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The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
The Impact of Deforestation on the Environment
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Deforestation has been a problem in Latin America since the early 1900s and the dilemma is continuing to become more severe. Deforestation does not only have consequences on the environment, but also, the indigenous people and the economy. The logging industry in Latin America is often executed by multi-national companies that are not properly regulated. The land that has been home and cultivated indigenous development for centuries is being dissipated rapidly. Due to exponentially growing global population, there is an increased demand for low priced goods-- like timber, crops, and meat. Many Latin American countries choose to get revenue for selling goods over the health of their local ecosystems. The crisis of deforestation and habitat …show more content…
loss is shifting from a local to global problem as Latin America accounts for 53% of admitted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As deforestation continues, global warming escalates worldwide impacting every country and person. Two territories that have been greatly impacted by deforestation are Puerto Rico and Brazil.
However, they have both advanced and responded to deforestation differently. Less than one hundred years ago Puerto Rico’s economy was mainly based on agriculture and led the region being only being 9% of forested. Not until the postwar efforts to promote industrialization and the shift to industry, was there a decrease in farmland. Within forty years, agriculture shrunk to five percent of the GNP. With new industrial jobs, there was an increase in movement into the cities, leaving a lot of agricultural land to be reforested. Other countries are following Puerto Rico’s pattern of change—shifting their land use following an economic adjustment. On the other hand, Brazil is continuing to have rapid deforestation. Although, there are times when the rates have dropped, they usually pick up again, for example there was an all time low in 2012 however the rate increased again by 29% by 2016. This is due to the weakening of environmental policies in Brazil. In order to see progress, Latin American governments must be willing to shift industries and stiffen policies and laws. In order to see success in conserving and managing forests, government regulations must be transparent, participatory and accountable so that corporations cannot find ways around them. Deforestation is not only a problem for local governments and people, but it is becoming a worldwide issue. Puerto Rico and Brazil …show more content…
contrast because one territory had an economic and environmental shift making it a model for other tropical countries, while the is still very much committed to agriculture over reforesting. The article discusses deforestation of the Amazon region and its connection to Brazil's cattle industry and the carbon emissions associated with consuming processed beef from Brazil. Statistics are reported on the amount of beef that Great Britain imports from Brazil. Currently, “Brazil's cattle sector has become the largest driver for deforestation globally, overtaking palm oil plantations in Asia. With the UK sourcing 40 per cent of its processed beef from Brazil” The article also explains how Brazil is planning to double its beef exports by 2018, but not increase deforestation, which is hard to believe. Although, Pala states that the amount of forest cut down each year has fallen to its lowest level due to a combination of factors ranging from government policies to campaigns by environmentalists, it is very unlikely that deforestation rates will slow. Pala explains the cattle industry in Brazil through their trade with Europe and the environmental impacts. This will all be very useful for me in my comparison of Puerto Rico moving away from agriculture, while Brazil is planning to double their beef exports. There is also an abundance of significant statistics and quotes from both environmentalists and researchers that I can use. This article discusses the failures and successes in tropical forest conservation.
The authors believe that success in conserving and managing forests depends upon effective governance mechanisms that are transparent, participatory and accountable. It also requires local, regional, national, and international tools to allow different policy actors to evaluate effectiveness at multiple scale. Actions at one scale alone, whether global or local, is insufficient. Public engagement is vital, so by simply banning a whole technique, like logging, there will be major backlash. With change to decrease deforestation comes an increase in commodity prices, which has been seen in Brazil. However, since there was public support, Brazil has been able to see a 70% reduction in deforestation over the last decade. Although, there is still a lot of work to do, if Brazil’s government continues to act on the public opinion the decreasing trend can
continue. This article explains multiple case studies and countries in Latin America to discuss different techniques that have helped and worsened deforestation. In my presentation, I plan to compare the ways that Puerto Rico and Brazil have dealt with the dilemma of deforestation and then suggest my own solution for tropical countries. This article will help shape my argument and give me a better understanding on what has already been done and what is working. In in recent decades it is more often than not for tropical countries to follow the trend of deforestation, however in countries that are rapidly urbanizing and abandoning agriculture, reforestation is also found. This article discusses Puerto Rico and how between 1940-2000 forest cover increased from 6 to 42%. This was due to the economic shift from agriculture to industry. However, the reforestation resulted in different landscape patterns from the primary forests and now the forests are fragmented. Due to urban sprawl, the secondary forests have been broken up. Landscape fragmentation is considered one of the major threats to biodiversity and a major driver of changes in ecosystem structure, function, and disturbance regimes. The author’s state, “Urban expansion drives environmental changes at local, regional, and global scales and impacts biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, hydrology, climate, and ecosystem services” They conclude by saying that although there is reforestation occurring, effective regulations and rational land planning still needs to be implemented for forest protection, especially the forest interiors. Since I am comparing Puerto Rico and Brazil in their deforestation/reforestation techniques this article gives in depth information about Puerto Rico’s reforestation techniques and the effects of them. Gao and Yu use Puerto Rico’s economic shift as a case study and give many statistics that I could use in my presentation. The article gives an insight on both the upsides to this shift, while also discussing what Puerto Rico is still struggling with. This is help me shape a well-rounded argument while contrasting the two territories.
Hijjar, Reem, David G. McGrath, Robert A. Kozak, and John L. Innes. "Framing Community Forestry Challenges with a Broader Lens: Case Studies from the Brazilian Amazon." Journal of Environmental Management 92 (2011): 2159-169. ScienceDirect. 06 May 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
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
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 .
Of all of the issues that effect the planet Earth from a Global Change standpoint, one of the most visible and highly publicized is the issue of rainforest destruction. The loss of this emerald on the planet's crown will end life as we know it, if something is not done...
Roughly half of Bolivia is covered in forests. However, this amount is decreasing yearly due to a variety of economic and social causes that are representative of the developing world. In the last decade, Bolivia is one of the ten countries with the highest rate of forest loss (Muller, Muller, Schiehorn, Gerold, Pacheco). Until the mid 1980’s, the Bolivian forests were unaffected because the country’s revenue came from mining and agriculture within the communities (Muller, Pacheco, Montero). However, the collapse of tin mining led the unemployed miners to settle and begin farming. Also around this time, mechanized agriculture started to be favored because of the ability for greater trade. The three major sources of deforestation in Bolivia
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.
The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn causes climate changes everywhere around the world. Undiscovered species can hold the key to curing a plethora of diseases, but if those species become extinct, those keys are lost forever. If nothing is done to prevent this, the world’s treasure trove of bio-diversity will cease to exist, creating irreversible damage to not only the South American people, but also the rest of the world. Conversion of the tropical forest into cropland and pasture began a long time ago in Ecuador, before its secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported as their main source of trade.
The Disappearing Rainforests Conserving the rainforest is a global issue of great importance. Tropical rainforests provide a habitat for animals, a unique ecosystem for vegetation, and an abundance of resources for humans, yet they are being destroyed at an astonishing rate. Experts estimate that if these endangered territories continue to be consumed in this manner, no more will be standing in forty years (Rainforest). Examining the social, environmental, and economic costs of the continued destruction of the Earth's tropical rainforests will prove that deforestation for short-term profit is ultimately not viable.
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
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.
Although subsistence activities have dominated agriculture-driven deforestation in the tropics to date, large-scale commercial activities are playing an increasingly significant role. In the Amazon, industrial-scale cattle ranching and soybean production for world markets are increasingly important causes of deforestation, and in Indonesia, the conversion of tropical forest to commercial palm tree plantations to produce bio-fuels for export is a major cause of deforestation on Borneo and Sumatra.
since the beginning of time. Man has been destroying trees for the use of wood for
Forest governance is the organizations, people, rules, instruments and processes through which decisions are made where forests are involved. Key elements of good forest governance include the existence of effective institutions, transparency, low levels of corruption, consistent and clear legislation, secure forest tenure and access rights, and political stability. The absence of these often lies at the root of illegal logging. This includes arrangements found in cultural traditions, laws, markets, and bureaucracies, which can influence how forests are managed, protected, and used. In recent years, additional efforts have been focused on assessing quality of governance of countries and organizations, as these elements are seen as critical to ensure sustainable forest management, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce illegal activity.