Virgin rainforest targeted for oil & gas drilling - The New Scientist - i.e. Land Use changes for

[JohnWxy]

Land use changes for Oil and Natural Gas exploration:

Amazonian rainforests covering an area almost as large as Texas provisionally marked for oil and gas
exploration - The New Scientist

Unspoilt Amazonian rainforests covering an area almost as large as Texas have been provisionally earmarked for oil and gas exploration.

A new report reveals that the area has been divided into 180 "blocks" designated for exploration by governments of countries that own the land on the western fringe of the Amazon. Their intention is to lease the blocks to oil and gas companies for exploration and extraction, taking a cut of any revenues as a royalty. About 35 oil companies are vying for the contracts.

However, most of the blocks overlap with huge areas of rainforest that would become vulnerable to illegal hunting and logging once breached by roads to service exploration activities. (see diagram, right, for details)

Exotic species

The threatened forests in the west Amazon are still pristine in comparison with the highly-exploited eastern Amazonian forests of Brazil.(all emphases are my own_JW)

Indeed, when talking about land use changes one cannot assume the base-line is ZERO CHANGES.