Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Negative impact of deforestation
Harmful effect of deforestation
Harmful effect of deforestation
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Negative impact of deforestation
Deforestation is one of the many problems earth is facing. In most cases trees and plants are the essentials in the lives of us human beings. The forest that is the most damaged is the Brazilian Amazon. Ranchers, loggers, and miners are the cause of the many kilometers of deforestation. Organizations were created to alleviate the problem. In many cases this has helped reduce the deforestation rates.
For many years deforestation has been a feature of the Amazonian landscape since long before the arrival of Europeans in the 1500’s (Fearnside). This problem did not just happen in the blink of an eye. Many of the forest has been destroyed by human activities. According to Fearnside no forest in the region could be considered “virgin”. Forests in Brazil take up a greatly immense amount of space and even still, humans manage to cut down trees and create vast amounts of free unused land. Loggers are the ones that have caused most of the destructions that is done to the forests. The trees are usually cut for the timber trade, which only twenty out of the seven hundred species are focused on. Also, the clearing of trees makes the forests more fire prope and reduces the healthiness of the forests when the superior trees are removed.
One of the main culprits of deforestation in the Amazon are ranchers. A lot of land is cleared and used to grow crops and later cell to other industries. The government created a law that would give people control of the land they cleared. It was only if that space that was cleared was put to effective use. This of many reasons was why many kilometers of the forests were cleared. “Many large landowners have their immense estates in the Amazon region covering more than sixty million acres” (Critten...
... middle of paper ...
...cted. A lot of kilometers are being cleared for no reason at all. People may think that by using the land where deforestation has happened could help in other cases they are wrong. Like Crittenden mentioned many of that land could be contaminated by the job of the miners
Works Cited
Crittenden A. Elizabeth. Amazon Deforestation And Brazil Land Problems. n.p., n.d., Web. 30 Jan
2014.
“DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement.” climatepolicyinitiative.org. Climate Policy Initiative. n.p., 8 May. Web. 28 Jan 2014.
Fearnside M. Philip. The Encyclopedia of Earth. n.p., 30 Mar 2007. Web. 14 Feb 2014.
Rapoza, Keneth. “Deforestation Slows in Brazil’s Amazon.” Forbes. Forbes.com. n.p., 27 Nov 2012.
Web. 11 Feb 2014.
World Watch Institute Vision for a Sustainable World. 2013 Worldwatch Institute, Web. 14 Feb 2014.
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 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
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 .
Through 2002-2003 brazil has lost more than 24,000 Kilometers squared of the Amazon forest. Together is has been estimated that they have lost more than 500.000 of the Amazon forest. Brazil has decided not to just put their efforts into reducing the lost of the Amazon forest but also they are focusing on the already loss of the forest. Trying to see what and how that can utilize that area. To lessen future forest loss they are think that they must try and increase and sustain the productivity of their farms, pastures, plantations, and scrubland in addition to restoring species and ecosystems to the habitats that were destroyed or are currently trying to be preserved and extended. Brazil is also trying to restore their natural resources and rainforest by reducing wasteful land-use practices, while consolidating (making the best of) gains on existing cleared lands, and improving already developed lands they will try to diminish the need to clear any more rainforest. they are also trying to use our new age technology to generate higher yielding crops in the surrounding areas of this forest, regenerating the soil...
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.
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.
15 Nov. 2013. Climate Change in the Amazon. WWF. Web. The Web.
The Amazon Rainforest is the world's largest tropical rainforest that we have today on our planet. It covers a wide range expanding almost entirely across from East to West of South America. It is most famous for its broad biodiversity and includes the famous Amazon River that is home to rare and diverse species. Today, the Amazon Rainforest is under threat of complete deforestation and has greatly lost more than half of its tropical rainforest due to cattle ranching, soy bean farming, sugar cane plantations, palm oil and biofuel agriculture. The indigenous people are doing their best to fight against the government to protect their land and conserve the rainforest but without capital finance, it is seeming to be an impossible project.
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.
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
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.
Countries that experience massive amounts of deforestation are ones that in particular are unstable economically. As stated before, countries like Brazil, Asian Oceanic spots like Indonesia, a handful of African countries, and a portion of European communities see the most activity. The ones in that seem most devastated by such is Brazil and countries in the Asia Oceanic. Why you ask? Well, apart from being close to the bottom in the economic spectrum, these countries are home to countless rainforests. With of cutting down of these trees brings into play a major cause in our world today; illegal clear cutting. What causes such an act? For starters, the main priority for these countries is expansion. To expand and provide for the people, making land available for infrastructure, and this in retrospect creates another cause, urbanization in the Amazon. Approximately, the population in Brazil has increased by 25%, a substantial increase when you compare to just 8% in the 90 's (Costa, M. H. 2009). As an economist we can sense what the future hold for a country like Brazil, with increase in population, we see an uprise in deforestation. As a result, the demand for land, homes, paper, oil and other commercial materials becomes in-demand for the society. Taking a step back and looking at the big picture quickly becomes an afterthought, leading to the destruction to many endangered species housed within. Over the course deforestation it has been practiced, with no policy or intention to punish its instigators. The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) has estimated that some of our planet 's most precious species reside in such areas (Shukl, G. 2012). The loss of such biodiversity effects humans directly, with an estimated 70% of our food and plants come from these areas (Shukl, G. 2012). Maintaining such a Biodiversity is essential in maintain a healthy ecosystem, and finding potential cures
Scientists themselves are just beginning to understand the serious problems caused by deforestation. Deforestation occurs all over the world by all types of people. Peasant farmers even add to the problem because in most tropical countries the farmers are very poor only making between eight hundred and fifty four hundred dollars annually (NASA Facts). Therefore, they do not have enough money to buy what they need to live therefore they must farm to raise crops for food and to sell. In these poor countries the majority of people are peasant farmers this farming adds up to a great deal of deforestation. These farmers chop down a small area of trees for there plot to farm on and burn the tree trunks (NASA Facts). The combined number of farmers maintaining this process creates a great deal of clearing and burning of the land they need to cultivate, which results in land being treeless. Commercial logging is also another common form of deforestation. This commercial logging wipes out massive amounts of land sometimes deforesting several miles at...