The Impact of Food Demand Upon Areas of Outstanding Beauty Presentation

We are losing valuable resources and beautiful places due to increased food demand forcing conversion of the land.

Loss of Uncommonly Beautiful Places to Higher Demand for Food is not Just Conversion of Land to Agriculture.

Demand for food was intimately connected with so many other factors, that it was not possible to consider the impact of this demand upon places of outstanding beauty in isolation.

Loss of Uncommonly Beautiful Places to Higher Demand for Food is not Just Conversion of Land to Agriculture
Support for Food Production
Bio-fuels.
Power Production.
Roads.
All of these support the production, distribution and transportation of food.
Support for Food Production
One excellent example is the Three Gorges Dam in China. Another is the Amazon.

Both of these appear to be based upon other demands:
power and bio-fuel,
but they are both ultimately caused by the demand for food.
The Ecosystem is interconnected web of natural forces and resources
World economies are intertwined : a jerk in the smallest area produces reactions everywhere.
The problem of saving our places of outstanding beauty from destruction due to the demand for food is interconnected to the demands for everything else.
Two things without which no animal, including man, can live are food and water, and food depends upon water also.
One excellent example is the Three Gorges Dam in China. Another is the Amazon.
The Three Gorges region of China
The Three Gorges Region is being flooded by the Three Gorges Dam Project.
The massive project sets records for number of people displaced (at least 1.3 million), number of cities and towns flooded (13 cities, 140 towns, 1,350 villages), and length of reservoir (more than 600 kilometers).
This project is in support of more food, since providing more power to China supports greenhouses, large agribusiness and supplies power for transport, processing and storage. The data on the enormity of the problem in China supports this conclusion.
These 1.3 million displaced will have to be fed also.
Mostly for Power in Support of Food Production and Transport.

The Three Gorges region of ChinaMostly for Power in Support of Food Production and Transport.
through one of the Three Gorges BEFORE the water rises
Small boat trip through one of the Three Gorges BEFORE the water rises.
Much of this village will be gone, though the temples will remain
Much of this village will be gone, though the temples will remain.
This is what is left of many villages and towns after government mandated destruction
This is what is left of many villages and towns after government mandated destruction.
This part of the Gorges will be gone.
This part of the Gorges will be gone.
This will be Underwater
This will be Underwater.
Some of this will remain, but it will not be so immense and awesome.
Some of this will remain, but it will not be so immense and awesome.
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Basin, home to sixty percent of the planets remaining tropical rainforests, is an immense region nearly the size of the continental United States.
It is also known that it acts like lungs for the planet.
In addition to the proposed dam projects and those already running, much of the rainforest has been cut down for farming.
Amazon Rainforest
Poor Farmers and Corporations are Destroying This
The beauty of the Amazon Basin and the river and rainforest it supports will be lost forever.
Only 8% of the original is left.
subsistence farming,
companies are illegally using land to
and soybeans, which also .
Poor Farmers and Corporations are Destroying This
Brazilian Government Trying to Stem the Tide
fined 24 ethanol producers 75 million US dollars for a legally clearing forests they wanted for sugarcane plantations.
The companies will be forced to restore the forest to its original state, or as close as can be done.
The government recently signed with foreign governments to export sustainably produced ethanol.
taking action against loggers, ranchers, farmers and charcoal producers who violate environmental laws.
3000 head of cattle were found illegally grazing on deforested land. The cattle were confiscated and sold to feed the poor.
Brazilian Government Trying to Stem the Tide
This falls is already dammed!
This falls is already dammed!
Slash and burn, now abandoned and flooded.
Slash and burn, now abandoned and flooded.
This is what is left of cleared rainforest land in Madagascar: now pretty ugly and totally useless as erosion takes all the topsoil and levels the hills.
This is what is left of cleared rainforest land in Madagascar: now pretty ugly and totally useless as erosion takes all the topsoil and levels the hills.
Other Places
Other places in danger include:
The Everglades and Okiefinochie Swamp in the southern USA,
the wilderness areas of Central and South America,
the Mangrove forests of Kenya,
some of the coastal areas of North and South America,
the remainder of the Black Forest,
the interior portion of Wales in the foothills,
the rainforests of Thailand, Malaysia and Burma.
Zugma, Turkey on the Euphrates River which will be flooded, in spite of the priceless mosaics recently discovered.
Other Places
The Impact of Rural Tourism
Integrated Rural Tourism is defined as:

Place based.
Centrally themed or focused.
Combines natural ecosystems and human communities.
Is small scale, integrating easily into the economic fabric of the community.
Directly links small-scale agriculture.
Elders in the community provide the background.
Education of both the visitor and the host is a cornerstone of the experience.
Partnerships are formed within the community between parties interested in providing a tourism experience.
Public, private, NGO partnerships are developed to provide support, encouragement, and training for the program participants.
The Impact of Rural Tourism

Great authentic experience for visitors.
Preserves environment and cultures.
Provides money for hosts preventing more cash crop farming.
Sustainable Tourism