Amazon Rainforestation

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

However, due to more people searching for plots there is greater pressure on the amount of available land. The logging industry is responsible for a relatively small level of deforestation, accounting for 3% in Brazil. Consequently, all these activity contribute together to the rapid loss of what is left of the rainforest and a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity. All of the resources that the rainforest provides could be lost in the next 40 years.

As parts to of the world still continue to commit acts of deforestation in the rainforest areas, at the same time, the climate on earth also becomes affected by these actions, too. The trees in the rainforest are essential to the water cycle (Szalay). The water cycle is the movement of water on the earth (“Summary of the Water Cycle”). The trees in the water cycle act in the process of evapotranspiration. The word evapotranspiration is evaporation and transpiration together (Briney). Evaporation is when water converts from liquid into a gas or vapor (Briney). Transpiration, however, is when a plant or tree absorbs the water from their roots and is evaporated back into the atmosphere through its leaves, stems, or flowers (Briney). The water evaporated from the trees and plants contribute to the rainfall in the forest (Briney). In the article The Effects of Deforestation in Amazonia, author Harald Sioli states, “With the reduction of rainwater re-evaporating from the original forest, the rate of its recycling will also diminish” (200). If the process of evapotranspiration decreases due to deforestation, the amount of rainfall will also decrease. The rainforests like the Amazon will change in climate and become dry and could possibly cause more forest fires due to the reduction of precipitation in the rainforest (Shukla, Nobre, & Sellers).

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.)

Deforestation is an environmental problem everybody gets affected by; but not equally. Cutting down trees and degrading the soil of an eco-system can change it for the worse and leave it unrecoverable. The Amazon Rainforest is a large and very biodiverse ecosystem that stretches across 5,500,000 kilometers. The Amazon Rainforest is not a stranger to deforestation since the late 1960’s. Deforestation in the amazon forest will cripple all organisms that rely heavily on the forest to provide for a sustainable life, while others not directly impacted may benefit from it. Other people may benefit from the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest from the profit that comes with the use of land for agriculture/livestock. However, the tribes, plants, and animals, that live in the Amazon Rainforest suffer from the loss of Biodiversity, the habitat and resources that are being taken away from clearing forests, and the reduced air quality along with the increased carbon emissions. Deforestation is a process of demolition towards the ecosystem.

When the majority of the population is exposed to the words, “the Amazon”, through some form of written or spoken communications, most likely their initial, instinctive response is to visualize the Amazon rainforest as it is portrayed by a staggering amount of both past and present media outlets. This portrayal tends to be one consisting of a vibrantly colored rainforest, brimming with an abundance of diverse and exotic flora and fauna, and, a thriving and well-balanced collection of ecosystems which is, frankly, not even remotely accurate to the actual Amazon rainforest. Behind its deceptive facade endorsed by television, books, and occasionally even news, the Amazon rainforest occupies many dark truths relevant to degradation of the state of the earth’s various ecosystems and environments. Over the last several decades the Amazon has undergone numerous dramatic and, in fact, damaging changes all of which have been attributed to the area’s extensive deforestation.

The soil can encapsulate the air that is above it, and without trees to purify the air, deforested soil is left with some nasty, unfiltered chemicals harbored within it (Naseem 2011). Not to mention products that trees contribute to exclusively, like paper and fiber, would be in fewer supply. A driving factor in the clearing of trees for land is the need for cattle to be able to graze (Holland 2017). Cattle is an extremely ineffective way of producing food to feed the world, yet its high demand deems it a necessity. The trees that cover this planet are like natural lungs that filter out the toxins in the air, therefore, cutting down our air purifier for something as negligible as meat seems preposterous, yet it is happening at a steady rate every

The Amazon is currently the largest deforestation front in the world. Deforestation is impacting us as well as a large range of plant and animal species. Every ten seconds, eight football fields of rainforests are destroyed. A variety of scientists that study deforestation have also reported that by 2030, more than a quarter of the Amazon will be gone. If we do our part by supporting the cause to reduce deforestation, we will cause a positive decline in global warming and, as an overall benefit, the cost effectiveness of reducing deforestation will then be able to be used by assisting others around the

In recent years one of the greatest dangers the world overall countenances is the damage of our surroundings. The demolition of the Brazilian rainforest is presumably the most imperative issue that is to be contemplated on the grounds that it is the reason for other major environmental issues we are confronting, for example, an unnatural weather change, the exhaustion of our ozone layer, and perceptible atmosphere changes all over the world. Brazil's deforestation issue has transformed into earth's deforestation issue.

The tropical forests of Brazil contain a multitude of resources like timber, diamonds, metals, oils, gold and more (Freedman 2004). The most common known reason for deforestation is for wood and wood byproducts. The U. S. alone imports 26% percent of pulp for paper (FAO 2010). But the driving force behind tropical deforestation is the global expanding population. 60% of tropical deforestation is due to expanding agricultural practices to supply the worlds need for sustenance. This includes the growing of crops as well as cattle rearing. Another benefit is industrialization and urbanization opportunities. Most tropical forests are located in developing countries. The most notable benefit is economical revenue and the jobs created from deforestation. Millions of people are employed in the agriculture and timber industry and rely on it to support their families (FAO

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

2.4 acres per second- two football fields of rainforest disappear every second (World History 1). Deforestation, or the clearing of trees and plants on a massive scale, has been happening since Portugal first colonized the region known as the Amazon Rainforest, which is in Brazil. As development and population have increased, relief from overpopulation has been found in rainforest land. Currently, use of the land is a result of industrial use, poverty and agricultural plantations. The excessive clearing of rainforest demonstrates the devastating destruction that is possible, from killing animal species to eliminating water

Deforestation. Deforestation is one of the most critical problems in Brazil. Destroying natural habitat is a direct threat to biodiversity (Wilson et al., 2015). Historically, deforestation rates have been high in Brazil fluctuating between 25,000 to 50,000 kilometers squared per year. If deforestation were to continue at the historical rates, then most of the Amazon would disappear within 50 to 100 years (Shukla, 1990). While contemporary deforestation rates are not so severe, they are still high and have recently begun to increase. In 2009, Brazilian deforestation was estimated at 7,008 kilometers squared (May et al., 2011). After a slight decrease in the deforestation rate, with a valley in 2012 at 4,571 kilometers

Rainforests are vital for countless reasons; for example they produce the essential oxygen that all species need to survive. However, despite their significant importance, rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Rinkesh states, “according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, an estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year” (Rinkesh). The rapid loss of rainforests is due to deforestation, “the clearing, destroying, or otherwise removal of trees through deliberate, natural or accidental means” ("Effects of Deforestation"). While there are many valid reasons for deforestation, it’s important to consider the destructive consequences if the rapid rate of deforestation

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