Tragedy of Deforestation in Columbia

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Deforestation should be banned

Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested land, for uses such as: pasture, urban use, logging purposes, and can result in arid land and wastelands. The removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in an altered environment with reduced biodiversity. In many countries, deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.

Deforestation of Colombia is a dangerous act to the environmen. Colombia’s forests are the home of 55,000 plant species and 358 mammal species, 15 percent of the world’s primates. Currently, 1,000 plants species and 24 mammals’ species are threatened with extinction largely because of mass deforestation.

Each year, a total of 1.5 to 2.2 million acres is lost to deforestation. At this rate, Colombia’s woodlands will be depleted in 40 years. Already one-third of this country’s original forest lands have felled. Colombia’s Pacific region consists of lush rainforests and contains most of the country’s natural resources. Under Colombia’s ambitious plans to develop their economy, the area has become targeted for the extraction and exportation of natural resources on the last ten years. The scheme is known as Plan Pacifica. Under the plan, one hundred and sixty thousand hectares are destroyed each year for wood and paper or to make way for agro-industrial production of African palm. There has been a considerable drop in mangrove coverage with the installation of commercial shrimp farms, and massive sedimentation and mercury contamination in rivers has been caused by deforestation and uncontrolled mining.

The forests are also inhabited by Colombia’s ingenious and much of its black population who secure their live hoods through sustainable means. They started to erode the social and economic structures of these communities.

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