used to identify how much deforestation has happened, and we know how deforestation impacts on local and global communities in many different ways.

We have now looked in detail at why trees are important locally and globally and at the recent changes in woodland areas across the world and near us.

That is a lot of information about trees and forests.

Well done, geographers.

See you next time for the last lesson in our unit.