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Environmental impacts of deforestation
Environmental impacts of deforestation
Environmental impacts of deforestation
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Stop the Destruction 25 million hectares of rainforest trees are cut down each year, which is 250 billion square meters of rainforest trees lost per year. This dramatically threatens all three of the world's major rainforests, so should rainforest destruction really be allowed? By researching why rainforest destruction is important to humans, how rainforest destruction effects animals, and how rainforest destruction affects the environment, it is clear that rainforest destruction should be prohibited. First of all rainforests are very important to humans. “Rainforest destruction will not only take away future generations, but may also permanently impoverish the Earth as a home for life of all kinds” ( Ronald B. Nigh). Most of the Earth's rainforests are cleared for cattle producers because of the relatively low production costs. As they clear this land they are clearing resources such as an abundant number of animals and plants that can be used for food. As people clear these rainforests they are diminishing the chance of human survival because most of the Earth's food comes from rainforests because of its rich soil and the abundant amount of wildlife living in these habitats. Tropical rainforest cultures evolved high population densities and made fundamental contributions to civilization so by taking away rainforests you are taking away According to two respected tropical researchers pretty soon all the rainforests will start to grow back and animals on the brink of extinction will be repopulated. Even if the rainforests around the world are growing back it will take a long time to do so and some animals may be extinct by the time all the rainforest trees do grow back. More than 12 million hectares of tropical rainforest were lost which is 120 billion square meters of trees lost between 1990 and 2000 and that doesn't even count how much was lost during the years of 2000 to 2017. Also one hectare is equal to 10 thousand square
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
On average millions of hectares of forests are destroyed each year resulting in severe consequences that will affect not only our lifestyle, but also all the animals with which we share our planet. Many species of animals and plants will become extinct and if we continue with the destruction of our forests, earth will be unable to sustain life.
The rain forest also effects all the people of the world by holding the carbon dioxide. As you know, the trees in the rain forest produce oxygen but the lack of this is not really the big problem. What is a major issue is that when the rain forest is cut down, the carbon dioxide is no longer being held and is now sent into the atmosphere adding to the "greenhouse effect." Having already started this effect by the huge factories and such in our nation, the destruction of the rain forest is just adding to it (Heinz/Wirth 1). Also, in 1995 when 2 million square miles of rainforiest were cut down, the covered enough distance to travel from the rocky mountains to Rhode Island (Margolis 52)This research seems to indicate that if more and more rainforest s cut down the atmosphere will be more and more polluted adding to the environmental problems already faced by the earth.
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.
The natural resource of wood is being used at an unsustainable rate, with minimal effort to change societal views on the depletion of this valuable natural resource. Much of the wood we use today comes from old-growth tropical forests, and in many regions it is harvested illegally. Recently in England, it was revealed that the major department store, Marks&Spencers, made much of its garden furniture out of Nyato wood which was logged illegally from Indonesian rainforests. Looking at this problem from a micro-level orientation, we can clearly see how the actions of individuals in both Britain and Indonesia affect one another.
Many of these causes could be prevented fairly easily. If people today would just follow some simple rules, none of these would be as big as they are now.
“Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans" (Vidal, John). This quote was said by the leader of Bolivia, Evo Morales. His words are filled with so much truth, and he speaks of humans relying so heavily on the earth for supplies and habitation while they are really pests killing the planet themselves. Humans are needy and destructive, and one day the the earth will not be able to provide enough resources to satisfy every humans need for constant consumption of those nonrenewable and terribly slow-growing renewable resources.
Therefore, the consequences of destroying it will be very harsh on us humans. If we take the resources such as wood from the rainforest, for our everyday use now, we will be the ones suffering in long term. Rainforest use to cover 14% of our earth, and now its left with only 6%. From looking at the rainforest from different perspective actually tells us a lot.
As a result of the combination of deforestation and climate change species will continue to go extinct. Those who believe that humans are helping the environment thrive are very misinformed as humans are causing more species to die. For humans the reason biodiversity is so important is that we depend on the earth to provide everything for us. Unless there are new laws set in place to stop deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems, humans as a species will die off. The underlying cause of the biodiversity loss needs to be presented to the government and society in order to prevent the large amount of loss.
The world’s natural resources are depleting as the humans exploit and abuse these precious assets. Deforestation is occurring on a daily basis as the humans are cutting down the trees in mass quantities. The number of trees available in the world are limited and can become scarce at any point. As the population increases, the need for the wood from the trees becomes more necessary. As time passes, an abundant amount of people become more dependent on the supply of trees, especially in the Amazon Rainforest. The effect of deforestation of the species living in the area, how the population impacts the diminution of trees, and the sustainable solutions all make up the present and future of deforestation.
...later time. Though it is simply impossible to know what the ultimate effects will be on our long term survival as a species, it is important to bear in mind that, once a species has been eliminated through extinction, it cannot be brought back. So, for the overall health of our rainforests, their biodiversity, and the limitless potential contained therein, it is crucial for us, as humans, to make as honest an effort as possible at their preservation.
Simply speaking, rainforests are basically the foundation of the earth. The most important role that rainforests play is ‘the lungs of the earth’. This is extremely vital to the earth’s survival as the trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide which they use to help grow and let out oxygen which we need to live. This system is known as the carbon-oxygen cycle and with numbers of rainforests declining, it is highly threatened. The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon, alone is known to produce half of the world’s oxygen. A break down in the carbon-oxygen cycle means that we will not only have less oxygen, but an increase in carbon dioxide which eventually leads to global warming. This occurs as carbon dioxide traps heat which actually keeps the earth warm, with the right amount of carbon dioxide that is. This is called the greenhouse effect and occurs naturally however due to decreasing number of trees, there is more carbon dioxide than needed which traps extra heat making the earth hotter than needed, this is known as global warming which also causes a rise in sea level.
Tropical forest is the habitat of more than half of the worlds’ approximately 10 million species of plants and animals. This shows how significant it is (to) the ecosystem. The rainforests once covered 14 percent of the Earth, but now they only cover about 6 percent of the Earth (Rainforest Statistics Facts, 2018). The statistics show how vulnerable rainforests are currently. Therefore, this essay will consider the causes and effects of the deforestation of the rainforests.
Before talking about the effects of destroying our forests, it is important to know the benefits that around 1.6 billion people receive from forests. Aside from the oxygen trees in forests produce which keeps us as people alive, these 1.6 billion people rely on the forests for “food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter” (Deforestation: Causes, Effects and Solutions). There are
In today’s society biodiversity loss is mainly due to human civilization having a negative impact by destroying countless different habitats only to help sustain our demands for agriculture and urban sprawl with our endless growing population. Just like in high biodiverse environments, the primary concern is land conversation as they are only some many places left untouched by greed. Human population growth and urban sprawl is a major factor in biodiversity loss that we now have to face. Habitat destruction is also one of the main leading causes of biodiversity loss as stated in an article by Rainforest Conservation Fund entitled “5 Causes of recent declines in biodiversity” states that: Habitat destruction is the single most important cause of the loss of rainforest biodiversity and is directly related to human population growth. As rainforest land is converted to ranches, agricultural land, urban areas and other human uses, habitat is lost for forest organisms.