Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest

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 the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious

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.

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

The most appropriate way to address land conflict in the Amazon rainforest is to stop deforestation. Because rubber tappers aren’t hurting the environment. They also make money/ living off of collecting the resources. The tappers have been tapping trees for their whole life. Although the rubber tappers have to put cuts in the trees to get the rubber resources out it doesn’t hurt the trees.

A study by Mongbay shows a loss since 1978 until today of about 79% of forest deforestation. Decades ago when humans first occupied the earth and began to use fire; deforestation slow began. History has changed and so has technology and methods. The axe has evolved into a chainsaw which accelerates the process of deforestation. Chopping down trees has been the human quest for shelter, food, and warmth. Trees provide humans with wood for shelter. Wood also provides fire for fuel to keep us warm at night. Lastly trees provide us with human food such as roots, nuts, and branches for burning. Humans have used an axe and required endless energy to chop a tree down. The alternation from a stone axe to a chainsaw has increased the clearing of

As the Amazon rain forest started out as untouched like a brand new pack of your favorite candy. As you start to open up the package you start to smel and get a feeling how good they will taste. By the time you know it most of them are gone this is really similar to the deforesation of the Amazon. As the people start to vinently cut through the forest like a huge herd of teenagers at a black friday scale which is realy bad f you havent been to one. Adiitionally with the deforesation you are now seeint the result of it over the years it started out all full and turned into Mr. Morans head. As the years go th kids will finall find the bottom of the bag and relized it was a beatiful and enstroundary place they just torn up like it was nothing.

Deforestation is a permanent destruction of forests, and an estimated of 18 millions acres of forest is destroyed every year. In recent decades, the forest is losing at a rapid rate, and deforestation is a man made problem because human cut down trees for economic development and social development. Governments and environmental agencies have recognized the problems of deforestation, and they set up different policies to regulate business companies and manufacturers for furthering damage the forest. One of the most outstanding policies is to restrict illegal commercial activities in public forest areas, and new policies of reclaiming unregistered forest land and regulating activities on private forest are also effective methods to stop deforestation.

The Amazon is currently the largest deforestation front in the world. Deforestation is impacting us as well as a large range of plant and animal species. Every ten seconds, eight football fields of rainforests are destroyed. A variety of scientists that study deforestation have also reported that by 2030, more than a quarter of the Amazon will be gone. If we do our part by supporting the cause to reduce deforestation, we will cause a positive decline in global warming and, as an overall benefit, the cost effectiveness of reducing deforestation will then be able to be used by assisting others around the

The Amazon rainforest is perhaps the richest collection of plant and animals diversity in the world. It recycles rainfall from coastal regions to the continental interior, providing water for Brazil’s inland agriculture. Big industries like Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Cargill have established industrial soy plantations in Brazil that are taking over large plots of land in the Amazon rainforest (Food for Thought). Soy has been popularized in the past decade as a healthy protein substitute for the restricted diets of vegetarians and vegans. In the past 40 years, soybean production has increased by 500% (Soy Benefits). International demand for the soybean has been on the rise, and with it comes an increase in deforestation and

The tropical forests of Brazil contain a multitude of resources like timber, diamonds, metals, oils, gold and more (Freedman 2004). The most common known reason for deforestation is for wood and wood byproducts. The U. S. alone imports 26% percent of pulp for paper (FAO 2010). But the driving force behind tropical deforestation is the global expanding population. 60% of tropical deforestation is due to expanding agricultural practices to supply the worlds need for sustenance. This includes the growing of crops as well as cattle rearing. Another benefit is industrialization and urbanization opportunities. Most tropical forests are located in developing countries. The most notable benefit is economical revenue and the jobs created from deforestation. Millions of people are employed in the agriculture and timber industry and rely on it to support their families (FAO

The potential of this kind of joint action is proven. In Brazil, the major soy companies (and later the large cattle companies too) banded together to create a moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon. Growers and whole districts were held responsible for any breaches, giving everyone from farmers to corporate executives a powerful incentive to protect the forest. The result: within three years, Brazil had virtually eliminated deforestation for soy in the Amazon, a huge global success. Meanwhile, Brazil has doubled cattle and soy production, showing that it is possible to break the link between deforestation and growth on a grand

A real life example of a social dilemma is the deforestation of the amazon rainforest. In the early 2000’s rapid industrialisation, immense scales of agriculture and other economic activities led to 20% of the territory being destroyed. The scale of destruction particularly, within Brazil was so large; NASA released an image confirming the effects were detectable from space, (Winter, 2014) Many of the contributing parties to the problem included, developers, subsistence farmers, cattle-ranchers, mining/quarrying, colonising and paper producers, (Butler, 2006). Let us take the later example; paper producers that became tempted by mass production & felled for self-interest would have significantly risked depletion of the forest.

The Causes and Effects of Deforestation in Tropical Rainforests Tropical rainforests are the most alive places on earth. Covering less than 12% of the land's surface, the rainforests are home to more than half of all living species (Lewis, 4). 90% of all non-primates reside in tropical rainforests. Two-thirds of known plants, 40% birds of prey, and 80% of all insects are found only in tropical rainforests. Of the 2.5 to 5 million animals species thought to exist, only about one-half have been identified to date.

The Amazon is rich in biodiversity and it is home to a number of species of plants and animals as well as to the indigenous people. The Amazon has been prominent in discussions on preserving it and its resources by establishing regulations for issues like deforestation, extraction of oil and minerals, development of hydroelectric dams, land disputes and displacement of indigenous people. The Amazon plays a role socially, economically, politically, and studies have shown a linkage/relationship between the Amazon’s direct threats of environmental degradation and global warming/climate change. Therefore, exploring the threats and issues associated with environmental degradation in the Amazon will help understand the interaction between the Amazon’s degradation and global climate change.