Deforestation of The Amazon Rainforest

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.

Brazil’s rainforests and America’s rainforests are great examples of the negative effect that deforestation has on these specific areas. One of the rising challenges in our rapidly growing world is the destruction of rainforests and how it is slowly ruining the world that we live in. Deforestation has a lot of destructive impacts on the environment that is surrounding us, one of the most important being its effect on the climate. The fast rise in the world’s population, calling for high demand of resources, is only hastening the effects of deforestation, which can hopefully be put an end to through the enforcement of a handful of simple, key, and sustainable solutions.

If soybean production were undertaken in Tambopata, the crops would be raised under World Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy’s guidelines of “Forest Friendly Soy” (Schnoecker, 2007). This means that at least eighty percent of farmers land must be preserved as forest to make up for the twenty percent farmed. The World Wildlife Federation recently awarded Paraguay with the “Leaders for a Living Planet” award in recognition of their “Zero Deforestation Law,” which prohibits the conversion of forested to agricultural

Such unnatural crop selection slowly transforms our lush lands into monocultures, depleting the soil, harming the bees and other wildlife. To one mono-crop—soya bean—Patel devotes a whole chapter of his book, titled Glycine Max, that exposes the massive industry of soya bean production and post-production: from the soybean oil, to food for the cattle, to the enormously popular food additive lecithin. Hence, against the superpower of those who stand behind the soya bean business, one way to rebell, according to Patel, is to start cooking from the scrap, from simple ingredients and not prepacked foods brimming with additives. However, it is easier said than done,”I don't really like Ranch dressing, but can't seem to not have a salad without it” claims my friend

Farmers that use Monsanto’s patented soybeans must enter into an agreement with the American Soybean Association therefore acknowledging the use of Monsanto’s soybeans. As per the Harvest of fear article “Every farmer which purchases the seeds must enter into a stewardship agreement”. The farmer agrees to respect Monsanto’s patent these patents are protected by law. The farmers are not to replant used soybeans. Monsanto claims that if this were to occur they would work with the farmers in order to resolve the situation. Monsanto is gaining control by forcing farmers into purchasing there products and that effects the food which consumers buy to feed their

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

Together, coffee and cattle account for most of the deforestation of the Atlantic Forest and Amazon. Deforestation for agriculture and cattle, urbanization, human population growth, have resulted

This policy memo addresses the development and expansion of the cattle ranching industry in Brazil, which has contributed to the mass deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon in the last 40 years. It exposes the regional and global consequences to deforestation and provides strategies for the Brazilian government to sustainably manage cattle ranching industries while protecting the future of the Amazon. The rainforest ecosystem is an immense reserve of natural recourses that is far more valuable than the beef produced on Brazilian cattle ranches. Not only does the rainforest create habitat for up to 65% of the world’s biodiversity, but when harvested sustainably, it provides humans with an abundance of spices, foods, oils, medicines

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.

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

The Amazon rainforest, known as well as the Amazonia, is considered as the “lung of the planet,” due to it produces about 20% of earth’s oxygen. The Amazon is contained by the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the three Guianas (Amazon Rainforest). Unfortunately, one phenomenon that has been affecting the Amazon rainforest is the deforestation; according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, deforestation is the transformation of forest to non-forest land cover by human activities.

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.

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 wide uses of the soybean make the profit increase dramatically which also due to the increasing soybean consumption in China. The boost in Brazil economy is the direct result, the soybean industry now account for nearly 2 percent of Brazil’s GDP. However it brings more of the global issues than a country’s benefit--Global warming, lose of biodiversity, lose of a place that produce 20% of the world’s oxygen. Ignore the warning from the environmental groups, the land used for soybean farming is continue increasing and now it has covered more than 18,400 hectares of the amazon

Before South American nations like Brazil focused on reducing deforestation, a 15-year study from the United Nations ranked South America fourth in annual carbon emissions. Once the home of the greatest rainforests in the world, a large percentage of these complex ecosystems have been sacrificed for pastureland. In fact, over 70% of the area’s deforested lands are used for grazing, largely because of the regions beef production (Gaworecki). Why is this such a massive problem? “Because 50% of the Earth’s remaining tropical rain forests are in South America, keeping these forest intact is crucial to controlling climate change” (Pulsipher). Essentially, although across the world from each other, South America’s struggle directly affects the many island nations of Southeast Asia and Oceania.