Deforestation Is A Global Issue

Productivity, stability, and sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest has undergone extreme deterioration, mainly due to deforestation. Humans cut down trees in the rainforest for various reasons; these include acquisition of wood for timber, agricultural developments, extraction of minerals and energy, and access to new land. The loss of these trees ultimately can lead to climate change, which causes drought, the death of more trees, and the risk of forest fires. The Amazon Rainforest is home to ten percent of all plant and animal species known on Earth; this ecosystem also plays an essential role in controlling carbon levels all over the world. Currently, the rainforest is a “carbon sink,” which basically means that carbon dioxide is stored and prevented from triggering climate change. Due to human impacts, much less energy and food is produced in the Amazon, and organisms are constantly subject to

(4) S-1 Section Staff Functions/Responsibilities: a) Administrative Officer (S-1): Responsible to the Commandant/Commander for all administrative functions concerning students and staff. The S-1 officer performs the following duties and responsibilities: • Serves as principal advisor to the RTI Commander on HR support. • Advises the RTI Commander of the personnel portion of the Unit Status Report (USR). • Provides technical guidance/oversight to subordinate battalions. • Serves as the senior HR manager for the brigade.

This paper explores the causes, effects and possible solutions of the deforestation of the Amazon Forest. It is important to understand why more than 580,000 square kilometers of Amazon forest has been destroyed in Brazil since 1980 (Rhett Butler 2012). The main topics of this paper, in order to fully explore the issue at hand, will include:

Deforestation in Brazil is cutting down trees in order to clear the land for large-scale industrialization and agriculture.

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest and river basin in the world. It covers around 2.1 million square miles of land, and exists in eight different countries and one French Territory. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse places on the planet, accounting for ten percent of all known species, with more being discovered every year. But in this fragile ecosystem, people see opportunity to make money and a lifestyle, sometimes even illegally, trying to profit in the logging, mining, and agriculture industries. However, these industries help contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.

There are a number of negative effects of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon such as climate change, extinction of endemic species of rich biodiversity and destruction of home of indigenous people. First of all, climate may vary and deteriorate because of deforestation. Especially green house gas emission could have significant impacts on earth residents. Because it is calculated that Amazon rainforest contains about 10% of all carbon in the world, which total release will be disastrous. The deforestation of Amazon is responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions which are the results of logging and burning of Amazon could have serious impacts to the whole world, including global warming (Butler, 2007). For instance, increase of 0.8 C from 1880 was indicated and especially two last decades of 20th century were hottest ones. Moreover, effects of it can be considerably felt in Alaska, Eastern Russia and Canada, where the double increase of temperature compared with total average was indicated (National Geographic News 2007). Another damage that deforestation could make is runoff of Amazon River. It is estimated that if “widespread deforestation” arise, there will be 20% increase in runoff, which could be

Since 1978 over 750,000 square kilometers of forests have been destroyed and deforested in the Amazon forest across Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Brazil has the largest area of forest removed annually from the Amazon. Many terrestrial ecosystems in the Amazon are affected significantly by the impacts of deforestation. The Amazon is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Its rainforests are known to be home to millions of plant and animal species. With the increasing deforestation that is taking place, many of those species and their habitats are under a great threat. Every species that disappears from the ecosystem due to deforestation can destroy the survival chances of another species in the Amazon.

A shocking 18 million acres of forest are laid bare every year, that is the rough size of Panama. Deforestation is the process of destroying and eliminating a forest. The most common methods used to achieve deforestation are, burning of trees and clear cutting, these methods leave the land totally barren. Deforestation is done in order to use the land for housing, urbanization, cattle ranching, farming, making commercial items, such as, paper and furniture.

The deforestation in the Amazonian rainforest of Brazil harms the environment and everything within it. Up to 30,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next centuries quarter due to deforestation. Oil is the number one leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon to sell to large corporate countries such as the United States of America. At 66 million tons of oil annually, 27 million hectares of land is used for oil plantations today and has a record of 700 land conflicts within the industry in just Indonesia alone. Many companies have tried to move protesters by promising a stop to deforestation, but many have overlooked this and proceeded to destroy the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, now resulting in protesters deaths by Brazilian police. It was recorded that in the past 20 years, 200 protesters have been murdered in a plea against Amazonian deforestation (Greenpeace 2016).

Deforestation is the removal of a forest in which the land is use for non-forest uses. This is a big problem for the planet, and can have an effect on the enivroment. Brazil is an perfect example of what deforestation can effect an area enviorment. In the article "Deforestation Drives Up Brazil's Carbon Emissions" it states how the carbon dioxide level have risen in the country thanks to deforestation. The data the was reveal that the level of the carbon dioxide went up as did the rise in the rate of deforestation. The deforestation was the cause for two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. The cause of deforestation in Brazil was thank rise in farming an agriculture. Deforestation have been on raise in Brazil in recent shown from August 2014 to July 2015 deforesttion increase by 24%.

After spending a few hours reading webpages and finding numerous sources, reliable information about deforestation in the Amazon was found. The World Wildlife Fund had very reliable information as there were sources and statistics which could support their statements (World Wildlife fund, 2015). The organisation is very credible as they always publish true information with supporting sources. At times it was difficult to find exact information so narrowing the search made it easier to find information which I was looking for. Webpages are not the best for research but there were a few webpages which were useful when they had sources to support the statements.

There are several world changing events happening right now. However, many of these events are either forgotten or rarely discussed. One of these “forgotten” events is the deforestation of the rainforests. Rainforest deforestation primarily started in the 1970’s, but has since increased. Up until recently, deforestation of rainforests was seldom talked about despite how much it has affected the world. Rainforest deforestation needs more attention because it has occurred for many decades despite the environmental damage, the rainforest is important for the economy, food, and medicinal purposes, it has many adverse effects such as climate change, and there are several projects to reduce deforestation.

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

During the past 30 years, deforestation in the Amazon has been a huge problem. The Amazon Rainforest is home to an estimated one-third of all known animal species and makes up about half of the world’s rainforests. The reasons for the deforestation is to expand pastures for cattle production, and fields to grow soybeans. ("Brazil Geography-Introduction." N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2016.)

The Amazon is a vast region spanning across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana (Walker, & Cesareo 2014). Possessing the most developed rainforest of anywhere in the world, over two-thirds of all the fresh water and 20% of the earth’s oxygen are produced in the Amazons (wcupa.edu). Despite the vital role of the Amazons, the rapid deforestation continues to affect the ecosystem. (Mainville, et al, 2006). The main causes of deforestation include unsustainable logging, agriculture, invasive species, fire, fuel wood gathering, and livestock grazing. The widespread of this issue has become an important consideration in global policy processes that deal with biodiversity, climate change, and