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Issues of deforestation in amazon rainforests
The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
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Deforestation is an act of destruction and removal of the large area of the forest. There are several reasons to why deforestation occur. Mining, logging, urbanization, logging, agricultural clearing and various other natural disasters are mostly the factors behind such change. While deforestation occurs worldwide, it has been a critical issue for the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest can be found in 9 different countries but the majority of it (around 60%) is located in Brazil. The rest of the rainforest can be found in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. As it spreads into several counties and a vast land, it can be difficult keep track of deforestation at times. Due to deforestation, several species of plants and animals are almost in verge of extinct. The longtime effect of deforestation is irreversible and devastating and in terms of Amazon rainforest, experts have measured the destruction rate at more than 360 square miles in just one month.
In recent decades, the pace of change has accelerated due to an increase in human population has negatively impacted the rainforest. The
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In Brazil, more than 60 % of cleared land ends up as pasture, which has low productivity and does not support more than one head per hectare. Industrial agricultural production plays another big role in the acts of deforestation. In Brazil, Soy farm has been an important driver of deforestation since the early 1990s. Starting from 2006, the Brazil soy industry has had a moratorium on new forest clearing for soy. The moratorium was a result of a Greenpeace campaign which halted the production of soy for forest preservation. Mining, subsistence agriculture, dams, urban expansion, agricultural fires, and timber plantations also result in significant forest loss in the Amazon along with the reasons
The introduction of cattle ranching industries in the 1960s set the forefront for current Brazilian rainforest deforestation figures. During this time, development subsidy programs encouraged Brazilians to clear rainforest for pastureland and invest in new cattle ranches (Pancheco). Over the last 40 years, Brazil has destroyed 700,00 square kilometers of rainforest, an area about the size of Texas (BBC) (Enchanted Lear...
The main reason deforestation happens, is because of farming. They need to clear out land in order to plant crops and vegetables. Another loss from deforestation is that many animals lose their habitat. The loss of animals habitats will lead to migration, or possibly even extinction. And when this happens this will ruin the food chains which will affect even more animals.
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.
Deforestation is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .
The Human Impact on Rainforests Human Impact on Rainforest is it a necessity? Rainforest are the beautiful gift of Mother Nature. It consists of the most magnificent species and plants in the world. 4.2% of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. This statistic it self shows how bad it would be to destroy such essential part of the worlds biodiversity.
Countries such as Brazil and Indonesia have been greatly affected by deforestation with well over two million hectares of naturally forested land now rendered barren (See appendix 1).
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.
who are the amazonians, what do they do, where do they live? the native amazonians also knowns as indigenous people, they live in a beautiful rain forest called the amazon rain forest. The rainforest is known for being the biggest at 2.124 million miles, and rubber trees, hardwood form trees, and for Native Amazonians. The amazonians live in the rain forest. they have lived there for over 12,000 years. they hunt and grow crops in the rainforest. There are 400 indigenous tribes in the Amazon rain forest, only about 50 tribes have had no contact with the outside world. the tribe villages are usually around some type of body of water. a majority of amazonians live in the cities and towns. there are different roles to do in the village. the women cook, household chores, taking care of the
Deforestation is the action of clearing or cutting down trees in order to create space. However, we know deforestation more as the commercial business of cutting down or damaging ecosystems in order for commercial benefit. Throughout the world, the Amazon is the largest ecosystem affected by deforestation every year. The controversy is whether the financial gain from deforestation is worth the horrible effects it creates. (Driscoll and Flynn 1).
But in the bigger picture, with a disfigured food chain, humans will be effected due to their high standing within the food chain, thus making the results of climate change a significant issue. An environment that concerns the problems of extinction, a decaying atmosphere, and the destruction of the Earth’s homeostasis, is the rainforest. While for a section of time, efforts of activist groups and governments greatly and positively impacted the rainforests, the undertaking of saving the rainforest slowed down to a complete stop, and destruction continues instead. The rainforests
Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has many effects on both people and the environment. Animal and plant habitats are destroyed, increasing the risk of extinction of endangered species. The biodiversity in these forests therefore decreases. Potential medicines are also destroyed as many rare varieties of plants exist in the rainforest.
Deforestation is the amputation of trees from forest areas more swiftly than they can be replanted or regenerate naturally. The fact that trees play an incredibly momentous part in stabilising climate, atmospheric composition and soil structure, removing trees rapidly becomes a major problem. There are numerous reasons behind the felling of trees by mankind. The Amazon basin is a prime example of humans exploiting rainforests. Within this tropical rainforest lie a vast variety of tree species, with many uses, giving humans even more reason to exploit this area.
With deforestation at such a large scale, as it is in the Amazon, it is bound to have harsh and negative effects. When deforestation occurs, the dead or burnt trees release gases into the air. Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation are called greenhouse gases. If greenhouse gases are in large enough quantity, they can force climate change. When trees die, have fallen, or are burned down, they release the carbon that has been stored in them.
People have been deforesting the Earth for thousands of years, primarily to clear land for crops or livestock. Although tropical forests are largely confined to developing countries, they aren’t just meeting local or national needs; economic globalization means that the needs and wants of the global population are bearing down on them as well. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization. Rarely is there a single direct cause for deforestation. Most often, multiple processes work simultaneously or sequentially to cause deforestation.
Deforestation is the elimination of existing trees from the earth; attributable factors include urbanization, logging, ranching, and farming and to some extent land speculation. Land speculation can be included as cleared land is more valuable than forested land. Deforestation, done in the name of progress, and the long-term, devastating effects of it, is killing our planet.