Brazil's Development Without Long Term Damage to the Amazon
Introduction
As part of this essay I will be discussing the issues involved with Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and how they as a country can use the rainforests resources for their development, without impairing the ability to use those resources in the future. In other words it is saying that Brazil should not cause long term damage to the rainforest when extracting resources. This is called sustainable development, and as it suggests, it means to sustain the environment whilst also continuing to develop their needs. However, there are several issues surrounding this, some people are for sustainable development and others disagree and
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Staring with the arguments against development using the rainforest, these are mainly viewed by conservationists, environmentalists and researchers. They feel that deforestation will have major consequences on the planet in the future. The damage is most threatening to the ecosystem, which all have knock on effects. For example, once the trees are cut down it firstly causes many species of life to lose their habitats, without the covering canopy of trees it also exposes the soil. With the heavy rainfall on the soil it causes flooding and erosion. The actual climate is also disturbed because it does not allow the constant evaporation and transpiration, disrupting rainfall. It can all eventually lead to desertification.
The lack of trees will also increase the levels of carbon dioxide in the air and accelerate global warming. This is what many people fear to lose, as well as the many range of plants that provide us with chocolate and also some of the most important medicines and cures.
However, there are also many beneficial factors of development. Some people argue that why have the different plants and trees that give us fine furniture, chocolate and coffee if they are not going to be used in development to eventually be sold to us. The people of Brazil rely on this development to maintain what is their daily life. As Brazil is an LEDC it needs to ‘exploit’ the
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
They can become, not struggling nations, but growing nations, with a good economy, that can finally enter the world stage. A different reason why the Amazon should be developed is, “Many organizations have shown that medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, oil, and other resources like rubber, chocolate, and chicle can be grown and gathered in a sustainable way.” (Sustainable Development of the Amazon Rain Forest, 1) This proves that we can use the Amazon without destroying it. We can use the useful plants in the Amazon, but preserve its natural beauty. Another reason why we should use the resources of the Amazon is, “Ecotourism can help local people by offering jobs as wildlife guides, park rangers, and service workers in hotels,
As Brazil has grown it has required a greater amount of material in order to sustain its increasing growth. Initially the Amazon Forest wood was harvested in order to construct such things as hospitals, schools, and homes and although it initially did not have that large an impact on the rainforest it did slowly become worse due to population growth. At the time (1960's onward) Brazils population was around 72,000,000 whilst the population in the Amazon region only made up a small portion of that figure it still had increased dramatically from 2 to 18 million people which was largely due to official development policies which began around that time.
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
The aim of this is to bring wealth to the area by using its natural
Brazil is home to the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon. It’s a diverse country that possesses several biomes such as: forests (found in more than half of the country), tropical grasslands, and savannahs (located in the central-west region of the country). The southeast region is where natural resources like, petroleum, gold, limestone, nickel, granite, platinum, uranium, and gems can be found. In addition to the nation’s natural resources, Brazil has numerous agricultural products including
On the surface, Brazil does not appear as a country ravaged by poverty however, portions of it are; and its environmental stability is an enormous factor of this. In 2000 the United Nations concocted a plan to assist countries like Brazil; thus the Millennium Development Goals emerged. In essence, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs for short) are a set of targets set to challenge extreme poverty across the globe. As Brazil is not a ‘traditional’ country in the subject of poverty so a specific target had to be included for it to fit in with the MDGs. Target 9 includes two factors: the amount of land covered by forest and the protection of biodiversity, which pinpoint Brazil as a country in need. In Brazil, tourism and the need for lumber are dwindling both the biodiversity of the country, as well as cutting down on the area of land covered by forest. Therefore, Brazil’s ecology and demand for resources cause it to be looked at as a country in need, despite its modernization being equivalent to the rest of the world. With this being said, Brazil’s ecosystem has remained relatively unaffected by change in the last two decades. It will be challenging for Brazil to achieve the seventh Millennium Development Goal of ensuring environmental stability due its lack of a strong governmental structure, a dwindling economy, and the miniscule amount of groups assisting Brazil.
Indigenous rights in Brazil have been very vague throughout the years and were difficult to obtain since many indigenous tribes were seen as an inferior class. There are around 900,000 indigenous people with a total of 240 tribes in Brazil in contrast to the 11 million indigenous people that lived there before the European colonist arrived. It was predicted that 90% died in the first years from diseases that they were not exposed to, such as the flu and smallpox, and the rest who survived the diseases were enslaved. Brazil has one third of the world’s rainforest and half of the amazon forest, but with the expansion of neoliberal policies deforestation has become a serious problem. According to Brazilian authorities, the rubber and cattle industries are responsible for 80% of the deforestation (COHA). This has evidently affected many indigenous communities that lived in the Amazon forest, displacing them from their lands and exploiting them for hard labor. By the 1950s, many predicted that the indigenous population in Brazil would disappear, but they have been able to recover by becoming active in the movement against neoliberal policies and their rights as human.
The Amazon rainforest, known as well as the Amazonia, is considered as the “lung of the planet,” due to it produces about 20% of earth’s oxygen. The Amazon is contained by the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the three Guianas (Amazon Rainforest). Unfortunately, one phenomenon that has been affecting the Amazon rainforest is the deforestation; according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, deforestation is the transformation of forest to non-forest land cover by human activities.
Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be
For example, the medicines that we make using plants and organisms from the rainforests all help make our lives better and easier. Also, people may say that deforestation is not a big problem in the rainforests when it indeed is a massive problem that must be stopped. Every day, more and more of the Brazilian disappear due to deforestation and this will harmfully affect our world. In addition, some may think, “Why should we conserve the rainforests?” The answer to this question is simple; we should conserve the rainforests because they are important and they affect the whole world.
Envisage a country named after a wood product. Such a country exists in Eastern South America. Brazil has been tremendously influenced by European life and evidence of that can be perceived through their culture. Made up of various types of resources, Brazil has continued to flourish. However, problems have arose along with the growth of the population. Deforestation, an outcome of human action has affected the millions of exotic species that live in one of the treasures of Brazil, the Amazon Rainforest.
Van Gogh’s “Arles period” lasted between 1888 and 1889. This was a time when Van Gogh moved from Paris to Arles, France to get away from the fast-moving life that was Paris in 1888. The Arles Period was a successful and experimental period for Van Gogh; serving as an opportunity for both new work and inspiration. One of Van Gogh’s most infamous Arles paintings, The Night Café, can be credited by the influence of Arles.
Deforestation is a problem that does not concern many people, but it is an issue that the people of Earth need to deal with. In the past 50 years deforestation has increased a significant amount, but people around the world have been removing the forests since the 1600s. The forests remaining are in danger as the human population goes up, the need for resources will also increase and this will make the deforestation of the last forests come quicker before humans realize it is too late. Unless the people address this threat to the world, it will be too late because this is something that can be fixed, the forests can be rebuilt but it has to start right now before there is nothing people can do. There are many causes for deforestation such as, clearing space for urbanization, making areas available for houses, or harvesting the lumber for goods and other consumer items and all of these have an effect on the world. The consequences of deforestation can affect all aspects of life on Earth, including the water cycle, the soil, and the life quality of species around the world.
As one of Latin America’s upper-middle income countries, Brazil has access to an array of resources, listed as one the world’s 17 megadiverse countries, as well as the potential to be a leader of South America’s developing countries. With the largest land area and one of the largest populations of the region, the impact that sustainably minded development has on Brazil’s environmental impact cannot be underestimated and demands a more complex network of efforts to accomplish sufficient improvement. However, as stated by the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) “Country strategic opportunities programme” for the Federal Republic of Brazil, “inequality and exclusion are two of the most serious problems affecting the country,” (2008, pg 1) factors that contribute largely to the need for successful and effective transitioning between Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).