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Short term effects of the deforestation in the amazon rainforest
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Since 1978 more than 750,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Guyana. One main reason and purpose the amazon forest is getting destroyed is because of subsistence farmers who cut down trees to simply produce crops for their families and local consumption. More than 3 quarters of that land was used for cattle ranching. ‘’Rainforests are being destroyed for beef. The land is set on fire in order to get rid of the trees .The cleared land is then turned into grass pastured for cows’’. ‘’During the past 40 years, close to 20 percent of the amazon rain forest has been cut down. ’Humans are the main cause of rainforest destruction. We are cutting down rainforests for
Wright, David, Heather LaRocca, and Grant DeJongh. "Global Problems." The Amazonian Rainforest: Forest to Farmland? The University of Michigan, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
There are many rainforests in the world but one of the biggest one is the Amazon rainforest, which is located in the northern half of South America and lies in the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The Amazon also lies in between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. The size of the Amazon resembles the size of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. Since this rain forest lies next to the Equator, the climate is warm and humid. The average temperature is in between sixty-eight to ninety- three degrees. The Amazon has two seasons but each one is six months each. They are classified as the wet season and the dry season. The wet season occurs between December to May and the dry season occurs between June to November. The average rainfall is fifty to two hundred and sixty inches per year. The forest floor only gets up to two to five percent of sunlight since the canopy blocks the sunlight from getting to the forest floor. The Amazon rain forest got the nickname, the world’s pharmacy, because many medicines have been found in the tree bark, the tree’s leaves, and other parts of the trees.
The introduction of cattle ranching industries in the 1960s set the forefront for current Brazilian rainforest deforestation figures. During this time, development subsidy programs encouraged Brazilians to clear rainforest for pastureland and invest in new cattle ranches (Pancheco). Over the last 40 years, Brazil has destroyed 700,00 square kilometers of rainforest, an area about the size of Texas (BBC) (Enchanted Lear...
Therefore, a large amount of trees were cut down and led to forest destruction. People have done these kinds of activities for many years and these deforestation activities have brought about a lot of permanent and long term issues. Although the society has started to consider the problem of deforestation, it is not easy to solve the issues completely. Land desertification can be a huge area and it almost cannot be controlled. In addition, it is not only threatening the people and animals in the Amazon, the world is also threatened by deforestation.
Furthermore, the tropical rainforest is a hot, moist ecosystem located near earth’s equator. The world’s greatest tropical rainforests are in South America, Africa, and South East Asia. They receive from 60-160 inches of rain per year that is fairly even. The weather and temperature makes this ecosystem suitable environment for many different plants and animals. Tropical rainforests have the most biodiversity in all ecosystems. Over 15 million species of plants and animals live there. In the tropical rainforest, plants grow so fast that they rapidly consume the nutrients from the decomposed leaf litter. Some examples of animals in this ecosystem are birds, butterflies, sloths, jaguars, worms, frogs, and toads.
More than one hundred and fifty acres of rainforest are lost every minute of every day. Cattle ranches make up 80 percent of destroyed rainforest land. Runoff from these ranches contaiminates rainforest rivers, which further harms the already fragile ecosystem. This is just a small glimpse of what would happen if all the rainforest was removed. The well being of the earth in the present and the future makes it essential that we as humans protect the Amazon rainforest.
How would you feel if someone came up and destroyed everything you own, everything you have worked for, and everything that held value to you? Would you sit back and let it happen or would you speak up and do something about it? Well, what if you did not have a voice? The Amazon, the holds 50% of the world's species and produces 20% of the world's oxygen is being destroyed. Since the 1970's, over 289,000 square miles (an area larger than the size of Texas) has been destroyed. Rhett Butler, editor in chief and president of Mongabay.com, said, "For most of human history, deforestation in the Amazon was primarily the product of subsistence farmers who cut down trees to produce crops for their families and local consumption. But in the later part of the 20th century, that began to change, with an increasing proportion of deforestation driven by industrial activities and large-scale agriculture. By the 2000s more than three-quarters of
The Amazon rainforest has many problems. I will be telling you about three of them. they are that Sao Paulo is running out of water as the rain-making Amazon vanishes, the campaign to keep the oil in the ground in the Amazon, and lastly, about how Amazon Watch is standing with the Indigenous People, and defending the Rainforest...
Deforestation is destroying species. The Amazon Rainforest is home to about 50% of all species on earth. Many of these species are going to be in danger because their home is disappearing. Many acres of the Amazon Rainforest is destroyed every day. This means that everyday species who live on those acres lose their homes. When people want to clear land in the forest they can use a method called slash and burn. The slash and burn method clears big sections of land fast although it does not save any lumber. This method creates a large amount of carbon dioxide gas and this is no good for the animals. Many species will die if we continue doing what we are now.
To understand the scope of the changes taking place, Howard Facklam has come up with some staggering statistics, he says, “it was estimated at one point in the 1980’s that the Amazon basin was being cleared at the rate of 50 acres a minute; another estimate put the rate at 78,000 square miles per hear” (53). These are astronomical numbers when you come to think of it, to put it into perspective, that’s roughly the size of the state of Idaho. Such deforestation has an alarming affect, “it means the loss of a multiplicity of products: Food, fibers, medicine...
Around the world, it’s human activities that are driving deforestation, and the Amazon is no different. Illegal logging is one of the first steps in a vicious cycle of forest destruction. It begins when farmers in the Amazon remove the most valuable timber from areas they’ve illegally occupied. Then, more land grabbers build will build roads into the pristine rainforest, opening the door for further exploitation and forest loss. Between 60 and 80 percent of all logging in the Brazilian Amazon is estimated to be illegal. Of the timber that is cut, as much as 70 percent is wasted at mills. The US is the largest importer of Brazilian timber, and US companies have a huge responsibility in squashing illegal logging. Brazil is now the world’s largest beef exporter. Clearing rainforest for this multi-billion dollar industry is now responsible for 80 percent of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon. Between 2004 and 2005, around 1.2 million hectares of soya was planted in the Brazilian Amazon. Most of the forest cleared for soya crops was cleared illegally, but the demand for soya continues to drive deforestation. As if current trends weren’t enough, Brazil’s powerful agribusiness lobby is fighting make forest destruction easier. Big companies are pushing for changes to Brazil’s conservation laws that would allow landowners to clear larger areas of land, while pardoning those who already cleared their land illegally. Pig iron is a driver of Amazon deforestation that rarely gets any attention. Charcoal producers are illegally burning wood and vegetation from the nearby rainforest to supply coal to iron-working companies in
...e the water is polluted and contaminated. Flooding can add to the profound impact clearing rainforests have on individuals. Many people’s lives and homes are lost due to the soil and roots not being able to contain as much water. Because the land can’t be reused, countries that rely on Brazil’s exports aren’t able to meet their demands and there is an increase in supply insecurity (Hyder 17). Also, once a species is gone, it is gone for good. Destroying plants reduces the variety of prospective drugs available and medicinal potential that could be possible cures ("Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of Deforestation”). The effects of deforestation are long term, very problematic, and irreversible, impacting the entire world. In a sense, as people are destroying the Amazon, they are destroying the chance for a better world and more information.
Commercial logging for lumber or fuel supplies is another factor. The cutting down of trees for a profit is also depleting our forests. Another travesty of commercial logging is the damage caused to other trees that surround or are in the path of the trees being harvested. Logging also increases the destruction to forests in the event of fire as outline in the article entitled “Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates and Consequences” written by Philip M. Fearnside, “Logging greatly increase the susceptibility of forest to fire. Once fire enters it kills trees and increase...
The Disappearing Rainforests Conserving the rainforest is a global issue of great importance. Tropical rainforests provide a habitat for animals, a unique ecosystem for vegetation, and an abundance of resources for humans, yet they are being destroyed at an astonishing rate. Experts estimate that if these endangered territories continue to be consumed in this manner, no more will be standing in forty years (Rainforest). Examining the social, environmental, and economic costs of the continued destruction of the Earth's tropical rainforests will prove that deforestation for short-term profit is ultimately not viable.
To start off with, protection of this massive tropical rainforest is starting to become a big issue. Even with deforestation rates slowly decreasing over the 10 years, the amazon rain forest suffered major damage due to droughts in 2005 and in 2010. In 2009 due to a study it was predicted that Global warming would complicate attempts in saving the Amazon rainforest even more, according to these recent studies its predicted that roughly 1/3 of the Amazon rainforest's trees will be killed by even the modest temperature rises. Up to a estimated