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How to conserve endangered species from extinction
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The ecosystems around the world are vital aspects of our everyday lives. Without the many resources and materials we harvest or use, life as we know it would be drastically different. In modern society, money is prioritized over essential benefits from nature. Due to this unfortunate truth, the stability of the environment has decreased on a global scale. Several of these issues include pollution, destruction of habitats, and causing species to go extinct due to events such as overfishing. Another human-caused problem is deforestation, particularly in the Amazon Rainforest.
The Amazon Rainforest has been affected immensely by deforestation. Many of its trees are cut down for human use daily, greatly reducing habitats for native animals to
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These areas are incredibly important to humans because of the wildlife. Many species of fish and other animals that are largely used in commercial fishing use estuaries as grounds to breed. Estuaries also remove toxins from the water, making them all the more important. However, as with the Amazon Rainforest, human activity is putting these important habitats at risk of destruction. Estuaries have been overexploited and polluted by humans, decreasing biodiversity and causing them to degrade. The effects are so bad, that humans have suffered from this as well. Several fisheries have been shut down, damaging the economy. Natural disasters have also impacted estuaries, Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami that from Asia in 2004 caused the loss of many mangrove trees, that are vital to wetland …show more content…
It has been estimated that nearly half of the total areas of wetlands on Earth have been lost. The remaining wetlands still play important roles in their ecosystems and to the benefit of humans. The wetlands that remain occupy about 9% of Earth’s surface (land), but that 9% contribute largely to the planet, despite how small they seem to be. They support large amounts of biodiversity, improve and maintain water quality, and help prevent floods, meaning that if they are lost, things can go back fast.
Global warming is especially bad for wetlands, especially those near the coast. Coastal wetlands are at risk because global warming is increasing the sea level, which eliminates the wetlands along the edge of the ocean. The rise of human populations is also a major threat, the more people that there are, the more homes that have to be built. Wetlands are being cut down to make room for houses. The rate of people living on the coast has doubled, eliminating wetlands at a rate of 1% per year. It is estimated that global sea-levels will rise by 20 centimeters by 2080. A 1-meter rise in sea level would destroy 46% of the remaining wetlands along the coast. Agriculture is also a major factor in wetland loss. Wetlands have been drained to make room for farmers to create fields to plant crops. It has been estimated that 26% of wetlands have been drained extensively for agricultural use. Globally, 56%-65% has been drained in Europe and North
Louisiana contains approximately 40% of the coastal wetlands of the lower forty-eight states. Louisiana has lost up to forty square miles of marsh per year for several decades (accounting for 80% of the nation’s annual coastal wetland loss) (lacoast.gov). From a hydrologic standpoint, the wetlands replenish aquifers, hold excess floodwaters from intense rainfalls, and provide storm surge protection.
The Amazon Rain Forest Is in Danger of Being Destroyed" by Devadas Vittal. Rain Forests. HaiSong Harvey, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002. Reprinted from Devadas Vittal, Introduction: What Is the Amazon Rainforest? Internet: http://www.homepages.go.com/homepages/d/v/i/dvittal/amazon/intro.html, November 1999, by permission of the author. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010021212&mode=view
In the 18th and 19th centuries, drainage of the wetlands was an idea. From then on, human activities like agriculture and building have been the center of elimination for these wetlands. Pollution has also been a factor in this, along with natural
...n, the Louisiana wetlands are an extremely valuable asset to the State of Louisiana and the United States. The continual loss of Louisiana wetlands has the potential to have an immensely negative effect on the economy at a state and national level. Over 2 million people live in the Louisiana coastal parishes (Field et al., 1991). The majority of people living on the Louisiana coast make their living from things that are directly related to the wetlands. The Louisiana wetlands make up the largest wetland community in America and is being lost at a rate greater than the other wetland communities in the country. The suggested strategies that are being taken into consideration could be helpful but it seems that the State of Louisiana is not as concerned as it should be given the future consequences and much like climate change coastal erosion is not being taken serious.
This paper introduces the environmental concerns of the loss of coastal wetlands. The paper will discuss the significance of wetlands and the devastation that is occurring because of human activity. Wetlands are an essential element of our environment both ecological and societal; conservation will be essential for the preservation of these precious ecosystems.
Wetland soil is an important carbon sink; 14.5% of the world’s soil carbon is found in wetlands, while only 6% of the world’s land is composed of wetlands. Hence if the number of wetlands is increased or the area or existing wetlands is increased the amount of carbon sequestration can be
Between 300 and 400 million people worldwide live in areas near wetlands and depend on them. Wetlands are mechanisms for treatment of wastewater are extremely efficient because they absorb chemicals and filter pollutants and sediments. Half the world's wetlands have disappeared due to urbanization and industrial development. The only way to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction will be through better management of rivers and wetlands, and the land they drain and drain as well as through increased investment in them.
The Amazon Rain Forest crosses several national boundaries in South America, although the majority of it is located in Brazil. It covers over 3,562,000 acres, making it the largest in the world. But globally, over 138,600 acres of rain forest are lost each year to deforestation, 50,000 of those in Brazil alone (Holdsforth), and the world's rain forests are quickly disappearing. Deforestation in the Amazon occurs primarily for three reasons: clear-cutting, fragmentation, and edge effects.
Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be feral, increase of greenhouse gas emissions which may lead to global warming and consecutive catastrophes, destruction of home for indigenous residents which is considered as violation of human rights. Some people can argue with these drawbacks telling that deforestation have more valuable benefits such as growth of economics, production of food and providing better opportunities for life for poor families. However, these benefits are quite temporary and government of that countries and world organisations tries to halt deforestation proposing several solutions. Deforestation problem is especially acute in the Brazilian Amazon, where its rate is much high comparing with other regions. This paper will describe world-wide rainforests, causes and effects of deforestation, and evaluate possible solutions of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. In its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year.
Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems. Wetlands include marshes, estuaries, bogs, fens, swamps, deltas, shallow seas, and floodplains. Wetland habitats support a vast range of plant and animal life, and serve a variety of important functions, which include water regime regulation, flood control, erosion control, nursery areas for fishes, fish production, recreation, plant production, aesthetic enjoyment, and wildlife habitat. Wetlands account for about 6% of the global land area and are among the most valuable environmental resources.
Wetlands are slowly decreasing size across America and few people understand what a wetland does for the community. “Wetlands can be found on all of the continents, except Antarctica”(Terry 2) Wetlands can be found all over which means the decrease of them could mean drastic changes in a city or community. Betsy Yankowiak, Director of Preserves and Programs for Little River Wetlands Project says, “Wetlands are important for three main reasons: flood retention, water cleansing, and biodiversity. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates one acre of wetlands can hold up to 1.5 million gallons of flood water. … The process of infiltration allows pollutants to be removed from the water molecule. Also, over 1/3 of all species on the federally endangered species list depend on wetland habitats for survival.” When rain continues to fall in a community a wetlands job is to contain the water and absorb it. Without this important role of the wetland, towns would be flooded and homes and ecosystems would become destroyed. “The wetland plants purify the water by providing a natural filtration system traps harmful sediments and pollutants” (Terry 13). Not only does the wetland contain the water it also filters it, so polluted water does not go back into the community. “In addition to a number of plant species, a variety ...
Halting deforestation and wetland drainage, reforesting upstream areas and restoring damaged wetlands could significantly reduce the impact of climate change on flooding, according to the conservation charity.” Wetlands will help slow down, if not stop floods, as the ground will soak up most of the
mplication because as sea levels being to rise, sections of land which were not exposed to the sea are now in direct contact and begin to undergo the process of beach erosion. The tides become more powerful and more and more sediment is washed out to sea. Global warming has also been connected to the development of more irregular weather patterns such as stronger hurricanes and greater instances of flooding. These two extreme weather conditions heavily affect coastal environments due to the fact that they are right at sea level.
Wetlands serve many purposes and are considered one of the most productive natural systems in the world. They serve as crucial "pit-stops" for migratory bird, house several species of plants and animals, cleanse and purify water, as well as providing utilitarian needs such as flood control (Allen, p.13). If fifteen percent of the wetlands destroyed in Ohio and Iowa would have been saved (over the history of wetland destruction), then two-thirds of the destructive flooding that happened throughout 1993 in the Midwest could have been prevented saving the U.S. a great deal of money. Maintaining the protection and restoration of the nation’s wetl...