In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planets remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. At its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year. The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn cause climate changes everywhere around the world. Undiscovered species can hold the key to curing a plethora of diseases, but if those species become extinct those keys are lost forever. If nothing is done to prevent this, the world’s treasure trove of bio-diversity will cease to exist, creating irreversible damage to not only the South American people but also the rest of the world.
Conversion of the tropical forest into cropland and pasture began a long time ago in Ecuador, before their secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported out as their main source of trade. Due to the fact that after World War II expansion accelerated throughout the northwestern section of the forest, a highway system was put into construction. At this point in time, the Ecuadorian Amazon consisted of a few small towns that had been established in valleys and at the base of the mountains. Indigenous g...
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...e reformed to produce more efficient and less harmful means of using resources in the Amazon while also producing new industries to help stimulate these developing countries’ economies.
Works Cited
"Amazon." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
"Amazon People." WWF. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
"Can South America China-ify Its Economy Without Destroying The Amazon? | Co.Exist | Ideas Impact." Co.Exist. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
"Climate Change in the Amazon." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Climate Change in the Amazon." WWF. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"Medicinal Treasures of the Rainforest.” Discover the Healing Resources of the Amazon. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
Southgate, Douglas DeWitt, and Morris D. Whitaker. Economic Progress and the Environment: One Developing Country's Policy Crisis. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. Print.
Wright, David, Heather LaRocca, and Grant DeJongh. "Global Problems." The Amazonian Rainforest: Forest to Farmland? The University of Michigan, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Cockburn, Alexander and Susanna Hecht. The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.
The Amazon Rain Forest Is in Danger of Being Destroyed" by Devadas Vittal. Rain Forests. HaiSong Harvey, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002. Reprinted from Devadas Vittal, Introduction: What Is the Amazon Rainforest? Internet: http://www.homepages.go.com/homepages/d/v/i/dvittal/amazon/intro.html, November 1999, by permission of the author. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010021212&mode=view
Through 2002-2003 brazil has lost more than 24,000 Kilometers squared of the Amazon forest. Together is has been estimated that they have lost more than 500.000 of the Amazon forest. Brazil has decided not to just put their efforts into reducing the lost of the Amazon forest but also they are focusing on the already loss of the forest. Trying to see what and how that can utilize that area. To lessen future forest loss they are think that they must try and increase and sustain the productivity of their farms, pastures, plantations, and scrubland in addition to restoring species and ecosystems to the habitats that were destroyed or are currently trying to be preserved and extended. Brazil is also trying to restore their natural resources and rainforest by reducing wasteful land-use practices, while consolidating (making the best of) gains on existing cleared lands, and improving already developed lands they will try to diminish the need to clear any more rainforest. they are also trying to use our new age technology to generate higher yielding crops in the surrounding areas of this forest, regenerating the soil...
This policy memo addresses the development and expansion of the cattle ranching industry in Brazil, which has contributed to the mass deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon in the last 40 years. It exposes the regional and global consequences to deforestation and provides strategies for the Brazilian government to sustainably manage cattle ranching industries while protecting the future of the Amazon. The rainforest ecosystem is an immense reserve of natural recourses that is far more valuable than the beef produced on Brazilian cattle ranches. Not only does the rainforest create habitat for up to 65% of the world’s biodiversity, but when harvested sustainably, it provides humans with an abundance of spices, foods, oils, medicines and vital research areas (NEWMAN).
Through this initiative, Ecuador and its international allies demonstrate leadership by funding a project called to contribute to the sustainable management of the Amazon rainforest and prevent global warming. We can not exploit this natural paradise is one of the wonders of Ecuador and the world, we must find new ways to take forward the country and not be dependent only on oil, our country is the richest in growth and we could be a country 100% tourist. I hope that future generations have the happiness to know this stunning natural paradise.
Marcus, J. (2004). Amazonia. Five years at the epicenter of a dot-com juggernaut. New York, NY: New Press.
Amazon Rain Forest Essay Money can be printed, but our land can not be created once it’s gone. -Unknown This quote should show us that greed and money, makes people destroy things that cannot be replaced... for what? The Amazon Rainforest is one of the most fascinating things on this planet, but to this day it is under attack. That’s where people like environmentalists come in.
... laws, eradicate corruption and try to strictly secure whole Amazon with strict punishments for criminals. To be capable to do this, there must be vast advertisement program, which may interest a lot of people. There are limitations in research such as real condition and a number of indigenous people, because it is estimated that about 50 indigenous tribes are totally isolated from civilization and there are limitations in research in real condition of food and raw materials in supply chain of large companies. This is because any shoe, portion of beef or timber materials that we purchase every day can be illegally exported from Brazil and there must be strict control of global organizations. In addition, there are recommendations of subsequent surveys in improving agriculture and finding more sustainable nutrients which would allow using lands for longer period.
Following the opening of highways that ran deep into the forest, such as the Trans-Amazonian highway in 1972, deforestation accelerated greatly. Further, in other parts of the
This studies explores the main direct and underlying causes of deforestation in Brazil's Legal Amazon region by considering spatial differences. It argues crop cultivation, rural populations land use activities, and illegal roads infrastructures accelerate the deforestation in the Amazon forest. I found this article useful because it identify the pattern of deforestation and traces the main causes of deforestation, and I use the information in my prospectus 4. Tollefson, Jeff. "Battle for the Amazon.
Other causes include mining, oil and gas extraction, cattle ranching and ‘cash crops’. This paper will take a look at the Amazon rainforest which also plays a critical role in the provision of the world’s water supply as the Amazon River runs through it and stretches across a vast geographical area of South America. This rather unique
There is some ambiguity to the original total area of the rainforest and the current amount of deforested lands, but all in question of the matter agree that it is a very serious issue. The total amount of area deforested in the Amazon has increased tremendously in the last forty years. 15.2 million hectares were destroyed in 1978 compared to a whopping 60.3 million hectares in 2001 (Margulis 6). These numbers directly correlate to the vast expansion in big business in the region. Evidence Increasing international demands for products produced around the Amazon is the central reason behind the increasing deforestation.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
In the early 1970's, the Brazillian military urged people to allocate to new land in hopes of more modern society that would allieviate poverty and encourage social stability in other areas of the country by having the people move to what they thought was empty land. They ignored the already in place indigenous people that have for many centuries, as we learned in the book "Nature Across Cultures", have shaped the past and the development of the Amazonia through Indigenous knowledge. The ancestors of their ancestors are responsible for creating the vast