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 …show more content…
Throughout history, there have always been two main reason reasons for deforestation. The first reason was for economic gains such as: the need for new and bigger land for cow pastures and crop production, timber manufacturing, and trading goods. The second reason was for social gains such as: increasing population in a specific region or are, the migration of large social groups, and wars (Kranjc 16). In the 1970’s and 1980’s to help with economic gains, people were offered tax incentives, such as tax exemption and grants from the bank. These incentives helped make people more willing to buy and use land for pastures and crop production (Andersen 8). With the introduction of wheat, tobacco, then later soybeans, there became an increasing need for more land. Over time, people started to find that clearing land for cattle pastures were the cheapest and most effective way to buy land (Fearnside …show more content…
The Amazon rainforest was first being cleared for crop and logging production, but after realizing the economic success of cattle ranching, cattle pastures became the leading reason for deforestation. Different sized ranches, mainly large, made up about 70% of the deforestation that was going on in the Amazon. According to the research done by, Philip Fearnside, “all of the profits made from beef cattle have been the only income source that made the deforestation in the Amazon profitable.” Though cattle ranching have made a major impact on the Amazon, the biggest impact of deforestation was caused by the building of the Transamazon Highway in 1970. The goal of this enormous highway was to connect Brazil with its neighboring countries in South America. This highway connects different plantations in Brazil and its neighboring countries by constructing trucking routes that make transporting crops easier. (Fearnside
Deforestation presents in an abundance of ways, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. The foremost reason of deforestation in Latin America is the requirement for food, fuel, shelter, and foreign exchange. Year on year, a space of tropical forest the size of Great Britain is "converted" from an area equal to the size of Europe. Ever since 1950, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), half of the world 's forests have disappeared. “Latin America has lost 37 percent of its tropical forests,” says the FAO. As more and more of Latin American forest are degraded, more and more detrimental effects are being seen. Deforestation is changing a number of resources for tribal groups, altering their way of life, temperatures are increasing at a dangerous rate because of a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, habitats and species such as plants and wildlife are being annexed due to the destructive effects of deforestation. Deforestation is inarguably helpful to supplying money to countries that sell the products from the forest, but huge wealth being generated from the forests comes with large-scale environmental and social costs. The local residences are not benefitting and the funds are being siphoned out of the region.
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
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
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.
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. Half of the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or degraded. Some people ask why forests’ are being cleared. It is typically done to make more land available for other things like housing, cash crops, oil, and cattle ranching. Most of what everyone does with deforestation is said to be illegal. Common methods of deforestation are clear cutting and burning trees. The burning method can be done either quickly or slowly. Quickly for plantation use or more slowly using the slash and burn technique. The many reasons why farmers and other people do that is to get money to feed there family or like it was stated early, to make room for growing crops or livestock. Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to people’s need to provide for there families or money. Logging operations, which provide the world’s paper and wood products, also cut a number of trees down each year. Loggers, some of them doing it illegally, also build roads to get to more and more remote forests, which leads to further deforestation. Not all deforestation is a terrible thing and intentional. Deforestation comes in handy when in need to build a new oil place. There are a lot of natural factors that play into deforestation like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing. Most of the deforestation occurs in the tropics, which is a terrible place because they have poor soil for
Individuals have been deforesting the Earth for a large number of years, fundamentally to clear land for yields or domesticated animals. "Deforestation" is the lasting devastation of timberlands with a specific end goal to make the area accessible for different uses; what's more, as indicated by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization an expected 18 million sections of land of backwoods, which is generally the nation's extent of Panama, are lost every year; Although tropical woods are to a great extent bound to creating nations, they aren't simply meeting nearby or national needs; monetary globalization implies that the needs and needs of the worldwide populace are hunkering down on them also.
On the surface, expanding agriculture into the rainforest seems to be a fast and simple way to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, but in reality, the resulting environmental damage--in addition to being intrinsically harmful--would actually worsen the hunger that the expansion is trying to solve. In 2014, Brazil was removed from the UN World Hunger Map, an accomplishment that Social Development Minister Tereza Campello credits to “a mix of public policies and an increased food supply” (“World Hunger Map”). Unsurprisingly, at least a significant portion of the “increased food supply” came from agricultural expansion in the Amazon Rainforest, which currently hosts approximately 200 million cows (“Cattle Ranching”). Unfortunately for Brazil, its accomplishment of ending famine within its borders may be soon reversed.
The government not being able to monitor the deforestation of the Amazon cause a large areas of the forest to be cleared. One of the main reason it was cleared was for cattle. Brazil needed to cut budget their budget, so the cut 74 % of from forest protection between 2011-2014. Crime networks have illegal logging operation set up in the Amazon that it is also contributing to deforestation rate. If this keep up more carbon dioxide will be release to the atmosphere. The climate observatory's executive secretary warn country the they need to make sure they are doing everything to control global warming. The Brazil have to warn about not just deforestation casuing emissions of carbon dioxide, but using more fossil fuels. The Brazil's Congress have approve a bill to use coal, which will have a negative effect on the climates. This article show if deforestation is not control it will led to negative to the effect climate in the long
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.
Since the year 1970, 758,092 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest have been lost due to deforestation (“Changing Deforestation 1”). Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses and has been extremely prevalent in the Amazon rainforest in recent years. Many argue that the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is wrongful because of its negative impact on the environment while others argue that it is necessary to keep the Brazilian economy strong. Although it is beneficial to humanity for many reasons, the deforestation of the Amazon should be put to an end at once because of its serious issues and long lasting impacts in the atmosphere, in nature, in human health and in
Friday, January 20, 2017 Dear to anyone who interests you, There is a situation in South America and we need your help. Trees are disappearing together with other forest plants. In Venezuela there is land without plants or forest trees. Colombia is a country with a lot of deforestation. The trees in this tropical forest are disappearing. People are killing and removing trees for coca. In Bolivia, there is a forest protection law near the border. In Venezuela, there is destruction in the forests but the government does nothing. The Venezuelan government does not teach emotion about deforestation. Part of because there is deforestation in Venezuela because there is very little water. Deforestation is part of a cause of climate
Brazil is addressing the SDGs goal of sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss by implementing laws to limit deforestation, taking action to protect the Amazon, and promoting the drastic damage of deforestation. Brazil has established laws that preserve the Amazon. Brazil’s economy, as well as other economies worldwide. have realized the long-term economic value an intact rainforest offers. Laws have been made to protect the Amazon, like declaring “over 50% of the forest national parks”(McCarthy). Furthermore, Brazil has enacted a “national moratorium”(McCarthy) on soybean farming on recently deforested land. Soybean farming, in addition to cattle farming,
It is estimated that about 1.8 million hectares of Amazonian forests were lost between 2001 and 2015 with peaks of loss occurring in 2005, 2009 and 2014. The main causes of forest loss are deforestation and soil degradation, small and medium scale agriculture, large-scale agriculture, pasture for livestock, gold mining, coca cultivation and road construction. Controlling small and medium scale agriculture will be challenging for the government because unlike large-scale agriculture there is not just one company behind it. The hotspots for deforestation shift as it is impacted by different causes. Using new technology (MAAP Monitors), activists are better able
A study published by an international team of scientists warns the Amazon is being largely impacted by dams, mining, overfishing, and deforestation. In this transect the focus will be deforestation