Humans have always cleared the forest for our own interests, but in
the past, the process was slow and only limited regions were
deforested, generally for subsistence agriculture. However, today,
humanity is far more efficient at clearing the forest with our
advanced technology and machinery and our almost maniacal drive to
earn profits in the near term.
Ranching
Cattle ranches are created in the rainforest for many fast food
companies. Large areas of rainforests are burned away to create
grasslands where cattle are brought in to graze. They are then killed
and used for beef in Western fast food companies like McDonalds and
Burger King. Also, local farmers who have recently migrated to the
area are allowed to clear trees for their own farms. Two thirds of the
rainforest in Central America have been cleared for this purpose.
Farming
Cash crops such as coffee, sugar, tea and tobacco are easy to grow and
create quick income for a poor country like Brazil, home to the Amazon
rainforest. The rainforests are cleared for commercial farming of
these crops, which are then exported cheaply to Western countries.
More recently, the illegal drug cocaine has become a popular cash crop
and there are no ways to enforce laws to prevent this happening. Not
only are the crops exported to Western countries, but they are also
used to feed the country's own people. Most countries that have
rainforests have large populations that the government cannot manage
to feed. By clearing the rainforests they have instant land to grow
these essential foods, and provide work for those people who cannot
find any.
Logging
Hardwood trees such...
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...government
supervision means that private firms have freer reign and can work to
maximize efficiency, even if it means cutting corners like compliance
with government environmental legislation. The localization of
decision making and law enforcement also make it easier for
corporations to bribe local officials.
Road Construction
The construction of roads to access logging, oil, and mining sites in
the rainforest opens vast stretches of forest to exploitation by
landless peasants who are responsible for the majority of rainforest
destruction today. Numerous government and development agencies have
funded roads and highways that cross forest areas. One of the most
famous is the Trans-Amazonian-Highway in Brazil which opened up the
Roraima state to widespread invasion and deforestation by miners and
colonists.
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 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.
In “Battle for the Amazon,” Jeff Tollefson highlights the numerous regulations implemented by the Brazilian government to decrease deforestation and details the role of U.S. companies in the fight against land clearing in the Amazon basin. Tollefson states that major U.S. companies “could be held accountable for marketing illegal products” that have been extracted from deforested land (21).
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 negative impact on the environment of the planned human expansion is tremendous. It has been estimated that 10 million hectares of the Amazon forest have been destroyed due to clear-cutting, burning, slash-and-burn agriculture and conversion to pastures. Deforestation is caused mainly by road construction since 74% of the converted areas is within 50 km of roads.1 This clearly shows that frontier expansion and colonization for economical and social reasons has a devastating effect on the environment. The Brazilian Amazon is the largest piece of undisturbed rain forest and, unfortunately, this natural treasure is being damaged very carelessly and at an extremely high rate.
"Brazil: Amazon Rain Forest Destruction and Reforestation Policies." Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Global Issues In Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Tropical forests provide important renewable resources that can contribute significantly to national economic growth on a continuing basis. Forests products like fruits and timber play a crucial role in the economy of developing countries. Deforestation by means such as logging and cattle ranching is also economically profitable and lucrative. The forest produce generates more than $120 billion, in reported income in the late 2000s, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Hence this shows that there are indeed benefits that rainforest can bring to the human
Deforestation in Costa Rica is done for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is for economical gain. Costa Rica is a third world country so money for the government is tight. “Wood is very easy to extract and tends to have a very high value”(PersonalColby). And because most of Costa Rica is a dense rainforest, the use of the wood for money is being used. The deforestation of Costa Rica affects the rest of the world because with the removal of the forests also comes the destruction of the ways we regain oxygen after exhaling carbon dioxide. “The resource of wood is know as a renewable and nonrenewable resource” (fao). This is because the tree is a plant and another one can grow, but not at the speed in which humans right now use the wood. “It takes within 65 years for a small region of a rainforest to regenerate”(rainforestmaker).
There is a need for future generations to understand the correlation between modern resource extraction practices and the plight of the rainforests. With this understand, hopefully the havoc large-scale resource intensification has produced across global environments can be avoided. The focus of this paper is on the issues surrounding the main economic enterprises for resource extraction in the Amazon; these being logging and timber harvesting, and gold mining. Additionally, attention needs to be paid to analyze the changes agricultural, technological and infrastructural growth has created within the Amazon basin. Each enterprise individually should be viewed to see what has contributed to the deforestation of the rainforest. Analyzing multiple
Reason to Listen: You as the audience should listen and understand why our planet is becoming hotter and hotter, losing specialized species, and in-turn why plants are no longer able to survive for as long as they were able to before.
The Causes and Effects of Deforestation in Tropical Rainforests Tropical rainforests are the most alive places on earth. Covering less than 12% of the land's surface, the rainforests are home to more than half of all living species (Lewis, 4). 90% of all non-primates reside in tropical rainforests. Two-thirds of known plants, 40% birds of prey, and 80% of all insects are found only in tropical rainforests. Of the 2.5 to 5 million animals species thought to exist, only about one-half have been identified to date.
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.
since the beginning of time. Man has been destroying trees for the use of wood for
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.
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.