Amazon Rainforest Deforestation Essay

The Amazon forest occupies a relevant place on the international scene and its importance is recognized worldwide. The goal of this paper is to present general information about the Amazon area, showing the biodiversity and the environmental, social, and economic impact in exploring that area. This paper will also emphasize what are the values of that ecosystem to the world, explaining about several natural resources, fauna, and flora in the Amazon forest. The author supported his arguments on articles and books that are in the reference. As a result, the author provides an overview and some important details about that area, bringing arguments and evidences to show why is important take care of the Amazon forest.

Above all, the Amazon Rainforest is a key element in the survival of mankind, not only for local villagers, but around the world. According to World Wild Life’s website: “There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The rainforests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate. Deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.” (WWL) In addition, the rainforest is imperative to our ecosystem of water (i.e. the circulation, filtration and evaporation). Ultimately, plants within the rainforest not only affect CO2 levels, but also affect global weather conditions in terms of transpiration, or the cycling of

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

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest and river basin in the world. It covers around 2.1 million square miles of land, and exists in eight different countries and one French Territory. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse places on the planet, accounting for ten percent of all known species, with more being discovered every year. But in this fragile ecosystem, people see opportunity to make money and a lifestyle, sometimes even illegally, trying to profit in the logging, mining, and agriculture industries. However, these industries help contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.

The Denver Academy has recently researched and defined some of the important facts surrounding the Amazon rainforest. In 2017, the Amazon rainforest covers 2.1 million square miles of South America. It is a vast ecosystem home to 10% of the world’s known species (The Denver Academy). They go on to say that the trees are so dense, when it rains, it takes 10 minutes for the water to break through the forest roof. The destruction of this habitat could lead to extinction of these species, and have devastating impacts all over the world from the loss of the lungs of the earth. While it is mainly concentrated in Brazil there are also large portions of the rainforest in Peru and Colombia, so many populations and economies are directly affected

Productivity, stability, and sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest has undergone extreme deterioration, mainly due to deforestation. Humans cut down trees in the rainforest for various reasons; these include acquisition of wood for timber, agricultural developments, extraction of minerals and energy, and access to new land. The loss of these trees ultimately can lead to climate change, which causes drought, the death of more trees, and the risk of forest fires. The Amazon Rainforest is home to ten percent of all plant and animal species known on Earth; this ecosystem also plays an essential role in controlling carbon levels all over the world. Currently, the rainforest is a “carbon sink,” which basically means that carbon dioxide is stored and prevented from triggering climate change. Due to human impacts, much less energy and food is produced in the Amazon, and organisms are constantly subject to

Since 1978 over 750,000 square kilometers of forests have been destroyed and deforested in the Amazon forest across Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Brazil has the largest area of forest removed annually from the Amazon. Many terrestrial ecosystems in the Amazon are affected significantly by the impacts of deforestation. The Amazon is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Its rainforests are known to be home to millions of plant and animal species. With the increasing deforestation that is taking place, many of those species and their habitats are under a great threat. Every species that disappears from the ecosystem due to deforestation can destroy the survival chances of another species in the Amazon.

The question researched was “How does deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, South America, impact the environment?” The topic of deforestation in the Amazon was chosen as there is much concern about the problem and for the future of the Earth. There were different research processes used to discover new information about the problems in the Amazon rainforest such as, an interview with a person who currently lives in Brazil, annotating books, journals, internet research and surveys. These helped me find reliable, credible information and helped me decide when information found was not true. The research was presented as a scientific report. This allowed the findings to be presented. The outcome helped

During the previous years, one of the biggest threats the world as a whole faces is the destruction of our environment, mainly through deforestation. Deforestation is the destruction of forests in order to increase land usage for agriculture, grazing and urban development. Generally forest clearers cut or burn the trees to clear land. Deforestation is one of the major causes of environmental problems in Brazil with the rate it is developing. Brazil's development is coming at a time when scientists believe that the loss of the Amazon's forests, the Atlantic forest and the Cerrado will affect the way the planet functions. Brazil has the most amount of forest in the world, if the cutting of forests keeps going on this way it will affect the water

The main reason for so much loss of land is due to all the illegal farming that goes on in the amazon. The only way to detect any illegal activity is with a satellite. This works, but not so well because they only capture half the rainforest because the other half is covered by clouds. The illegal farmers are smart and use techniques that trick the low resolution images that the satellites take. This is why Brazil is stepping up their game and trying a plan. “Brazil is using a plan called Deter B.” Brazil has been improving way to act on the situation. They have more involved and made their forces better in tracking illegal soybean and cattle grazing farms. Brazil has said in a meeting with us the US that deforestation of the amazon is going to stop by 2025 - 2035. With this would take the ban off Brazil's cattle transport to the US. The US would actually help with their legal soybean and cattle grazing farms. Brazil has realized what has been going on but the there re-elected president that wants to build a highway running through the middle of the Amazon. We should preserve our biggest and most important biodiversity in the world. If not it could all be gone in no

Marcio Astrini, a coordinator from the Amazon campaign, a convention that makes donations to save the rainforest, says, “You can’t argue with numbers, this is not alarmist, it’s a real and measured inversion of what had been a positive trend” (Newstrack). Marcio is one of the people who thinks the Rainforest is important to the people in South America and North America. Scientists have come up with different solutions to help the rainforest, but also for people to get their resources. Governments of Brazil make up laws to save their rainforest, so they try to add nature reserves or place a law that farmers and lumberjacks to chop down trees from a different forest. This effort should continue because it could help the Amazon Rainforest to continue to grow new trees. This could allow the rainforest to grow larger than before. The Rainforest is the biggest out of all of the forests out there, the Brazilian governments are struggling with what laws would be effective to pass on. Their congress established regulations “limiting forest burnings, logging, and large landholdings” (Johnson

Covering over 2 million km2, the Amazon Rainforest is home to the world’s largest rainforest and contains almost 50% of the world’s biodiversity and one-fifth of all freshwater. As the years have gone by, there has been growing evidence that has overturned historic understanding of what Amazonia was like prior to the colonial period, showing that the region was once home to far larger and more densely indigenous populations than originally thought. The governments and people of South America must implement environmental and indigenous standards for the species and humans of the Amazon or otherwise the struggles for biodiversity and cultural survival in the Amazonian region will continue to worsen.

Most people do not realize that in Brazil there is a lot of deforestation. Brazil’s deforestation started early in their history. People would cut down trees to expand their cattle pastures. This was very common in Brazil. They realized that the amazon forest was dramatically decreasing each year by forty six to fifty eight thousand square miles. They gave people land rights and added protected areas to the forest. As of 2004 forty percent of the amazon has been protected. That gives everyone sixty percent of the amazon forest to cut trees down and

Thesis Statement: Everyone should contribute to stop deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia by, for instance, consuming commodities only linked to “zero deforestation”.