Indigenous People Gay (2000) found tropical rainforest to be the home of some 50 million indigenous people, making up more than 1,000 distinct groups (p. 19). Each group has its own unique way of life. Deforestation is the cause of numerous severe impacts to these people. The indigenous people of the rainforest depend on the forest for their survival. Many of these people are hunters and gatherers. Extensive logging has made it more and more difficult for these people to live in traditional ways. According to Gay (2000) only a few hundred are able to live traditionally in the forest of Malaysia (p. 20). Deforestation is not only disrupting the way these people have lived for centuries; it is also killing them as well. “Indigenous people in …show more content…
135). According to Gay (2000), “nearly one-fourth of all pharmaceuticals that Americans use originally derived from tropical plants, which provided the chemicals for processing synthetic drugs” (p. 10). The United States Cancer Institution stated, “The widespread elimination of the tropical moist forests could represent a serious setback to the anticancer campaign” (Newman, 1990, p. 135). Natural Resources The tropical and temperate rainforests are the originating home to almost all of our food. Cornflakes are made from plants originating in South American forests. Sugar comes from Indian forests. Bananas, pineapples, peppers, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, tomato juice, coffee and tea all come from rainforests (Newman, 1990, p. 135). Newman (1990) found that “80 percent of the developed world’s diet derives from resources found in the tropics” (p. 127). The juice from a plant grown in the forests of southern China contains 18 times the amount of vitamin C than orange juice (Newman, p. 136). However, many of these fruit and food producing plants are being destroyed daily due to deforestation. Diverse plants are not the only life being threatened by deforestation. Thousands of species of mammals, birds and insects are in danger of extinction caused by deforestation as well. Gay (2000) reported that according to the World …show more content…
26). One way to assist in the sustainable development is to establish preservation polices such as the one developed by the nation of Guyana which preserved 889,200 acres of its rainforests for conservation and research (Gay, 2000, p. 26). Integration of Technology It seems impossible to stop the behavior of consumerism. Therefore, instead of trying to fight that uphill battle, why don’t we use the technological tools we have now to try to solve some of the world’s climatic problems? For instance, one way, according to Butler (2007), is to help developing countries avoid the dirty phase of industrialism by installing solar power panels in remote areas of Africa and Asia (p. 28). Another use of technology to help developing countries is to show them alternatives to using fossil fuel through the use of carbon capture and storage technology (Butler, 2007). By applying advance uses of our technology, it is very possible to increase the productivity of land use, and decrease the need for deforestation. International Logging It has been proven that international logging practices could enjoy a much longer and more profitable life cycle if it coordinated its consumption to use regeneration cycles instead of constantly racing to beat its world wide competitors. Unfortunately, regulations implemented by
One of the most interesting indigenous groups in the world is the Batek of Malaysia, this is a group of people that live in the oldest rain forest of peninsular Malaysia. Orang ASli means “Original people” in the native Malay Language, and they truly are the original people of the land. Being a nomadic group of hunters and gatherers, means that they are at the mercy of the land and the elements for survival. Batek beliefs note that, the rainforest was created by “superhuman” beings for the Batek to use and will destroy the world and everything on it if the Batek were ever to leave the rainforest ( K.M. Endcott 1979a; Lye 2004). The Batek believe that the “superhuman” beings created the forest for the Batek to harvest, build houses in, and provide also to decorations for their ceremonial rituals.
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
In a modern Australian society, there is still tribulation in the lives of the Indigenous regarding controversial issues around. The bloodthirsty eradication of trees and other vegetation is intimidating towards the natural atmosphere, as well as to those who are from an Indigenous landscape, as the link between biodiversity and Indigenous people is believed as supernatural. In Indigenous holy beliefs, practices like deforestation rubbish the spirit and soul out of the biodiversity and is considered as the discrimination of god and Mother Nature. This makes the Indigenous more susceptible to a culture they feel is mistreated, which further ruins the nature’s spiritual identity. In addition, living organisms lose their habitat, particularly
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).
Environmental issues affect every life on this planet from the smallest parasite to the human race. There are many resources that humans and animal needs to survive; some of the most obvious resources come from the forests. Forests make up a large percentage of the globe. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath, determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. The wood from the forests are used everyday form many useful resources. Moreover, thinning the forests increases the amount of available light, nutrients and water for the remaining trees. Deforestation (forest thinning) is one of the most critical issues of environmental problems that are occurring today.
Now is a critical time to address the issue of deforestation. Around the world forests are logged for timber and paper pulp. South America contains a large amount of mahogany and rosewood—highly coveted types of wood—within the Amazon basin. Forests are also cleared to make room for the planting of cash crops, such as coffee and soy, as well as livestock farms. After only a few years, overuse of these lands for crops typically causes soil erosion that quickly turns deforested regions into wastelands. Deforestation is responsible for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than all emissions all motorized transportation added together. The destruction of forests does not just threaten our climate; it threatens the livelihoods of billions of people that rely on forests for food and economic activities. The modern world relies on rainforests more than for the well-known reason. People receive many of their fruits and medicines from plant species that survive solely within the heart of a rainforest. Let’s not forget that forests also serve as habitats to wildlife a...
Reason to Listen: You as the audience should listen and understand why our planet is becoming hotter and hotter, losing specialized species, and in-turn why plants are no longer able to survive for as long as they were able to before.
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.
This is alarming since recent data indicates these enormous forests are land-dwelling carbon absorbers that could help to slow worldwide climate alteration. The United Nations ' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates “eighteen million acres of forests have been destroyed worldwide;” and NASA forecasts “that if current deforestation rates are not reduced, rainforests could become entirely eradicated in a century.” The nations with substantial deforestation are Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Africa (The Democratic Republic of Congo included), and remote areas of Eastern Europe. Indonesia, the country with the greatest deforestation within the last century, has lost approximately forty million acres of indigenous
According to National Geographic 2014, Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Deforestation occurs all around the world and tropical rainforests are primarily targeted. Our world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation. Currently or in the recent past countries with significant deforestation include Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, parts of Africa and Eastern Europe. Deforestation affects our planet and everyone in many ways. According to LiveScience 2013, seventy percent of the world’s plants and animals live in forests and are losing their habitats to deforestation. Loss of habitat can lead to species extinction. Our world has lost so many species of plants and animals in last couple of decades. This has negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine. In some regions of the world deforestation can cause floods, when it rains trees absorb and store large amount of water with the help of its roots. But when they are cut down the flow of water is disrupted w...
since the beginning of time. Man has been destroying trees for the use of wood for
middle of paper ... ... resources, and improved understanding of environmental implications of harvesting and trade of forest products. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is another important and effective step towards the rectification of Deforestation. Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) play an important, but in some cases, inappropriate role in rectifying the problem. NGO’s like Green Peace and the World Wildlife Fund are two such NGO’s.
Deforestation is the elimination of existing trees from the earth; attributable factors include urbanization, logging, ranching, and farming and to some extent land speculation. Land speculation can be included as cleared land is more valuable than forested land. Deforestation, done in the name of progress, and the long-term, devastating effects of it, is killing our planet.
Deforestation is the amputation of trees from forest areas more swiftly than they can be replanted or regenerate naturally. The fact that trees play an incredibly momentous part in stabilising climate, atmospheric composition and soil structure, removing trees rapidly becomes a major problem. There are numerous reasons behind the felling of trees by mankind. The Amazon basin is a prime example of humans exploiting rainforests. Within this tropical rainforest lie a vast variety of tree species, with many uses, giving humans even more reason to exploit this area.
The social and moral implications of diminishing rainforest biodiversity are great. From a human welfare perspective, the livelihoods of tens of millions of indigenous peoples depend on the forests, but thousands are being pushed out of their homes because they lack the shelter and support that the forest once gave them (Salim 3). These groups have "developed knowledge and cultures in accordance with their environment through thousands of years, and even physically they are adapted to the life in the forest" (Nyborg). For many of the people living in these areas, the forest is the only resource they have providing them with food, shelter and cultural ties. With the invasion and destruction of their homeland, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.