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Deforestation In Latin America

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Deforestation 18 million acres of forest, which is roughly the size of the country of Panama, are lost each year, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Forests cover thirty percent of the earth. It is estimated that is one hundred years there will be no rainforests. The causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, logging for timber, and infrastructure building. One of the causes of deforestation is agricultural expansion. Soybean is one of several cash crops grown on a commercial scale to satisfy international markets, which are increasingly important drivers of deforestation, accounting for 68% of forest loss in Latin America and about 40% worldwide. Combines harvest soybeans in Mato Grosso, Brazil. …show more content…

Up to twenty-eight percent of the european nation timber imports could be illegal. Well-regulated, selective logging, however, need not trigger deforestation. Expanding plantation forestry can also provide an alternative to illegal timber. In Brazil and Indonesia, some eighty percent to ninety percent of timber extraction is deemed illegal. Legal and illegal logging are major causes of forest degradation, accounting for more than seventy percent of total forest degradation in Latin America and Asia. Another cause of deforestation is infrastructure building. Road construction perhaps contributes the most to eventual levels of deforestation and degradation because roads encourage urbanization (itself responsible for a further 10% of deforestation) and the spread of agriculture into forests, particularly in remote areas where property rights are unclear or poorly regulated. The construction of the Interoceanic Highway connecting Peru and Brazil cuts a swathe through the Amazon jungle.Infrastructure projects such as roads are linked to about 10% of total deforestation in the developing world. Agricultural expansion such as cropland is a leading cause of deforestation. Plantation expansion for logging is another leading cause of deforestation. Infrastructure building including road construction is a huge cause of deforestation. All of these causes lead to the effect of

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