Tropical Rainforest Deforestation Essay

Deforestation plays a big role in global warming. The “land use connection” referred to as “land use changes” is a huge contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Land use change involves all the destructions of land in order to produce and distribute food. Every year rainforests are demolished for agriculture intentions. “The biggest factors are the destruction of vital rainforests through burning and clearing and the elimination of wetlands” (Lappe 753). Deforestation of these habitats leads to the discharge carbon dioxide into the environment.

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.

Rainforests, forests, and jungles cover a massive part of our Earth. Every day, trees are being cut down. Henceforth, the trees carbon dioxide is being released back into the air. According to Climate Change, Deforestation, and the Fate of the Amazon, published by the non-profit organization American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Amazonian forests have a substantial influence on regional and global climates. Hence, their removal by deforestation can itself be a driver of climate change and a positive feedback on externally forced climate change”. If the number of deforested lands rises, our atmosphere will be full of carbon. Climateandweather.net concurs, “It is estimated that more than 1.5

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the

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

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

Three to six billion trees are cut down each and every year! Deforestation is a huge problem in the rainforests. Because these forests are home to much of the Earth’s species of life. Covering 30 percent of our land forests provide homes, protection, and oxygen for humans and other wildlife in the forests. There are 7.125 billion people that count on the benefits provided by the forest, which is: food, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter. If something isn 't done soon to reduce our carbon footprint, we will not have forests of any type to soak up the carbon dioxide(CO2) in the atmosphere.

Deforestation is another known contributor to global climate change. This is by contributing to global warming. According to Nanda (2011), trees are the main absorber of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Therefore, deforestation contributes global warming because less carbon dioxide was absorbed. Furthermore, decaying of these trees produces carbon dioxide. Therefore, governments should make legislation aimed at conserving and rehabilitating destroyed forests (Solomon et al., 2011).

The aim of this is to bring wealth to the area by using its natural

15 percent of the world’s global carbon emissions come from deforestation. When trees are cut down, they release carbon into the atmosphere causing global warming. When heat is trapped it sucks the moisture from the ground causing droughts. “Unless we change the present system that rewards forest destruction, forest clearing will put another 200 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in coming decades…,” says Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Global warming is not the only issue. Animal extinction is also a major

Climate change is such a prevalent topic of concern in modern day that it is important to understand the contributions to it, deforestation being one of them. Deforestation exacerbates the already negative consequences of climate change. Forests play a fundamental role in many different aspects of earth systems and deforestation is decreasing the benefits of forests. Forests cover approximately thirty-one percent of the land cover in the world; however, 46-56 square miles of forestlands are lost each year (World Wildlife Fund). As technology continues to advance and the world increasingly becomes more industrialized, deforestation has the potential to get so extreme it will be difficult to go back and fix the negative effects.

Deforestation is one of the most significant issues of our time; considerable measures must be taken to prevent further pillaging of our unique forest resource.

The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.

Deforestation is a major global problem with serious consequences to the planet. These consequences have a negative effect on the climate, biodiversity, the atmosphere and threatens the cultural and physical survival of life. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. It has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area, so that now indigenous forests cover only 21% of the earth's land surface. The world Resources Institute regards deforestation as one of the worlds most pressing land use problem.

Deforestation around the world has not only affected the forests in which species live in but now is being recognized as one of the main causes of climate change. Since the destruction of the rainforests has sped up in recent years, a cooling band around the equator forms and those emissions can outweigh any