In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planets remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. At its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year. The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn cause 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 their secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported out as their main source of trade. Due to the fact that after World War II expansion accelerated throughout the northwestern section of the forest, a highway system was put into construction. At this point in time, the Ecuadorian Amazon consisted of a few small towns that had been established in valleys and at the base of the mountains. Indigenous g...
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...e reformed to produce more efficient and less harmful means of using resources in the Amazon while also producing new industries to help stimulate these developing countries’ economies.
Works Cited
"Amazon." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
"Amazon People." WWF. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
"Can South America China-ify Its Economy Without Destroying The Amazon? | Co.Exist | Ideas Impact." Co.Exist. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
"Climate Change in the Amazon." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Climate Change in the Amazon." WWF. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Medicinal Treasures of the Rainforest.” Discover the Healing Resources of the Amazon. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
Southgate, Douglas DeWitt, and Morris D. Whitaker. Economic Progress and the Environment: One Developing Country's Policy Crisis. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. Print.
Wright, David, Heather LaRocca, and Grant DeJongh. "Global Problems." The Amazonian Rainforest: Forest to Farmland? The University of Michigan, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
This policy memo addresses the development and expansion of the cattle ranching industry in Brazil, which has contributed to the mass deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon in the last 40 years. It exposes the regional and global consequences to deforestation and provides strategies for the Brazilian government to sustainably manage cattle ranching industries while protecting the future of the Amazon. The rainforest ecosystem is an immense reserve of natural recourses that is far more valuable than the beef produced on Brazilian cattle ranches. Not only does the rainforest create habitat for up to 65% of the world’s biodiversity, but when harvested sustainably, it provides humans with an abundance of spices, foods, oils, medicines and vital research areas (NEWMAN).
Marcus, J. (2004). Amazonia. Five years at the epicenter of a dot-com juggernaut. New York, NY: New Press.
... laws, eradicate corruption and try to strictly secure whole Amazon with strict punishments for criminals. To be capable to do this, there must be vast advertisement program, which may interest a lot of people. There are limitations in research such as real condition and a number of indigenous people, because it is estimated that about 50 indigenous tribes are totally isolated from civilization and there are limitations in research in real condition of food and raw materials in supply chain of large companies. This is because any shoe, portion of beef or timber materials that we purchase every day can be illegally exported from Brazil and there must be strict control of global organizations. In addition, there are recommendations of subsequent surveys in improving agriculture and finding more sustainable nutrients which would allow using lands for longer period.
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.
Amazon Rain Forest Essay Money can be printed, but our land can not be created once it’s gone. -Unknown This quote should show us that greed and money, makes people destroy things that cannot be replaced... for what? The Amazon Rainforest is one of the most fascinating things on this planet, but to this day it is under attack. That’s where people like environmentalists come in.
Redford, Kent H. & Stearman, Allyn Maclean. "Forest-Dwelling Native Amazonians And the Conservation of Biodiversity: Interests in Common or in Collision?" Conservation Biology 7 (1993): 248-255.
Through this initiative, Ecuador and its international allies demonstrate leadership by funding a project called to contribute to the sustainable management of the Amazon rainforest and prevent global warming. We can not exploit this natural paradise is one of the wonders of Ecuador and the world, we must find new ways to take forward the country and not be dependent only on oil, our country is the richest in growth and we could be a country 100% tourist. I hope that future generations have the happiness to know this stunning natural paradise.
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.
The future of the Amazon depends on the way the world uses it. The human race has the biggest impact on this environment and need to recognise their role in protecting the river and surrounding forest. If it is conserved and looked after it will continue to be a wonderful physical part of the earth’s landscape.
Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest has been a huge environmental challenge in Latin America since 1991. Deforestation refers to the loss, or destruction, of naturally occurring forests, primarily due to human activities; logging, cutting trees for fuel, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing land for livestock grazing, mining operations, oil extraction, dam building, and urban sprawl. In the pre-Columbian era, parts of the Amazon were densely populated, open agricultural landscapes. After the European invasion in the 16th century, the hunt for gold, western diseases, slavery and later and the rubber boom, caused the depopulation of the Amazon, and the forest grew larger. Before the 1970s, access to the forest's interior was highly restricted, and aside from partial clearing along rivers the forest remained intact.
Who suffers from Deforestation in the Amazon? Introduction Deforestation is a major environmental dilemma not to mention one of the major contributors of global warming, as it constitutes 20% of the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This is mainly due to the cutting and burning of trees commonly referred to as the ‘slash and burn technique’ used for clearing land. Land settlement, urbanization, cattle ranches, construction of highways after the capital of Brazil was relocated as suggested by Moran (149) all in the name of development.
Wiebelt, Manfred. "Stopping Deforestation in the Amazon: Trade-off between Ecological and Economic Targets?" Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 131, no. 3 (1995): 542-68. Manfred Wiebelt is an economist for World Economy and Honorary and a professor at Christian Albrechts University. His researches are focused on the interface between macro, resource economy, resource based development, and commercial and agricultural policy in developing countries.
There is some ambiguity to the original total area of the rainforest and the current amount of deforested lands, but all in question of the matter agree that it is a very serious issue. The total amount of area deforested in the Amazon has increased tremendously in the last forty years. 15.2 million hectares were destroyed in 1978 compared to a whopping 60.3 million hectares in 2001 (Margulis 6). These numbers directly correlate to the vast expansion in big business in the region. Evidence Increasing international demands for products produced around the Amazon is the central reason behind the increasing deforestation.