To analyze the relationship between agricultural commodity prices, conservation policies and deforestation in Colombia, a multiple regression model will be constructed to relate the changes in forest cover (variable pending) by established period of time, tipping points in the policies (independent variable ) and variation in the agricultural prices (control variable) (Assuncao et al., 2015, Reyes-Hernández et al., 2003). The following describes each of the variables to be analyzed in the study:
Deforestation
Deforestation data will be collected from the platform Terra-i. This is a near real time monitoring system of land use and land cover change in Latin America and the Caribbean; it uses rainfall and vegetation satellite data to
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In this sense, the report mentions that the departments with highest deforestation rates are: Caquetá (20577 ha), Guaviare (5447 ha), Meta (4099 ha), Putumayo (3757 ha) and Norte de Santander (3441 ha). The Figure 1 shows the deforestation areas preliminary selected in red. The Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo areas selected are located in the border of the Amazon region of Colombia, which is part of one of the most important rain forest in the world. Meanwhile, the deforestation area selected in Meta correspond at the border area of the national park Serranía de la Macarena. Finally, the Norte de Santander area has cocoa, cassava, corn and palm oil crops.
Policies
For the measurement of the independent variable, forestry and conservation policies established in Colombia in the last 20 years will be compiled. Policies that have implemented plans for reforestation and control of deforestation will be selected. Subsequently, with the deforestation data obtained, tipping points will be identified, between the establishment of the policy and the increase or decrease of the deforestation rates of the country. These tipping points will allow to establish the specific periods of time for the analysis.
Additionally, and considering that agricultural and livestock
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.
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 defined as: “the clearing of virgin forests, or intentional destruction or removal of trees and other vegetation for agricultural, commercial, housing, or firewood use without replanting and without allowing time for the forest to regenerate itself” (SCRIBD). Deforestation has been a problem in Latin America since the early 1900s and the severity of the dilemma is increasing rapidly. Deforestation not only has consequences for the environment, but also, the indigenous people and the national economy. The logging industry in Latin America is often exploited by multinational companies that are not properly regulated. The land that has provided a home and cultivated indigenous development for centuries is being dissipated rapidly. Due to an exponentially growing global population, there is an increased demand for low priced goods--like timber, crops, and meat. Many Latin American countries value revenue from selling these goods over the health of their local ecosystems. The crisis of deforestation and habitat loss is shifting from a local to global problem. As deforestation continues, global warming escalates worldwide, impacting every country and person. About 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation, which is more than from all the world’s cars, trucks and buses combined (Schwartzman). Puerto Rico and Brazil provide contrasting examples of the impact of deforestation. Puerto Rico had an economic and environmental shift
Deforestation has been a major concern in tropical rainforests, this is an act of destructing a forest for multiple reasons including wood supply, agriculture purposes or the extraction of minerals and energy. Forest loss till date is 18.03 million acres per year and it has been estimated that within 100 years all rainforests will be destroyed.
In Middle and South America, it is evident that human interactions affect the physical features. The human interaction that affects Middle and South America is deforestation. In 1970’s a period of deforestation began in Brazil with the construction of the Trans-Amazon Highway; the road allowed migrant farmers to grow crops (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). Deforestation continued throughout Middle and South America. The use lodging of hardwoods, extracting minerals, oil, gas, stones and clearing off land for raising cattle, and growing crops has impacted most of the land in Middle and South America (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). The human interaction of deforestation has led to many environmental issues, changes in physical features. There are loss
From the beginning of the cultivation process, there is a large impact on the region as well as worldwide. The inevitable expansion of farmland in Colombia and other South American countries has led to rapid deforestation of the rainforests. This
At the rate the forests are being depleted over one third of Colombia’s Total forest will be gone in about five years. Much of the land is abandoned after only two or three seasons of coca cultivating. Most of the wild life is gone also due to the lack of clean waters and plant life. The deforestation caused by coca and poppy producers and non-existent soil conservation techniques they practice have led several experts to theorize that the region could end up in a situation similar to that of Ethiopia or Somalia within 50 years, i.e. a fast growing population that is larger than the food production can support due to poor agricultural soils or techniques.
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
From 1990 to 2005, deforestation, or the removal of trees, was happening at an average rate of 13 million hectares (32.11 million acres) per year (Hope 247). In many ways, deforestation has been the reason for great economic success which turns people on to the idea even more. Deforestation is an essential element in promoting and encouraging developmental growth. Some places around the world may feel obligated to resort to deforestation due to population increases around the world. The concept of deforestation may seem to have a positive impact on society, but many people fail to consider the importance of replanting the trees that were harvested and removed. Deforestation mainly affects North and South America, but because of the Transamazon
At first there was concern only among foresters about deforestation but now the public has created organizations such as Green Peace to facilitate increased awareness and reduce deforestation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.) has worked mainly within the forestry community to find new and better ways to manage the forests. In 1985 there was the introduction of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan or T.F.A.P. This plan involved the F.A.O, United Nations, World Bank, other developmental agencies, and several other multi-national government organizations; together they developed a new strategy. More than sixty countries have decided to prepare national forestry action plans to manage their forests (Gallant, 381).
Rainforests have been declining rapidly over the last few decades. There are various factors responsible for this decline, resulting in serious impacts on the environment and the economy. Critically discuss the causes of deforestation and solutions to it.
According to the IPCC, Latin America’s contribution of greenhouse gases globally is at a low of 4%. In this area, deforestation is quite common and the release of carbon to the atmosphere from it has the potential to alter the global carbon balance. Latin American forest represent 27% of the global forest coverage (The regional impacts of climate change 1). If
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
The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.
Deforestation is a major global problem with serious consequences to the planet. These consequences have a negative effect on the climate, biodiversity, the atmosphere and threatens the cultural and physical survival of life. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. It has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area, so that now indigenous forests cover only 21% of the earth's land surface. The world Resources Institute regards deforestation as one of the worlds most pressing land use problem.