Download Instructions (MSWord)
Suitable for: Key Stage 2 – 3 and above
Learning Objectives:
- To explore different points of view about the use of rainforests;
- To develop empathy with others even if they do not agree with them;
- To learn to listen to others’ opinions and points of view;
- To be able to present a point of view clearly;
- To be able to respond to a variety of points of view in a non-conflict manner
ESD&GC concepts: Conflict resolution,
Sustainable Change, Citizenship and Stewardship, Diversity,
Uncertainty and Precaution, Values and Perceptions.
Read the statements made by different people about Amazonia and ask the students to match the statements to the people listed below. You need to have a list of them clearly visible.
When you have done this divide the class into eight
groups, each representing ONE of the people below and
ask them to prepare to present their case to the United
Nations. The lecturer chairs the meeting and invites
representatives from each group to present their point
of view. Follow this with a debate.
A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE YANAMAMO TRIBE
A BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
A SPOKESPERSON FOR A HAMBURGER CHAIN
A PEASANT F ARMER IN AMAZONIA
A JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN
AN ENVIRONMENTALIST
A BRITISH TIMBER MERCHANT
A RUBBER TAPPER
| We will put an end to poverty by developing Amazonia. We can sell the trees to the logging companies, let the big companies develop the land for their cattle and build huge dams to generate lots of electricity. In this way Brazil will become rich by using the resources of the rainforest and provide jobs and wealth for everyone in Brazil. |
We have lived in the rainforest of Amazonia for hundreds of years. We tap the native rubber trees for rubber and sell it. The forest is safe with us, we don't take more than the forest can give. The white men are coming here and chopping down the forest and if they carry on there will be no rubber trees to tap. We can't let them do it, we shall fight to save our way of life and the forest itself.
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We are building four dams in Amazonia. This will provide hydro-electricity to smelt bauxite to make aluminium. Japan needs this cheap source of energy and aluminium to keep her industry profitable. The environmentalists say "Don't touch the rainforest" but that's impossible, in a modem world you have to have raw materials and energy.
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The tropical rainforests contain more than half of all the world's plants and animals. Every day another animal or species of plant becomes extinct. We depend on them for our climate, our medicines, our foods, we must stop the destruction of the rainforests before it is too late.
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A lot of our trade these days is in hardwoods - most of which come from Amazonia. The demand for doors and windows these days is enormous; how can you stop this ever increasing demand? You can't. We have to meet the needs of our customers; fitted kitchens used to be luxuries for the rich, now everyone in Britain expects to have one. You've got to get the wood from somewhere.
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Nobody is listening to us, but now we will make them. They must understand that if they destroy the forest they will destroy themselves in the end. It is the forest people who are the true Brazilians, we know how to look after the forest. It is time the world realised that the white man is destroying the forest for greed, what will he tell his grandchildren when the land has turned to dust?
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I moved into the rainforest because my wife and children need a home, the children were always sick in the city. The government said we could keep any land we cleared to grow crops, it's a hard life but better than living in a shanty town with no job and no land to grow food on.
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The United States needs beef and pays good money for it. The land is offered to us cheap by the Brazilian government. People say the land turns to desert after the cattle have been on it a few years, I don't know about that, anyway, it's got nothing to do with me. If they want to cut down their forests and let me graze my cattle on them, that's up to them.
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