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 …show more content…
There are four temperature altitude zones, physical features that affect the interactions of humans. The tierra caliente zone is known plantation agriculture with tropical crops such bananas, sugar cane, cocoa and pineapple (Pulsipher &Pulsipher 2012 ). In the tierra templada zone, crops such as corn, bean, squash, green vegetables, wheat, and coffee grow well here (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012)The tierra fria zone, crops such as wheat, fruit trees, potatoes, cool weathered vegetables thrive, and herd llamas, sheep, and guinea pigs for food and fiber (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012).The tiera helada zone vegetation is mostly absent in this zone, but hiking for people is common in this area (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). Overall, the physical feature of temperature altitude zone affects what a person can grow or herd in a certain temperature altitude …show more content…
The Structural Adjustment Policy (SAPs), when policies required economic reorganization toward less government involvement in industry, agriculture, and social services is a big topic in globalization in Middle and South America (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). The people rebelled on this attempt to globalization by electing governments, and now SAPs has been joined by growth in regional free trade agreement with North American Free Trade and Mesocour to reduce tariffs and other barriers among neighboring and other countries (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). Throughout the region nearly everyone depends on the informal economy as a buyer or seller. Hopefully the new economy may help. (Pulsipher & Pulsipher 2012). Other examples of globalization is the role of remittances in this region among the countries and sometimes farther away (Pulsipher & Pulsipher
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
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
Tropical rainforests are the Earth?s oldest, richest, most productive, and most complex living ecosystems. They are located throughout many of the world?s continents including South America, Africa, and Asia and are defined by a few specific factors. Their location must be within the regions of the tropics and they must receive between 4-8 meters of rain per year (compared to about 1-2 meters in the United States). These forests also have no ?seasonality?, which means that they lack a definite dry or cold season of slowed growth.
Deforestation is the clearing of trees, transforming a forest into cleared space. Every minute, forests the size of 20 football fields are cut down. That adds up to about 2.47 million each day. The main ways forest are cleared is by chainsaws, bulldozers, and fires. The trees are used for their timber value, that includes things such as fuel, paper products, building houses and palm oil. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil, high in saturated fats, derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree. The cleared land is used for agriculture, ranching operations, and new road and highways. Deforestation is a major world problem because it is destroying green forest and dominating animal species.
Brazil has been said to be one the of the most beautiful and pleasant places on Earth, but with the secrets hiding behind their closed doors, will they even last long enough in their dying nation to see the success that tourists do? Brazil is on the path to collapse because they are unable to survive as a nation on their own. According to CNN, “⅓ of Brazilian Southerners vaguely favor some form of secession.” Brazil has a weak central government, they don’t pay much regard to the tremendous financial crisis and debt, and one of their most beautiful locations is on the verge of moribund. Citizens of Brazil have paradoxically been reported to feel “alienated” because their own government seems disinterested in public affairs and do not directly address them.
C. This essay will consider three of the main causes for this destruction and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Firstly, the rise in housing needs and urbanization will be looked at. Following this the impact of commercial and consumer goods will be considered, before the final cause of deforestation - cattle ranching - will be debated.
Deforestation has been plainly defined as a “large clearing of trees”, but it is much more than that. With mass amounts of tree removal there is also loss of habitat which destroys homes and causes many resources to go to waste. Logging, mining, cattle ranching, and oil/gas extraction are just a few causes of deforestation. The Amazon Rainforest being the largest rainforest in the world puts it at the highest risk to be destroyed. There are consequences that come along with deforestation being extinction, habitat loss, climate change and pollution. Those are just environmental effects; there can be culture loss, forceful relocation of tribes, political conflict involving deforestation, and loss of resources for the surrounding people. To
The Amazon Rain Forest is a beautiful place. It is a vast region that spans across eight countries and is 1.4 billion acres of dense forest. The Amazon by itself is half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests and we are loosing them quickly. Because of this deforestation, we are causing a lot of problems for ourselves and the animals that reside in those forests. One of these problems is that we are seeing an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This is causing an increase because forests helped to get rid of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions. Since the trees are being cut down and/or burned, they become sources of carbon themselves making this problem worse. Along with the rise in these gases comes the rise in temperature.
Every single day, the Amazon Rainforest is losing a massive amount of area due to deforestation. The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and it is the world’s source of oxygen. Deforestation has slowed down years ago, but now, it is starting to increase and does not show that it will slow down. Earth without tree’s, the human race and animals would not be able to survive. Today’s society is not taking deforestation as a serious matter. If deforestation were to be left alone, the planet and animals would not be the only ones suffering from it. Deforestation is a big issue that has to be made known and find a solution to end it. The causes and the effects of deforestation should be made known to the society and the importance
The main area of forest loss in both the 1990s and the 2000s was in the so-called ‘arc of deforestation’, which is the highest point of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2002, approximately 47 percent of the Brazilian Amazon was under some sort of human pressure. This pressure was due to either human settlements (19 percent) or in areas subject to emerging human pressure (28 percent). These areas under pressure were found mainly along official roads in the so-called “arc of deforestation” (Davin, 2010).
Currently happening in Brazil, the most fundamental issue driving the land clearing policy in Brazil is the ongoing rapid rate of deforestation. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization date indicate that Brazil lost about 42 million ha of forest from 1990 to 2005 alone. The deforestation in the amazon can be attributed to the conversion to cattle ranches and cropland. The World Constitution Union divides protected areas into five categories depending on the intended level of human use. Brazilian Forest Code is the primary legal restriction of forest clearing on private lands. The FC has established that 50% of each property must be managed as forest reserves and retain natural composition. However, in 1996 the minimum required
Rainforests do many great things for humans. By absorbing carbon dioxide, rainforests are essential to reducing the effects of climate change which creates better air quality and cuts down the risk of heat related illness. They also provide a home for roughly half of all species of wildlife, and plants that make up more than 25 percent of our modern medicine on Earth (). The largest rainforests are the Amazon Rainforest, and the Congo Rainforest; as well as, several other large rainforests spread throughout southeast Asia. There are also many smaller rainforests located all along the equator. Before deforestation became a big problem, these rainforests covered nearly 15% of the Earth's surface, they now cover just 6% (). Deforestation of rainforests is one of the most threatening environmental issues mankind faces. If the situation is not addressed quickly, the world as we know it will change forever.
What if people died from suffocation? They did not have enough air that they died from suffocation. Trees are a big contributor that makes earth special and allows them to live. It produces the air they breathe and keeps the land they live on together. Deforestation causes a loss of forests, reduces biodiversity, and increases green house gases.
Tropical rainforests are home to around 50% of the worlds plant and animal species, making them amongst the most biodiverse places on earth. Characterised by high rainfall and high humidity, tropical rainforests can see between 250 and 450 centimetres of rain a year.
In the Amazon region of Brazil, regulatory enforcement routinely failed forest conservation efforts to prevent deforestation. A turning point happened in 2005: a combination of unfortunate economic conditions and an organized effort from national institutions produced a noticeable decrease in the destruction of forests. Researchers studied the impact of fines, embargoes on private properties, and confiscating the means of production for deforestation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. Ultimately, the results of these studies showed that measures to increase methods of collection of fines issued are urgently needed.