Halting the destruction of the rainforests has been identified by the World Wildlife Organisation as one of the most urgent and yet cost effective ways to keep the world out of danger from runaway climate change. They also report forest loss contributes to over 20 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. It is the trees that absorb greenhouse gases and carbon emissions, therefore at the very least the more we protect the rainforests the less contribution to global warming. xxxxx has stated "Despite conservation efforts, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate - 13 million hectares a year, or 36 football fields a minute" (xxxxxxxx) Protecting these forests from further destruction and finding solutions is critical . Not everyone agrees about the main causes, some evidence suggests it is the private landholders who hold significant sway while others believe it is purely market forces that are the main concern. This essay therefore aims to cover this issue by first evaluating causes and follows with a look at proposed solutions. Finally the conclusions are drawn from the evidence to offer a practical direction to maximise forest preservation.
It might be the private sector that are the main agents in the progression of deforestation and decline reflected in the discrepancy that exisits between their immediate objectives and protection of the global rainforests. According to (XXXX) private agents, ranging from the small individuals to large companies, are looking to turn a quick profit in the short term, thus ignoring societies’ long term view of the value ofpreserving rainforests. Clearly, these agents activities such as logging, crop cultivation and cattle farming have a market valu...
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...unbiased global reports. It has been shown that compensating the landowners, and protecting forests by legislation has solid results
"The sudies show that assumptions tying the results of resource management to one or few "causes" are simplistic, and that in reality there is a host of interacting factors influencing the decisions of people who have an impact on forests." (text 4.2 bottom page
Global education, especially in the developed nations, about the rainforests and carbon sequestration and their underlying importance to global climate change so that society can also be responsible about the choices they make as consumers. In this pro-active approach more people will be involved on all levels in the preservation of rainforests, supporting initiatives, by charities and governments to have developing people rise out of poverty in a fair and sustainable way.
America’s federal forest management dates back to the mid 1870’s when Congress decided to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture to maintain the forestry. This environmental department represented the growth in America’s industry and the depletion of forests. Yet, as it was defeating the initial purpose, more natural resources were being lost from their area and the government had not acknowledged the damage. The conservationist Gifford Pinchot, created an impact on society by taking a stand to conserve the natural resources by leading the United States Forest service, embracing scientific forest, and contributed to Roosevelt’s decision to protect wildlife, thus paving the way for natural conservation in the future.
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
Each year, 55,000 acres of Northwest forest land succumb to chainsaws to feed the ever-increasing foreign and domestic demands for lumber (Time 21). To profitably satisfy these demands, old-growth trees, those of two hundred years or more, are sought by Northwest logging companies. At this rate, environmentalists believe the unique ecosystem created by old-growth forests is in danger of being destroyed. To protect the old-growth forests and the plants and animals found there, a reduction must be made in the amount of old-growth trees logged each year. Yet reducing the amount of logging in the Pacific Northwest decreases the current number of jobs involved in harvesting the forests and the revenue received by both the companies and the government for their processed logs. To fully understand the current conflict over the old-growth forests, we must look at what each side stands to lose and then suggest a possible balanced sol...
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
Thesis: Politicians are proposing sweeping changes in bills, which have caused great controversy, in efforts to correct the problems that the Forest Service has
Deforestation is a widely used term, but one with different meanings. Disturbance deforestation refers to all man made disturbances that alter a forest, these are the most common. This argumentative essay discusses the positive and negative aspects of deforestation. In the first part of the essay the pro arguments of deforestation will be discussed. For example, the issue of Global population and how forests are being used, land use and the ways forests contribute, wood use, forest growth, destruction and the reasons for cutting down the trees. The second half of the essay will cover the issues that are harmful to the environment because of deforestation. Many environmental issues take place everyday; a big question that arises, is if the global economy will ever finds middle on the issue of forest thinning. If deforestation was used only in the most crucial of times, the world might become a better place.
Restate thesis: In reality forests are better left alone, forests provide the earth with a regulated climate, strong biodiversity, and good nutrient rich soil for plants to strive on.
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.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
The social and moral implications of diminishing rainforest biodiversity are great. From a human welfare perspective, the livelihoods of tens of millions of indigenous peoples depend on the forests, but thousands are being pushed out of their homes because they lack the shelter and support that the forest once gave them (Salim 3). These groups have "developed knowledge and cultures in accordance with their environment through thousands of years, and even physically they are adapted to the life in the forest" (Nyborg). For many of the people living in these areas, the forest is the only resource they have providing them with food, shelter and cultural ties. With the invasion and destruction of their homeland, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
When most people think of deforestation they think of the rainforest. However, this is an environmental issue that takes place all over the world. In the following pages I will expand on what exactly deforestation means, and why as a world we have a need for it, even though it has adverse effects globally. Deforestation affects our environment by reducing biodiversity, changing the water cycle, affecting soil erosion and also plays a part in the ongoing phenomenon of global warming. Since, this is a global matter, the United Nations has implemented policies to help reduce the damage done by deforestation. The UNREED policy is globally based, while the REED+ policy is nationally based. I will also explain the importance of these policies and what they mean.
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.
middle of paper ... ... resources, and improved understanding of environmental implications of harvesting and trade of forest products. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is another important and effective step towards the rectification of Deforestation. Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) play an important, but in some cases, inappropriate role in rectifying the problem. NGO’s like Green Peace and the World Wildlife Fund are two such NGO’s.
since the beginning of time. Man has been destroying trees for the use of wood for