Introduction
Tropical rainforests are the Earth?s oldest, richest, most productive, and most complex living ecosystems. They are located throughout many of the world?s continents including South America, Africa, and Asia and are defined by a few specific factors. Their location must be within the regions of the tropics and they must receive between 4-8 meters of rain per year (compared to about 1-2 meters in the United States). These forests also have no ?seasonality?, which means that they lack a definite dry or cold season of slowed growth.
Rainforests are the most valuable environmental entity on this earth as they provide the world with the majority of its species of animals and plants, food resources, and medicines. Because of their extreme importance, rainforests are also being used for economic and social welfare. The rate of habitat destruction has increased to 2.47 acres per second, 214,000 acres each day, and about 78 million acres each year. Rainforests house more than half of the living organisms on Earth, but 50,000 of these species are becoming extinct in these unique regions per year. That translates into 6 species per hour and 137 species each day.
These worldwide numerical rates show the urgency that is required to save these precious forests. Information involving the destruction occurring in South America currently and in the past will offer a more intimate view concerning the effects of rainforest deforestation.
Characteristics of South American Rainforests
Overview
South America, with its rich and far reaching tropical forests, is a key example of the harsh realities of tropical rainforest depletion. Countries such as Brazil, Bolivi...
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... shelter, materials, oxygen, medicine, and wealth. The economic profit and modernization available from these vast stretches of resource-filled land, entices both companies and consumers to take advantage of the environment. This ignorance and selfishness has led to the nearly complete devastation of these great resource treasures. Without these regions, much of the species on Earth would suffer to the point of extinction. It is obvious that unless consumption is slowed significantly and these areas of diversity are allowed to maintain and regain their dominance over the South American landscape, not much time will pass before their complete disappearance is a reality. With a combined effort from many developed countries around the world and the governments of the native rainforest nations, salvation can be achieved for these priceless South American rainforests.
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
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
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).
Project Amazonia: Threats - Deforestation. MIT. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 31 Mar. 2011.
A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type which occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north and south of the equator. The forests are dominated by tall, closely spread trees, with a predominately continuous canopy. This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall during the year.
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.
Deforestation is fast becoming one of the world’s worst environmental/geographical occurring disasters known to mankind, and is due to humankind’s greed, ignorance and carelessness when considering the future of our environment.
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.
Of all of the issues that effect the planet Earth from a Global Change standpoint, one of the most visible and highly publicized is the issue of rainforest destruction. The loss of this emerald on the planet's crown will end life as we know it, if something is not done...
The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn causes 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 its secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported as their main source of trade.
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.
In recent years, a lot of attention has been drawn to the undeniable fact that we are rapidly depleting our natural resources, and destroying the environment around us. More and more people are coming to the realization that we must work to preserve our Earth's natural beauty and resources for future generations. One of the biggest issues that our world, as a whole, faces, is the destruction and deforestation of our rainforests. These very same rainforests that we are chopping, and burning down, are home to the most wildly diverse populations of plant and animal species, many of which cannot be found anywhere else on Earth! Three centuries ago, 14% of our planet was covered in rainforests.
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.
What is a tropical rain forest? A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem that is anywhere near the equator. These areas are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. A tropical rainforests experience high average temperatures and high amounts of rain fall. Tropical rainforests are divided into three parts. The uppermost part is the canopy. This is the layer with the tallest tress. Trees in this climate can reach up to 240 feet (blueplanetbiomes.com). The next layer is the lower canopy. This layer is made up of the smaller tress. The last layer is the forest floor. This is made up of all the plants and bushes. You can find tropical rainforests in many parts of the world like Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and also on the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean islands.
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.