The Amazons Deforestation Have your eyes ever set on a barren land where even technology can’t reverse the damage we have caused? We care mostly for the present, but we must never forget to see to the future and in this case the deforestation of the Amazons. “Deforestation is considered the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere” (Song et al. 2). Each day we are wiping out miles of trees from one of our most diverse ecosystems in the planet, and one of our largest “lungs” in the world. At our rate of destruction of the rainforest, we would have inflicted in our future a great disservice, as the trees cut down would no longer give us clean air and more CO2 would pollute our air. CO2 can have a negative impact on our health. As we breathe in this air, it can lead to lung cancer and other diseases. By destroying the Amazon ecosystem we could drive many exclusive species that only live in the Amazon to extinction. Will we know the harm we have caused right away? Probably not, but we will definitely find out sooner rather than later. The cause of the Amazon deforestation is due to our need for wood to stay warm, and for developing countries to use it for fuel. Our top priority in conserving the Amazons is the unforeseen environmental impact that can be caused to our planet and to us. “Tropical deforestation also has other negative externalities, such as the loss of biodiversity, erosion, floods, and lowered water levels” (Jusys). Every day we
Brazil’s rainforests and America’s rainforests are great examples of the negative effect that deforestation has on these specific areas. One of the rising challenges in our rapidly growing world is the destruction of rainforests and how it is slowly ruining the world that we live in. Deforestation has a lot of destructive impacts on the environment that is surrounding us, one of the most important being its effect on the climate. The fast rise in the world’s population, calling for high demand of resources, is only hastening the effects of deforestation, which can hopefully be put an end to through the enforcement of a handful of simple, key, and sustainable solutions.
Deforestation poses an alarming threat to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and it has been a serious concern for over 40 years. For thousands of years, the abundant, valuable resources in the Amazon were familiar only to the indigenous people of the region. In the 1500’s, before European colonization of Brazil, there were an estimated six to nine million individuals part of different cultures that made up a rich Amazonian society (“History”). Surrounded by the luxuriant rainforest and its natural resources, these indigenous tribes were able to thrive by utilizing the resources without destroying their habitat. After European emigration, the government of Brazil exploited the value of the Amazon’s resources in the twentieth century. In the 1970’s, the Brazilian government discovered the “untapped source of boundless potential” hiding in the Amazon and began using incentives to persuade settlers to develop its resources (Casey). Once economists realized the importance of the resources found within the rainforest, European pioneers set out to transform the Amazon into their home. By endorsing colonization, the government could not only boost the country’s economy, but also gain control over Brazil’s vast territory. The government supported migration to the rainforest and campaigned for the construction of infrastructure (“History”). In concurrence, the development of roads such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway, a 2,000 mile road built in 1972, granted people and machinery entrance to
Today, the total percentage of forest cover of the earth is approximately thirty percent (“Deforestation”). That is about nine percent of the world’s total surface. The largest rainforest is the Amazon River Basin, located in South America. The Amazon is home to many species of animals, insects, plants and trees. Many of the trees and plants in the Amazon produce about twenty percent of the oxygen on earth, and absorb carbon. However, the Amazon is decreasing in size every day due to the ongoing deforestation of the land. Deforestation is when the forest of the land are cleared or destroyed, in order to be used for other actions (“Deforestation”). The Amazon is twenty percent less than it was about forty years ago (Wallace). In just about
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
"An estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost each year." (LiveScience).
The aim of this is to bring wealth to the area by using its natural
The battle for the Amazon rainforest is a daunting task. It's a long going battle between miners, loggers, and developers against the indigenous people who call it home. It's a battle like any battle in a war; it affects lives, families, the economy, politics, and the environment amongst other things. The main topic of this debate is the effects of the Amazon deforestation on the people who live in it, this will be the focus of this research paper. In this paper, I will discuss the history, causes, effects and solutions for the Amazon rainforest deforestation.
Individuals have been deforesting the Earth for a large number of years, fundamentally to clear land for yields or domesticated animals. "Deforestation" is the lasting devastation of timberlands with a specific end goal to make the area accessible for different uses; what's more, as indicated by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization an expected 18 million sections of land of backwoods, which is generally the nation's extent of Panama, are lost every year; Although tropical woods are to a great extent bound to creating nations, they aren't simply meeting nearby or national needs; monetary globalization implies that the needs and needs of the worldwide populace are hunkering down on them also.
A study by Mongbay shows a loss since 1978 until today of about 79% of forest deforestation. Decades ago when humans first occupied the earth and began to use fire; deforestation slow began. History has changed and so has technology and methods. The axe has evolved into a chainsaw which accelerates the process of deforestation. Chopping down trees has been the human quest for shelter, food, and warmth. Trees provide humans with wood for shelter. Wood also provides fire for fuel to keep us warm at night. Lastly trees provide us with human food such as roots, nuts, and branches for burning. Humans have used an axe and required endless energy to chop a tree down. The alternation from a stone axe to a chainsaw has increased the clearing of
During the past 30 years, deforestation in the Amazon has been a huge problem. The Amazon Rainforest is home to an estimated one-third of all known animal species and makes up about half of the world’s rainforests. The reasons for the deforestation is to expand pastures for cattle production, and fields to grow soybeans. ("Brazil Geography-Introduction." N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2016.)
Our world has had deforestation for a while and worldwide, 32 million acres of forests are cleared each year (“Docksai, 45-51”). While we have trees being cut down, especially in the Amazon in Brazil is also a home to tropical rainforests plants with cancer-fighting compounds (“Balaguer, 14-21”). During the time of October and November of 2013 scientists have found that there has been a 136% increase in deforestation (“Balaguer, 14-21”). The reason why I care so much about deforestation is that trees on earth carry oxygen for us and if there are no more trees and we have an overpopulated world we probably won’t be alive. Another reason why is that the Amazon forests are homes to beautiful animals such as the birds there.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped substantially after a peak of over 27 thousand square kilometers in 2004. Starting in 2008, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment has regularly published blacklists of critical districts with high annual forest loss. Farms in blacklisted districts face additional administrative hurdles to obtain authorization for clearing forests. In this paper we add to the existing literature on evaluating the Brazilian anti-deforestation policies by specifically quantifying the impact of blacklisting on deforestation. We first use spatial matching techniques using a set of covariates that includes official blacklisting criteria to identify control districts. We then explore the effect of blacklisting
As the Amazon rain forest started out as untouched like a brand new pack of your favorite candy. As you start to open up the package you start to smel and get a feeling how good they will taste. By the time you know it most of them are gone this is really similar to the deforesation of the Amazon. As the people start to vinently cut through the forest like a huge herd of teenagers at a black friday scale which is realy bad f you havent been to one. Adiitionally with the deforesation you are now seeint the result of it over the years it started out all full and turned into Mr. Morans head. As the years go th kids will finall find the bottom of the bag and relized it was a beatiful and enstroundary place they just torn up like it was nothing.
The Amazon plays a critical role in regulating global climate, storing massive amounts of carbon and emitting 20 percent of the world's life-giving oxygen but due to fires and people cutting down the trees carbon is released into the atmosphere, it's about the same as every car, bus, ship, plane, etc. in the world. Nearly one-fifth of the Amazon has been cleared due to demands such as timber, soy, and beef. We are afraid of finding the tipping point of doing irreversible damage to our environment. We don't know where the tipping point is but we are very close. We are taking more from the environment than we are giving back. To help reverse most of the damage we need to be finding better ways to travel and do easy general things. Without the
protect a substantial part of the diversity in the Amazon,” said Hans ter Steege, a