Deforestation.

          Over the past two decades soybean cultivation in the Amazon by large, commercial farmers has undergone a dramatic transformation. In just a few years, it grew to become one of the main causes of Amazon deforestation. Using cattle to produce food for humans requires large amounts of land to generate relatively small amounts of food. As ranchers clear forests for pasture land; cattle and their pasture land has been an important driver of deforestation in South America. The global market for wood and wood products creates pressure on tropical countries to destroy their forests and produce cheap timber and pulp (used to make paper).  Palm oil production has more than doubled in the last decade, now dominating the global market for vegetable oil. Most palm oil is produced on large industrial plantations, driving tropical deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. Slash and burn is a very big problem because it takes up a lot of land that people only use for a small amount of time, and then they stop using it, and then they move on to the next place.

            Based on this review of forest cover the UNDP Millennium Goals score card, reported that forest cover in Belize declined steadily over the period 1990 to 2005. It is estimated that if the trend continues unabated land covered by forest could decrease to about 56 percent or less. Estimating the amount of forest loss in countries that have historically experienced very low rates of deforestation, such as Belize is particularly important given the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism under development through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the post-Kyoto climate negotiations.

Figure 1: Pictured above is a scale to amount of types of deforestation around the world.

  

                                                                 Work Cited

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/stop-deforestation/drivers-of-deforestation.html#.VG5MdfnF-PI 

 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php 

 http://biological-diversity.info/deforestation.htm 

Figure source:
Figure 1:Figure 1: https://www.google.com/search

Food production in Belize.

        Intensive farming is a system of cultivation using large amounts of labor that is necessary for the application of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growing crops, and capital is particularly important to the acquisition and maintenance of high-efficiency machinery for planting, cultivating, and harvesting, as well as irrigation equipment where  required.

        Extensive farming is a system of crop cultivation using small amounts of labor and capital in relation to area of land being farmed. The crop yield in extensive agriculture depends primarily on the natural fertility of the soil, terrain, climate, and the availability of water.

        Like a lot of things, in this day and age food production is very different then it was just one hundred years ago. Belize still seems to be doing the same thing that they have been doing for thousands of year; though the focus has changed because of the exportation out to different countries and the wide and varying variety of goods throughout the world. 

        Refined sugar is the main export of Belize although they also export citrus (mainly orange and grapefruit) and banana plantations have traditionally dominated export production in Belize.

 Belize remains one of the least densely populated countries in the Americas, so there is a lot more room for agricultural farming on top of farming being the number one job in Belize exchange earnings, and sellers of foods and goods is one of the best ways to earn money in the county as it takes up almost a third of the total labor force.  If it was not for the farmers, Belize's economy would be almost nothing of what it is today. 

Figure 1: Pictured above is a truck transporting grapefruits

from a factory in Belize.

                                                                       Work Cited:

http://www.new-ag.info/en/country/profile.php?a=847

http://www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk/intensive&extensive.htm

Figure source:

Figure 1: https://www.google.com/search

The Green Revolution and Belize

The Green Revolution was highly productive agricultural techniques developed since the 1960s that entail that the use of new hybrid plant varieties combined with larger applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The term is generally applied to agricultural changes in developing countries, particularly India. The Green Revolution had its positive and negative effects on  the countries that were introduced to it. Some of the positive were, it helped agricultural growth keep up with population growth, and it helped developing countries to become more self sufficient. Although the Green Revolution had its positive effects, it also had it negatives; such as serious environmental problems that resulted from the chemical dependency of the new crop strains, and social problems, such as only the more prosperous farmers were able to afford the new seed strains, irrigation equipment, farm machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides. Many of these harmful pesticides that are used are not only harmful to the environment, but are also harmful to the human body as well. The Green Revolution has fed many of the South Asian population more many decades, but it still remains unclear on if it will be able to continue to do so.

         Belize, however, did not participate in the Green Revolution. It is believed that one of the main reasons that Belize did not participate in the Green Revolution was because they produce cacao (or chocolate beans), and to produce cacao they must grow it organically and with an agro-forestry-based-system. If they were to participate in the Green Revolution then they would be harming the environment, and potentially harming the cacao industry.

Figure 1: Pictured above is some of the different types of Cacao beans in Belize.

Figure 2: Pictured above are two Indian boys who are using harmful pesticides because of the Green Revolution.

Works Cited:

Rowntree, Les, Martin Lewis, Marie Price, and William Wyckoff. Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. Fourth ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print

Figure Sources:

Figure 1: https://www.google.com/search

Figure 2: https://www.google.com/search