Habitat Destruction Amazon

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

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.

The Denver Academy has recently researched and defined some of the important facts surrounding the Amazon rainforest. In 2017, the Amazon rainforest covers 2.1 million square miles of South America. It is a vast ecosystem home to 10% of the world’s known species (The Denver Academy). They go on to say that the trees are so dense, when it rains, it takes 10 minutes for the water to break through the forest roof. The destruction of this habitat could lead to extinction of these species, and have devastating impacts all over the world from the loss of the lungs of the earth. While it is mainly concentrated in Brazil there are also large portions of the rainforest in Peru and Colombia, so many populations and economies are directly affected

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.

Deforestation is an environmental problem everybody gets affected by; but not equally. Cutting down trees and degrading the soil of an eco-system can change it for the worse and leave it unrecoverable. The Amazon Rainforest is a large and very biodiverse ecosystem that stretches across 5,500,000 kilometers. The Amazon Rainforest is not a stranger to deforestation since the late 1960’s. Deforestation in the amazon forest will cripple all organisms that rely heavily on the forest to provide for a sustainable life, while others not directly impacted may benefit from it. Other people may benefit from the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest from the profit that comes with the use of land for agriculture/livestock. However, the tribes, plants, and animals, that live in the Amazon Rainforest suffer from the loss of Biodiversity, the habitat and resources that are being taken away from clearing forests, and the reduced air quality along with the increased carbon emissions. Deforestation is a process of demolition towards the ecosystem.

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.

Our world has had deforestation for a while and worldwide, 32 million acres of forests are cleared each year (“Docksai, 45-51”). While we have trees being cut down, especially in the Amazon in Brazil is also a home to tropical rainforests plants with cancer-fighting compounds (“Balaguer, 14-21”). During the time of October and November of 2013 scientists have found that there has been a 136% increase in deforestation (“Balaguer, 14-21”). The reason why I care so much about deforestation is that trees on earth carry oxygen for us and if there are no more trees and we have an overpopulated world we probably won’t be alive. Another reason why is that the Amazon forests are homes to beautiful animals such as the birds there.

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.

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

According to many scientific studies, there has been a significant increase in the levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere.5 This increase in greenhouse gases has serious consequences for the region, as well as the rest of the planet. These effects caused by deforestation have led to increased surface temperatures across the region of the Amazon.6 When the trees are cut down, the farmers move into the newly cleared area. These farmers bring livestock with them. These livestock release methane, another greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. This only compounds the greenhouse effect seen in the Amazon region.7 The trees that were cut down absorbed much of the carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere. These trees are being replaced by organisms that release more greenhouse gases. Increasing surface temperatures are suspected to be one of the key factors in the continuing drought in Brazil. Since 2014, as shown in Figure 5 there has been an increasing drought throughout Brazil. With some areas experiencing less than 50% of their average precipitation levels. Brazil has begun to push for water rationing in most areas of the country. Climatologists in Brazil fear for the fragile ecosystem of the Amazon, worrying that continuing droughts could permanently damage one of the most important and diverse ecosystems on the

The main reason for so much loss of land is due to all the illegal farming that goes on in the amazon. The only way to detect any illegal activity is with a satellite. This works, but not so well because they only capture half the rainforest because the other half is covered by clouds. The illegal farmers are smart and use techniques that trick the low resolution images that the satellites take. This is why Brazil is stepping up their game and trying a plan. “Brazil is using a plan called Deter B.” Brazil has been improving way to act on the situation. They have more involved and made their forces better in tracking illegal soybean and cattle grazing farms. Brazil has said in a meeting with us the US that deforestation of the amazon is going to stop by 2025 - 2035. With this would take the ban off Brazil's cattle transport to the US. The US would actually help with their legal soybean and cattle grazing farms. Brazil has realized what has been going on but the there re-elected president that wants to build a highway running through the middle of the Amazon. We should preserve our biggest and most important biodiversity in the world. If not it could all be gone in no

“The lungs of the Earth,” the Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world and is home to a countless number of species (National Geographic, 2015). In 2013 the rate of deforestation in the Amazon rose by 29 percent and was largely observed in the states of Para and Mato Grosso in Brazil (Teixeira, 2014). The latest images taken by NASA’s satellite, Aqua reveals that multiple fires took place in these mentioned regions and were reported to have been intentional in order to clear land area (NASA, 2014). Earlier this year Sao Paulo faced severe draughts and the “drizzle city” was compared to a desert with 20 million settlers facing water cuts (Lean, 2015). Scientists believe the reason for this is the clearing

The Amazon Rainforest is a very diverse and complex place. It provides at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity and it is the largest rainforest that the Earth contains (Thompson, 2010). Unfortunately, this valuable Earth biome is endangered due to human activities such as deforestation. About 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been destructed (Thompson, 2010). Deforestation leads to an increase in CO2 emissions and in global warming and it decreases biodiversity. This not only has an impact on the Amazon ecosystem, it has an impact on the whole planet. A lot of wealth inequality resulted around the 1970s when the settling of Amazon began which initiated deforestation (Marston, Knox, Liverman, Del Casino & Robinsons, 2013).

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 forest is a vast region that occupies through eight developing countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France. This landscape contains 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet's tropical forests, 4,100 miles of winding rivers. The Brazilian Amazon is home to 40% of the world's tropical forest and one of the most bio diverse regions on the planet. About 54% of the area is under environmental protection, and in the past five years, stricter controls and better compliance have driven deforestation rates down to a historical low. The Amazon contains millions of different species, most of them still undescribed and unknown. It is one of Earth's last refuges for many types of animals, like jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins, and it is home to thousands of birds and butterflies. The diversity of the region is outstanding. More than 30 million people, including many