Stopping Deforestation In The Amazon

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.

Deforestation poses an alarming threat to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and it has been a serious concern for over 40 years. For thousands of years, the abundant, valuable resources in the Amazon were familiar only to the indigenous people of the region. In the 1500’s, before European colonization of Brazil, there were an estimated six to nine million individuals part of different cultures that made up a rich Amazonian society (“History”). Surrounded by the luxuriant rainforest and its natural resources, these indigenous tribes were able to thrive by utilizing the resources without destroying their habitat. After European emigration, the government of Brazil exploited the value of the Amazon’s resources in the twentieth century. In the 1970’s, the Brazilian government discovered the “untapped source of boundless potential” hiding in the Amazon and began using incentives to persuade settlers to develop its resources (Casey). Once economists realized the importance of the resources found within the rainforest, European pioneers set out to transform the Amazon into their home. By endorsing colonization, the government could not only boost the country’s economy, but also gain control over Brazil’s vast territory. The government supported migration to the rainforest and campaigned for the construction of infrastructure (“History”). In concurrence, the development of roads such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway, a 2,000 mile road built in 1972, granted people and machinery entrance to

Deforestation is defined as: “the clearing of virgin forests, or intentional destruction or removal of trees and other vegetation for agricultural, commercial, housing, or firewood use without replanting and without allowing time for the forest to regenerate itself” (SCRIBD). Deforestation has been a problem in Latin America since the early 1900s and the severity of the dilemma is increasing rapidly. Deforestation not only has consequences for the environment, but also, the indigenous people and the national economy. The logging industry in Latin America is often exploited by multinational companies that are not properly regulated. The land that has provided a home and cultivated indigenous development for centuries is being dissipated rapidly. Due to an exponentially growing global population, there is an increased demand for low priced goods--like timber, crops, and meat. Many Latin American countries value revenue from selling these goods over the health of their local ecosystems. The crisis of deforestation and habitat loss is shifting from a local to global problem. As deforestation continues, global warming escalates worldwide, impacting every country and person. About 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from tropical deforestation, which is more than from all the world’s cars, trucks and buses combined (Schwartzman). Puerto Rico and Brazil provide contrasting examples of the impact of deforestation. Puerto Rico had an economic and environmental shift

In whichever case, the land would take years to grow back to being what it was. Therefore, the amount of trees cut by deforestation is still greater than the amount of trees regrown by reforestation and thus effecting Amazon’s plant biodiversity. A prediction by the World Wildlife Organization states that by 2030, 55% of the Amazon’s Rainforest could vanish if current deforestation rates are maintained . Meaning half of its plant biodiversity could be gone by that time. Deforestation not only harms plant biodiversity it also harms the animals. Many living organisms are very sensitive to their environmental changes. The loss of their own niches would compel them to join other organisms in their niche. In this case the organisms who lost their niche would act as the invasive species and depending on other climatic or ecological factors these two species would cease to coexist. One of these two species might go extinct due to competitive exclusion or, as Darwin’s theory implies, survival of the fittest.

The Amazon Rainforest has an issue that needs to be fixed. The problem that the rainforest has is that the groups continue to cut or burn down trees just so they can grow crops. It needs to stop because it’s hurting The Rubber Tappers. They need the trees to do their job and the government isn’t doing enough to help out. The Rubber Tappers have been living in the rainforest for 100’s of years. The Rubber Tappers came in the 1870’s. As you can see in their way of living does no harm to the rainforest. They make their way of living from the rainforest by harvesting sap from the rubber trees. The Rubber Tappers should have control of the Amazon Rainforest and here are some reasons why. For example, The Rubber Tappers use the resource of the Amazon by

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).

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 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.

As a citizen and a customer, I ask of you to rethink about cutting down millions of trees in Brazil. Not only does it harm the environment, it may harm your business in the long run. The rainforest in South America is very important for the world outside of commercial use. If you continue to clear-cutting the rainforests, the whole world pays the cost.

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

In fact if more trees are cut down, habitat of animals could be destroyed and we could end up with extinct species as mention before. Not only does this affect the Amazon alone, but it affects the whole southern part of America. With the reduction of trees the capacity to absorb carbon, modified water cycles, and soil, deforestation and climate change could cause the Amazon to be replaced with savannah like vegetation. With a big alternation to the ecosystem like the savannah could distress Brazil. If the ecosystem is distress this can cause changes in temperature, and rainfall is the increase like hood with extreme weather events. These events are usually caused by the climate change and regional deforestation. Events such as droughts and floods are part of the natural rain forest climate change, but alternation to the climate change can bring severe weather change. This can hold a negative impact on suburban areas with transportation, agriculture, and businesses going out of business due to extreme weather events. The climate change is not only important but it can cause a distress to the Amazon rain forest that deforestation is not an option to continue.

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.

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.)

Agriculture and cattle ranching have been profitable for other parties that do not live off the land. Cattle ranching is the largest force of deforestation in the Amazon, which accounts for 80% of deforestation. Brazil has cleared up to 24 to 25 million hectares for the growth of soybean crops and is the second largest producer of soybeans. Cattle ranching and soy beans are linked together because when farmers expand to develop deeper into the forest, and abandon cattle pastures; they plant soy beans on the pasture to reuse the land. Deforestation started in the early 90’s because of the agriculture of soybeans and cattle ranches. In 1995 11,200 square miles of the Amazon Rainforest was cut down, which set a record for how much forest was cut down in the Amazon in a year. Deforestation went into a decline between the period of 2007 to 2012 because of the decline in prices of soybeans and beef. However, since 2012 soybeans price has increased rapidly by 29 percent by 2016. The market has been a driving force in deforestation because of the profit it holds for the farmers. Since the prices spiked, farmers have been clearing more land. Not only the

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.