Overpopulation : The Environmental Issues In The Amazon Rainforest

The cause of human overpopulation is birth rates. The high amounts of birth rates are causing overpopulation to grow each year. Research shows in the year 2030, the population is expected to reach 8.5 billion people and 9.7 billion people in the year 2050. Developing countries is straining the already scarce resources. Intensive agriculture practices damage the environment through the use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and insecticides. As the population expands further, many natural resources such as fossil fuels, water, and forests continue to plummet. Lessening population will definitely solve many problems such as poverty, species becoming extinct, food shortages, water and air pollution, and even lower crime rate. High birth rates can be solved by spreading awareness, educate people about overpopulation, and increasing accessibility to birth control.

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 a mighty jungle filled with an array of exotic species of wood, like mahogany, and rich natural resources such as gold, copper, tin, and nickel. Naturally, people want to make a profit, but the rainforest’s trees stand in the way. Logging is the main source of deforestation. Every year, millions of trees are cut down to be made into timber. Many times, these logging operations are illegal. These operations will keep exploiting the Amazon for its exotic timber, not caring that many of these species of plants are either rare, or help support rare species and ecosystems. Mining also creates deforestation, but not as severely as logging. Trees are cut down to make way for mining operations that dig for non renewable resources like copper and gold. Trees are also used as charcoal to help produce pig iron. A third cause of deforestation is agriculture. Cattle ranches and soy plantations are created where the Amazon Rainforest once stood. As people expand their farms, they must cut down the areas they now use for farming. Trees are also cut to make space for animal pens. Governments also contribute to the deforestation problem by building roads and creating infrastructure. Although these roads help with communication and navigation, they cut through the rainforest, and often help illegal loggers create new roads from their operations in the jungle to these roads that connect with civilization. All of these factors have helped cut down the Amazon Rainforest. In the past

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

The battle for the Amazon rainforest is a daunting task. It's a long going battle between miners, loggers, and developers against the indigenous people who call it home. It's a battle like any battle in a war; it affects lives, families, the economy, politics, and the environment amongst other things. The main topic of this debate is the effects of the Amazon deforestation on the people who live in it, this will be the focus of this research paper. In this paper, I will discuss the history, causes, effects and solutions for the Amazon rainforest deforestation.

Have your eyes ever set on a barren land where even technology can’t reverse the damage we have caused? We care mostly for the present, but we must never forget to see to the future and in this case the deforestation of the Amazons. “Deforestation is considered the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere” (Song et al. 2). Each day we are wiping out miles of trees from one of our most diverse ecosystems in the planet, and one of our largest “lungs” in the world. At our rate of destruction of the rainforest, we would have inflicted in our future a great disservice, as the trees cut down would no longer give us clean air and more CO2 would pollute our air. CO2 can have a negative impact on our health. As we breathe in this air, it can lead to lung cancer and other diseases. By destroying the Amazon ecosystem we could drive many exclusive species that only live in the Amazon to extinction. Will we know the harm we have caused right away? Probably not, but we will definitely find out sooner rather than later. The cause of the Amazon deforestation is due to our need for wood to stay warm, and for developing countries to use it for fuel. Our top priority in conserving the Amazons is the unforeseen environmental impact that can be caused to our planet and to us. “Tropical deforestation also has other negative externalities, such as the loss of biodiversity, erosion, floods, and lowered water levels” (Jusys).

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is facing high rate of deforestation along with the consequences. In fact, the rate of deforestation has increased by 29% from 2015. The deforestation is done illegally and the Brazilian government has made efforts to minimize the deforestation. An area the size of California has been cleared in the past half century and the government The Amazon Rain forest is responsible for eliminating around 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide. This yearly absorption helps eliminate greenhouse gases and when it is not absorbed it adds to climate change.

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.

“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

Human activities have changed the rainforest in many ways. The rainforest has changed drastically in size and temperature. As well as this, the population of animals in the Amazon Rainforest has severely decreased. Due to the rapid changes of the rainforest, which is being caused by humans, it is predicted that in the near future that there will be a large increase in the spread of infectious diseases and an escalation of insect infestation. It is also expected that because of the dramatic climate change the Amazon is experiencing, around 60% of this rainforest will eventually become savannah. Since 1970, 750,000 square km has been cut down and turned into materials that are used for construction of buildings and other manufacturing. The land

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 largest rainforest in the world is being deforested with little opposition. It is a rainforest that humans have been benefiting from for hundreds of years. Notably, this rainforest is the Amazon, and many people ignore the destruction happening in there and do not realize that thousands of acres of land have been deforested. On the other hand, they are clearing these areas to gain significant resources such as diamonds, gold, lumber and medicinal plants. For these reasons, a controversy over the deforestation in the Amazon has arisen. Although the deforestation has provided valuable natural resources businesses in the forested regions, the removal of the Amazon rainforest is detrimental to its biodiversity because it creates a dysfunctional habitat.

A. The Amazon Rainforest is one of the most important natural features of our planet, crucial to our way of life. However, what Godfrey (1990) described as “one of the world’s last great settlement frontiers” is severely under threat.

The Amazon rainforest has been in existence for approximately fifty five million years. The climate that followed the extinction of the dinosaurs allowed the forest to spread all over the continent. In addition, the climate changes that have occurred in the past thirty four million years have allowed the savanna type biome to spread into the forest. The rainforest was, at first, believed to be inhospitable for human life since it's soil was considered poor. However, humans started to live in the forest about 11,200 years ago. The forest is home of many dangerous animals such as jaguars and anacondas. Not only that, but it is one of the biomes with more species diversity. Deforestation was not an issue before 1960. Access to the rainforest was

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