Devastating Effects of the Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados Essay

The Amazon forest occupies a relevant place on the international scene and its importance is recognized worldwide. The goal of this paper is to present general information about the Amazon area, showing the biodiversity and the environmental, social, and economic impact in exploring that area. This paper will also emphasize what are the values of that ecosystem to the world, explaining about several natural resources, fauna, and flora in the Amazon forest. The author supported his arguments on articles and books that are in the reference. As a result, the author provides an overview and some important details about that area, bringing arguments and evidences to show why is important take care of the Amazon forest.

Before human impact Ecuador must have been covered by an estimated fifty-two million acres of forest. During the coca and banana boom, the coastal lowland forests were cleared for these agriculture crops. In the interandean basin native vegetation has been practically eliminated since colonial times, replaced by crops, pasture, towns and cities, and eucalyptus and pine plantations. This region suffers serious soil erosion problems. Today only about 1 - 2% of its original forest covers remains. Only about 5% remain of the rich forests of the coastal region, most of which have been destroyed in the last 50 years by logging, agroindustrial monocultures (banana, cacao, coffee, African palm) and colonization. In the province of Esmeraldas (in northwest Ecuador), the last unprotected old-growth forests on the coast are now being liquidated by the timber industry and cleared for huge plantations of African palm which are currently responsible for the fastest deforestation rate in South America.

One can encounter every environmental extreme imaginable, from the intensely vertical terrain of the Andes, soaring up to altitudes of 5,000 meters (16,404 ft.) above sea level, to dry, low-lying lands along the western coast of South America. The climate zones are equally diverse, with some areas that are constantly hot and humid to others with subfreezing temperatures year round. Also within its boundaries are some of the driest places on earth- Chile’s Atacama Desert- to some of the most lush- the Amazonian rain forest to the east of the Andes- with rainy season lasting 11 months of the year. (Suarez and George 3)

     The mainland of Ecuador has three regions: (1) the Coastal Lowland, (2) the Andes Highland, and (3) the Eastern Lowland. The Galapagos Islands also belong to Ecuador. Ecuador's climate varies according to the altitude. The Coastal Lowland and the Eastern Lowland are hot and humid. The Peru Current cools the Coastal Lowland slightly. The temperature in the lowlands averages about 75 °F (24 °C). The Peru Current cools the tropical climate of the Galapagos Islands.

There are many landforms in Colombia, each fitting into ecosystems that are intricately unique. The Amazon river is a habitat for animals (black caimans, piranhas, giant river otters, and pink dolphins) that are part of the surrounding Amazon rainforest ecosystem. The Colombian landscape is admittedly in many ways like other South American countries, but is nevertheless astonishing. There are the Andes mountains, the Amazon rainforest, the grassland plains, and a small area of desert. Some interesting landforms include the Andean Highlands, the Middle Magdalena Basin, Mt. Ritacuba Blanco, the Cumbal volcano.

Ecuador is a small country on the Pacific coast of South America. It is bisected laterally by the equator, and longitudinally by the Andes. The Andes divide the country’s mainland into three distinct regions, the coast to the west, the mountains, and the rainforest to the east. It is the Andes that this paper is focused on, giving special attention to the mountain Cotopaxi.

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

Colombia’s wildlife animals are being endangered due to loss of habitat which is stolen by drug crops. Colombia, “has more bird species than any other country… but rare endemic birds - such as the gorgeted puffleg, a hummingbird discovered just three years ago in southwest Colombia - are losing habitat within their limited ranges to coca cultivation.” (Carpenter). The gorgeted puffleg isn’t the only endangered species, nor is it a coincidence that it’s habitat is in known drug regions of Colombia. Other wildlife, which are native to the south of Colombia, have had their homes exploited and used for cultivation; this is true for four magnolia species who are facing inevitable extinction. The demand for land by the cocaine industry is driving drug farmers to participate in the destruction of ecosystems through the means of illegal agriculture

Ecuador is a small country in western South America. It borders the Equator and the Pacific Ocean. The equator runs through Ecuador, which is how the country got its name (Ecuador Facts and Culture). Ecuador stays hot year round, because of its location on the equator. Ecuador is just over two hundred fifty thousand square kilometers and is divided into the Highlands, the Amazon, the Coast, and the Galapagos. The four different sections result in a versatile landscape that allows different types of agriculture and even different tourist attractions. The coast includes plains that are great for farming and rolling hills. The highlands include the Andes mountain range. The Amazon is a jungle-like area that has a host of exotic wildlife.

The country of Ecuador is the smallest places in South America and it is border by Peru, Colombia, and the Pacific Ocean. Even being a small country they are divide into 4 primary geographic areas or regions-the costa, the sierra, the Orienta, and the Galapagos Islands (Colleen 9). The 1st region is the costa is the plain along the coast and covers ¼ of the area and is west of the Andes with 3 types of ecosystems: the tropical rain forest, the dry deserts, and the tropical savannas (9, 11) The next one is the sierra where the Andes Mountains are home in the central highlands along with other volcanoes (9, 12). Also, the

The region is home to tribes that only live in these rainforests and these include the Secoya, Cofan, Kichiwa and Huaorani people. Theirs were lives lived in bliss with nature. They ate what they hunted and gathered in the vibrant forests and drank from clear rivers that ran through their homelands. Peace and tranquility prevailed since time immemorial until 1964 when oil was discovered under their soil. Decades later, a disaster struck these serenely beautiful lands in what is today described by some as ‘Rainforest Chernobyl’ (ChevronToxico, 2016). The government of Ecuador partnered with an American corporation, Texaco, later to be bought by Chevron (A.R Sorkin with N.Banerjee, 16 October,

In this article we are presented with the effects of fire and wildlife dynamics in Western Amazonia. This a very intriguing article written by researchers at the Institution Technology Department of Biological Sciences in Melbourne, Florida. Researches both on local and regional scales were able to ascertain the question, if bamboo forests have historically covered an area as extensive as its current distributions? During the study, the intrigued wanted to uncover how the modern extent of bamboo could have resulted from the historical increases of fire presence and whether past invasions of bamboo dominance is persistent to the landscape and future state of Western Amazonia. Through the use of Landsat imagery, field surveys and other means of technology, these researchers were able to show the impacts of fire on bamboo in major cities of Los Amigos, Cocha Cashu, Peru, and Acre, Brazil.

“About 180 oil and gas blocks now cover ~688,000 km2 of the western Amazon” (Finer, M., Jenkins, C., Pimm, S., Keane, B., Ross, C., 2013). Ecuador is comprised of thousands of

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.

Land is greatly affected by the meat industry. The percentage of U.S. agricultural land used to produce meat is 56%. The strains on land include topsoil erosion and depletion of forested areas. The percentage of U.S topsoil loss directly associated with livestock raising is 85%. In Mexico 37 million acres of forest have been destroyed since 1987 to provide additional grazing land for cattle. The cattle industry is a driving force behind the destruction of the tropical rainforests. Until 1994, in the Amazon the total deforested area was of 450, 000 square Km. The current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforest amounts to one thousand per year. Various species of plants live in the tropical rainforest, which can be used for their medicinal properties. These plants need yet to be discovered. We can not afford to risk their extinction.