The Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon Rain Forest Essay

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

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 is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious

Another cause of deforestation is infrastructure building. Road construction perhaps contributes the most to eventual levels of deforestation and degradation because roads encourage urbanization (itself responsible for a further 10% of deforestation) and the spread of agriculture into forests, particularly in remote areas where property rights are unclear or poorly regulated. The construction of the Interoceanic Highway connecting Peru and Brazil cuts a swathe through the Amazon jungle.Infrastructure projects such as roads are linked to about 10% of total deforestation in the developing world.

Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest not only harms the forest, but it also harms the animals in the forest, the humans outside the forest, and Arctic Animals far North. Deforestation effects all life on Earth in an extremely negative way.

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

Deforestation is the clearing of trees, transforming a forest into cleared space. Every minute, forests the size of 20 football fields are cut down. That adds up to about 2.47 million each day. The main ways forest are cleared is by chainsaws, bulldozers, and fires. The trees are used for their timber value, that includes things such as fuel, paper products, building houses and palm oil. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil, high in saturated fats, derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree. The cleared land is used for agriculture, ranching operations, and new road and highways. Deforestation is a major world problem because it is destroying green forest and dominating animal species.

This paper explores the causes, effects and possible solutions of the deforestation of the Amazon Forest. It is important to understand why more than 580,000 square kilometers of Amazon forest has been destroyed in Brazil since 1980 (Rhett Butler 2012). The main topics of this paper, in order to fully explore the issue at hand, will include:

It has been noted that in the early 1970s the Brazilian Amazon covered 4,001,600 s.q. km. However, as of 2015, the remaining coverage has decreased to roughly 3,331,065 s.q. km. This indicates a total forest loss of 670,535 s.q. km in the short timeframe

Deforestation has been a problem for the region of the Amazon Rainforest for many years. Demand for the wood from Amazon trees is consistently high. The wood of the Amazon is harvested through the process of logging. This is most certainly not a sustainable practice. The amount of trees cut down each year is much higher than the amount of trees that are replanted annually. Many plant and animal species that only exist in this unique environment are becoming extinct due to deforestation. While this is a serious problem for the region, there is a much larger problem with global consequences that results from deforestation. As an extremely large amount of photosynthetic organisms (the trees) are destroyed in one small area, the CO2 that would

First of all is that the environmental destruction and pollution of the area around. Loggers are making logging big streets in the forest and destroying important parts of the ecosystem of the Jungle. In the Jungle life One-Tenth of the world-wide Species and the Jungle is an important supplier of oxygen. When the destruction of the Amazonas continues, and in the last years according to the most recent satellite pictures of the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation about 97,000 hectares of Rainforest have already been destroyed, we will be

Deforestation is the removal of trees, transforming a forest into clear land. It is a serious problem that will affect our future greatly, but not very many people are aware. Forests are falling all over the world but the problem is the most severe in South American countries; specifically Brazil, Mexico and Peru; Indonesia and even the United States. The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world and supplies the earth with over 20% of its oxygen, and we are depleting this source at a dangerous pace.

A study published by an international team of scientists warns the Amazon is being largely impacted by dams, mining, overfishing, and deforestation. In this transect the focus will be deforestation

The Amazon Rainforest is a vital and spectacular part of our planet. The forest spreads over nine countries on the South American continent which are Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It is the world’s largest remaining rainforest covering over 2.5 million square miles, with 63 percent of it resting in Brazil. (Finer 2008). It is considered the lungs of Earth. Giving the entire world population daily oxygen and absorbing our carbon dioxide. Industrialization is the main factor killing our rainforests. Because Brazil is speeding up productions of timber, metals, and beef, to boost their economy, the Amazon Rainforest is declining. The measurements of deforestation in the rainforest

Even though we need trees for many things, deforestation needs to lessen because it causes things to happen to the atmosphere, animals, and humans. Deforestation is bad for the environment. At least half of the world’s tropical forests has been cleared. There is about 2,000 trees being cut down per minute. An estimate of 140 species of rainforest plants and animals go extinct every day! Deforestation is the clearing of trees to make a cleared place of land that is used for many things. People use the cleared land for money, people’s need to provide for their families, and agriculture. Farmers cut down forests to have more room for planting crops and room for their animals to graze. People also cut down trees to make many things, such as, shelter, fuel, paper, and many other things.