The Amazon Forest is Disappearing
Nine countries share the Amazon rain forest: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Suriname. The Amazon forest is the largest rain forest ecosystem of the world (Brazil picks Amazon site for sustainable logging, 1998), with 5.5 million square kilometers (The Rape of the Amazon), where also live peasants and indigenous people.
The Amazon forest is source of great biodiversity and goods, which is really important for human being. It contains the “biggest and richest primeval forest in the world” and it represents more than 50% of the world’s rainforest, according to The Rape of the Amazon. The Amazon forest is “the most powerful and bio-actively diverse natural
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The cure of cancer or AIDS could be in the Amazon forest. From rain forest every year exotic plants to develop vaccines or cure for people is taken. According to Tuxill & Bright, (1998), 25% of the medicine used in the United States has chemical which come from wildlife and billions of rural people use plant and animal as natural medicine. Taylor reports that in the USA the sales of plant-base drugs were around $4.5 billion in 1980 and $40 billion in 1990 for worldwide. Dr. Varro E. Taylor, a pharmacognosist, cited by Morgan (1997), says that two-thirds of the modern medicine comes from plants in general, which can give us an idea of the of the amazon forest importance, considering that it represents 54% of the planet’s rain forest (Taylor).
However, despite these reasons widely known for preserving the Amazon, logging companies and shifting cultivation are destroying the Amazon forest. FOREST EXPLOTATION
According to Taylor, logging for wood exportation “is the single largest caused of rainforest destruction”, in addition to the production of fuel wood and charcoal and paper. He shows the Amazon case as prove of the logging destruction effect.
There are many valuable wood species, very appreciated by the logging companies, many of them associated to other harvesting activities. Bruno Manser-Fonds (1998) reports that many corporation, such Nestle, Pirelly, Mitsubichi and Marubeny, are responsible for deforestation and
The Brazilian Rainforest is one of the most unique, vast, and diverse regions of the world. To get a general idea of the diversity of the Rainforest, it makes up a total of one-third of the world forests (more than four million square kilometers), it contains half of the total number of named species in the world (eighty-thousand plant species, 1,500 fish species, and one-forth of the 8,600 bird species), and is the world largest holder of genes (Library 138-139). To say the least, the Brazilian Rainforest is one of the most important natural resources we, as humans, know. It would seem that this knowledge, alone, would also make the Brazilian Rainforest one of the most protected land areas on Earth as well. However, the situation is
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.
One of the biome which I found interesting was the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is region which is owned by more than 1 country because of its land mass. It is actually owned by 9 nations. This biome is situated in the amazon basin of South Africa. The Amazon Rainforest covers 5,500,000 km2 (2,123,562 sq mi) of total 7000000 km2 of the Amazon basin. This particular rainforest cover more than 50% of the world rainforest biome. So as to understand this particular rainforest biome better, I am going to talk about the Brazil part of the rainforest as it owns 60% of the rainforest. I found this particular
However, due to more people searching for plots there is greater pressure on the amount of available land. The logging industry is responsible for a relatively small level of deforestation, accounting for 3% in Brazil. Consequently, all these activity contribute together to the rapid loss of what is left of the rainforest and a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity. All of the resources that the rainforest provides could be lost in the next 40 years.
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
Deforestation has lead to terrible living conditions and 38 species have been driven to extinction. John Vidal, author of “The Sumatran Rainforest Will Mostly Disappear Within 20 Years,” writes about the ways logging companies are getting past regulations to take more land and logs away from the forest and natives. Ian Sample, author of “Amazon’s Doomed Species Set to Pay Deforestation’s ‘Extinction Debt,’” on the other hand mostly talks about the affects deforestation has on animals. Vidal has the better argument over Sample because his explanations about its effects on humans and corruption from companies and the government.
The Amazon rainforest has been described as the " lungs of our plant". The Amazon has been called that because the Amazon rainforest makes about 20% of the earth's oxygen. If we keep letting companies come to the rainforest and cut down the tress in the rainforest, then we can not only lose 20% of our oxygen, but it will also dramatically decrease the amount of rain the Amazon rainforest will get. According to recent studies, researchers found that if we keep cutting down the trees at the rate we are
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.
Approximately two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest and one-third of the remaining rainforest in the world is in Brazil. The Amazon is home to ten percent of the total known species worldwide, making Brazil the most biodiverse country in the world. However, deforestation and land conversion in Brazil are prevalent issues and a threat to the biodiversity, endangered species, and indigenous people that live in the Amazon.
There are many issues that the rainforest biome has. One of the biggest problems is that people cut down millions of trees each year. At the rate that lumberjacks are moving, in each hour of the day, 1,000 to 3,000 acres of the rainforest are destroyed. 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 acres are being destroyed each year. The lumberjacks cut down these trees for firewood, houses, and for other money making industries. This destruction is mainly
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.
Ecuador loses almost 200,000 hectares of forest each year and has the distinction of having the second highest rate of deforestation in South America. Historically, this can be traced alongside the scale of the oil boom during the past decades and has roots as far back as the rubber boom in 1894.
Rainforests have been declining rapidly over the last few decades. There are various factors responsible for this decline, resulting in serious impacts on the environment and the economy. Critically discuss the causes of deforestation and solutions to it.
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
As the countries that own the wood do not have the technology available to manufacture such products, the wood is sold at a cheap price, as it is a primary resource. Loggers cut down 10's of trees to get to the valuable hardwood trees they want, which themselves often bring down many trees around them. Logging in the Amazon is closely linked with road building. Studies by the Environmental Defence Fund show that areas that have been selectively logged are eight times more likely to be settled and cleared by shifting cultivators than untouched rainforests because of access granted by logging roads. Logging is the second largest cause of deforestation.