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Effects of deforestation in the tropical rainforest
Effects of deforestation in the tropical rainforest
Impact of cutting down rainforests
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Introduction
Imagine a rainforest with misty, lush canopies creating a vibrant green carpet over sloping valleys; sunlight dances down along the leaves, branches, and trunks until it is only a rare glow in the dense, dimlit undergrowth. The forest is alive with the heat and humidity, with the cacophony of birds, the chattering of primates and monkeys, and the hum of insects all foraging through the greenery. This is an idealistic rainforest, still unspoiled by man’s industry, the desire for conquest and dominion still held at bay while the living things grow and die in a perpetual cycle of survival. However, these quixotic notions hide the ravages of man; there are no pretty stories of how empty the land becomes after deforestation or of the extinction of many species due to habitat destruction and fragmentation. People take rainforests for granted, seizing whatever may be deemed valuable without caring for the aftermath. These forests, growing on continents like Asia, Africa, and South America, have much to offer if only humans can remember that they share the planet – they do not own the Earth. Yet, despite being hot spots of biodiversity and recent growing awareness, rainforests worldwide still suffer from human maltreatment and deserve more focus in conservation and restoration efforts for their many ecological services.
Impacts of Rainforests on Global Climate Change
Recently global climate change has been one of the foremost controversial and problematic issues, from bothering human activities to threatening the existence of various species. However, tropical rainforests offer a solution to increasing greenhouse gases by acting as carbon sinks and sequesters, cycling and storing carbon dioxide in its vegetation and soil. Peo...
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Ending Destruction of the Rainforest As destruction of the rainforest continues, man slowly paves the inevitable path to a clear end. It has been known that the rainforest is an essential provider for the balance of the mother earth and that it acts as a key for life as we know it. Yet, the world still decides to quietly watch the disappearance. In fact, most people realize what exactly is taking place. But, however, instead of trying to aid in the termination of this disaster.
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
FAO: State of the World's Forests. Rome: Food and Agriculture Office of the United Nations; 2007. Print.
Philip, M., & William F. 2004, ‘Tropical Deforestation and Greenhouse-gas Emissions’, Ecological Applications, (no publication information), Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 982–986, viewed 23 April 2010,
This rainforest is also a great ‘carbon sink’. It has many photosynthesis plants and this allows the control of carbon dioxide (CO2). The plants take in the CO2 from the atmosphere and return oxygen (O2). b) Logging has impacted this ecosystem. There are trees that are hundreds of years old and their timber is being pushed to be sold for high prices.
Robert, K. (2010, jan 26). Effects of Deforestation . Retrieved Dec 3, 1996, from www.earlham.edu: http://www.earlham.edu/~pols/17Fall96/inneske/effects.HTM
“In the time you can read this sentence, eight acres of tropical rain forest will have been bulldozed and burned out of existence” (Bloyd 49). However, this destruction has been neglected and overlooked for years. Many people do not understand the long-term consequences of losing the earth’s rain forests. The rain forests have provided people with many natural resources and medicines. The benefits that rain forests provide to people will be destroyed if the depletion continues to be disregarded.
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.
A rainforest is an area of high, mostly evergreen trees with a high amount of rainfall. The biome is the earth’s oldest living ecosystem, being incredibly complex and diverse. The importance of the rainforest, is the huge biodiversity of the place due to the 80 – 90% of species that can be found there, even when it only covers 6% of the Earth’s surface. It is also often called the lungs of the planet, by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen upon which many species depend on. Rainforests also help stabilize the world’s climate and maintain the water cycle by producing rainfall all around the planet. Every year humans are cutting down more and more rainforest all around the globe. The reasons for this deforestation are to have grazing land for cattle, contraction of roads, extraction of energy and minerals and many more. Yet this report will focus on the monoculture of rubber tree plantations on previous rainforest land.
The Human Impact on Rainforests Human Impact on Rainforest is it a necessity? Rainforest are the beautiful gift of Mother Nature. It consists of the most magnificent species and plants in the world. 4.2% of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. This statistic it self shows how bad it would be to destroy such essential part of the worlds biodiversity.
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.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
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Salim, Emil and Ullsten, Ola. Our Forests, Our Future. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1999.