Deforestation in Brazil
Topic Question: How does Brazil reduce deforestation?
Biology One World Essay Yuming Zai 8B
Deforestation is when cutting and /or burning down trees in forest, especially rainforests, and change the land into a less biodiverse area. It usually occurs in poor countries. Major areas suffer from deforestation are Amazon, Congo, Madagascar, Malaysia and New Guinea. The local countries strongly eager to earn money quick, for example by exporting timber, so they cut down large areas of trees without efficiently replanting.
Brazil, well known of its Amazon Rainforest, has the second highest rate of deforestation in the world (It was the first before 2012). By 2012, about 13% of Amazon rainforest in Brazil was lost. Brazilian residents cut and burn down large areas of forests for multiple uses such as cattle ranching, soybean farming, mining activities and logging. This makes Brazil one of the world top countries in producing beef, soybeans, minerals and timber. It directly boosts Brazil’s economy and
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Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (called Lula by Brazilians), the president of Brazil was elected in 2002. Before 2002, social movements took place frequently, includes indigenous people, rubber tappers, labor unions and environmentalists, which gave pressure to the political dynamic. Some non-profit groups, such as Greenpeace, conversation international, exerted pressure as well. As a result, Lula paid great attention on reduction of deforestation. He gave pressure to Brazilian governments and businesses and set up strict laws against illegal deforestation. If one breaks this law, he/she will have to compensate or even go to jail. Modern satellite monitoring technology is also essential to forest protection. With this technology, the government are able to see areas of deforestation precisely and find out suspicious illegal deforestation efficiently. Which give more protection to the
Following a brief introduction of the history of the development of Brazil, I have broken the paper into five sections; each section is dedicated to one of the five main contributing factors of deforestation. The five main contributors are cattle ranching, farming, logging, infrastructure development, and weaknesses in the government. In each section I will discuss how each factor effects the environment and Brazil at large.
Deforestation in Costa Rica is done for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is for economical gain. Costa Rica is a third world country so money for the government is tight. “Wood is very easy to extract and tends to have a very high value”(PersonalColby). And because most of Costa Rica is a dense rainforest, the use of the wood for money is being used. The deforestation of Costa Rica affects the rest of the world because with the removal of the forests also comes the destruction of the ways we regain oxygen after exhaling carbon dioxide. “The resource of wood is know as a renewable and nonrenewable resource” (fao). This is because the tree is a plant and another one can grow, but not at the speed in which humans right now use the wood. “It takes within 65 years for a small region of a rainforest to regenerate”(rainforestmaker).
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 threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .
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...
By definition, deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. Such as the conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, and urban use. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has reported that an estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year and about half of the world's tropical forests have been cleared. Also, according to Bastien Sachet, “…tropical deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of world greenhouse gas emission…Every year, 13 million hectares of the world’...
The Amazon Rain Forest crosses several national boundaries in South America, although the majority of it is located in Brazil. It covers over 3,562,000 acres, making it the largest in the world. But globally, over 138,600 acres of rain forest are lost each year to deforestation, 50,000 of those in Brazil alone (Holdsforth), and the world's rain forests are quickly disappearing. Deforestation in the Amazon occurs primarily for three reasons: clear-cutting, fragmentation, and edge effects.
The article also talks about the benefits for deforestation some of them being food, building, paper, and jobs. Later the article gave some solutions, one idea was to plant one tree for everyone that is cut down and also to enforce laws stop destruction. The authors purpose is to provide non bias benefits and dangers of deforestation and also to give a solution. It also relates back to the topic tread lightly because it gives solutions and also the effects without
Countries such as Brazil and Indonesia have been greatly affected by deforestation with well over two million hectares of naturally forested land now rendered barren (See appendix 1).
Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be feral, increase of greenhouse gas emissions which may lead to global warming and consecutive catastrophes, destruction of home for indigenous residents which is considered as violation of human rights. Some people can argue with these drawbacks telling that deforestation have more valuable benefits such as growth of economics, production of food and providing better opportunities for life for poor families. However, these benefits are quite temporary and government of that countries and world organisations tries to halt deforestation proposing several solutions. Deforestation problem is especially acute in the Brazilian Amazon, where its rate is much high comparing with other regions. This paper will describe world-wide rainforests, causes and effects of deforestation, and evaluate possible solutions of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
First of all I would have to say that yes it has a great impact on our global warming and I will go on to explain to you how it affects our planet. We as a whole have let the dollar get in the way of how our planet is affected, some would say at all costs. It is true we have refineries, car pollution, but most of all deforestation of tropical areas. In the National Geographic Magazine you will come to see and appreciate the facts of how deforestation has affected our nation and has spiraled into global warming. We can look at Brazil’s rainforest that is estimated to be larger than two hundred football fields it will be destroyed before you are even able to read the article at hand (Magazine, 1996-2014). It has been noted that within the past 40 years we have managed to do more damage than what was done in the four hundred and fifty (450) years since the European Colonization even began. That sent chills through my bones when I read that, imagine how much tropical areas have been affected. We have destroyed twen...
Deforestation is a widely used term, but one with different meanings. Disturbance deforestation refers to all man made disturbances that alter a forest, these are the most common. This argumentative essay discusses the positive and negative aspects of deforestation. In the first part of the essay the pro arguments of deforestation will be discussed. For example, the issue of Global population and how forests are being used, land use and the ways forests contribute, wood use, forest growth, destruction and the reasons for cutting down the trees. The second half of the essay will cover the issues that are harmful to the environment because of deforestation. Many environmental issues take place everyday; a big question that arises, is if the global economy will ever finds middle on the issue of forest thinning. If deforestation was used only in the most crucial of times, the world might become a better place.
The forests around the world a supply a plethora of community amenities and commercial goods , nevertheless forested terrain progressively is becoming transformed to accommodate other uses, including cropland, pasture, mining, and urban areas, which can produce superior private financial returns. The wide array of benefits the forest provides that vanish directly tied to deforestation have resulted in several policies drafted with the sole intention to reduce the frequency of deforestation. This paper has two primary objectives. First, this paper will review and summarize both the preceding and current research on deforestation. Second, it will emphasize the significance of future research and development, as well as other solutions needed
Forests are vital for life and have many important functions. They are home to millions of species and protect soil from erosion. Along with this they produce oxygen which is vital for human life, store carbon dioxide and help control climate. They also provide humans with shelter, food and medicines vital for life.
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...
To obtain and transport has to be quick, easy and the cost has to be minimal. To make all these possible roads are being built through forests. These causes a great deal of damage to the forests because more trees have to be removed again to mine this merchandise. Brazil is once again a prime. example of forest destruction in the United States.