Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest is occurring most rapidly along a curve that hugs the southeastern edge of the forest that scientists and resource managers have come to call the “Arc of Deforestation.” The land is cleared for cattle ranching, small-scale subsistence farming, logging, and, increasingly, soybean production for world markets.
Satellite maps of deforestation over the years have revealed that this deforestation often follows a herringbone pattern, in which a new road appears as a thin line of cleared terrain, followed by the appearance of parallel clearings on either side of the road. Over several years, the clearings will expand from the road outward into the forest. Scientists now use the appearance of new roads to predict areas of the Amazon that are likely to be cleared in the near future.
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