Brazil dominates the continent of South America in almost every category from land mass to Gross Domestic Product. It “is the largest and most populous country in South America. Endowed with rich natural resources, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries with large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and services sectors” (Country Watch). When a nation has a large population, diverse economy and vast resources, putting those resources to their best economic use is often at odds with the wisest use of those resources. Because of the growing population, there has been large scale encroachment of rain forest habitat there. The pace of this deforestation is unprecedented in recent times. According …show more content…
Scientists have concluded that “agricultural production and other economic activities, deforestation adds more atmospheric CO2 than the sum total of cars and trucks on the world's roads” (Scientific American). While Brazil is not the only country to participate in deforestation, because of the sheer size of the Amazon jungle much of the damage is created there. All of the actions in the deforestation of Brazil’s rain forests create greenhouse gasses, which in turn contribute to global warming. Trees act as “carbon sequestering” (National Geographic) machines as they hold in carbons as they produce oxygen. Cutting down or burning trees to clear, claim and/or fertilize the land causes the trees to emit these dangerous carbons into the atmosphere. Once cleared the land is only accessible through carbon emitting vehicles, fertilized manufactured with petroleum consumption, while product must be delivered long distances to reach the markets. Finally green house gasses are expected to “cause global warming and raise the average global temperature 2 to 5 degrees Celsius … melting ice caps and glaciers and raising the sea levels” (Spongel et al 15). Eventually this will endanger or eliminate the Pacific Islands, Caribbean Islands and multiple other low lying coastal areas around the
It’s important to note that developed countries are suffering from the effects of damage resulting from a climate change. And countries like Brazil benefits from deforestation but it’s trying to reduce the rate of it every year. Unfortunately The Brazilian government has officially confirmed that deforestation in the Amazon is pacing sharply higher than a year ago. http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0313-brazil-deforestation.html
However, forests around the world are under threat from deforestation, jeopardizing these benefits. Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. This impacts people’s livelihoods and threatens a wide range of plant and animal species. Some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year, which is equivalent to 36 football fields every minute.
Deforestation poses an alarming threat to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and it has been a serious concern for over 40 years. For thousands of years, the abundant, valuable resources in the Amazon were familiar only to the indigenous people of the region. In the 1500’s, before European colonization of Brazil, there were an estimated six to nine million individuals part of different cultures that made up a rich Amazonian society (“History”). Surrounded by the luxuriant rainforest and its natural resources, these indigenous tribes were able to thrive by utilizing the resources without destroying their habitat. After European emigration, the government of Brazil exploited the value of the Amazon’s resources in the twentieth century. In the 1970’s, the Brazilian government discovered the “untapped source of boundless potential” hiding in the Amazon and began using incentives to persuade settlers to develop its resources (Casey). Once economists realized the importance of the resources found within the rainforest, European pioneers set out to transform the Amazon into their home. By endorsing colonization, the government could not only boost the country’s economy, but also gain control over Brazil’s vast territory. The government supported migration to the rainforest and campaigned for the construction of infrastructure (“History”). In concurrence, the development of roads such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway, a 2,000 mile road built in 1972, granted people and machinery entrance to
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
Did you know that Brazil is home to one-third of the world’s rainforests? The beautiful South American country, Brazil, whose size is 3.288 million square miles, is home to one of the largest rainforests of the world, the Amazon rainforest. Something that a lot of people don’t know is that the Brazilian rainforests are extremely important and they not only affect the people of Brazil, but everyone around the world. Since the Amazon rainforest is so large in size, it would only make sense if it affect the world more than other rainforests. Therefore, Brazilian rainforests affect our world greatly because of all of the things that we gain from it, the harmful effects of deforestation, and because of deforestation, we need to teach people to conserve the rainforests.
Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America and is bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil is a major area of land with a lower rate of transferability than Germany. Its total land area is 8,358,140 sq km. The climate is mostly tropical with some temperate regions in the south. The land is mostly flat or rolling lowlands in the north, with some plains, hills, mountains in the south.
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
Deforestation can improve the economies in developing nations and create room for new businesses, roads and railroads. The resources created also provide lumber and paper for other nations, and the land is available for agricultural purposes. These are all reasons why deforestation continues to increase. A New York Times article discovered that Cargill, the world’s largest privately owned company, and Bunge are increasing their share in the destruction of the rainforests in Bolivia and Brazil. These companies and many others have made a drastic choice, choosing profit over the environment. These companies along with many politicians question the importance of the worlds forests, claiming that the economy is more important. The world can only hope they are right. Currently, Tropical Rainforests make up 7 percent of the earth’s dry land and houses 50 percent of all species of animals. The Amazon basin alone contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. Astonishingly, these forests are being destroyed at a rate of one football field of land every minute. While millions of acres are destroyed each year. These numbers show the drastic consequences that loom ahead. Tropical rainforests are not sustainable at the rate they are being cut down. Scientists predict that if the rate of destruction stays as it is, all of the earths rainforests will disappear within the next 50 to 100 years. By not conserving
Today, the total percentage of forest cover of the earth is approximately thirty percent (“Deforestation”). That is about nine percent of the world’s total surface. The largest rainforest is the Amazon River Basin, located in South America. The Amazon is home to many species of animals, insects, plants and trees. Many of the trees and plants in the Amazon produce about twenty percent of the oxygen on earth, and absorb carbon. However, the Amazon is decreasing in size every day due to the ongoing deforestation of the land. Deforestation is when the forest of the land are cleared or destroyed, in order to be used for other actions (“Deforestation”). The Amazon is twenty percent less than it was about forty years ago (Wallace). In just about
Have your eyes ever set on a barren land where even technology can’t reverse the damage we have caused? We care mostly for the present, but we must never forget to see to the future and in this case the deforestation of the Amazons. “Deforestation is considered the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere” (Song et al. 2). Each day we are wiping out miles of trees from one of our most diverse ecosystems in the planet, and one of our largest “lungs” in the world. At our rate of destruction of the rainforest, we would have inflicted in our future a great disservice, as the trees cut down would no longer give us clean air and more CO2 would pollute our air. CO2 can have a negative impact on our health. As we breathe in this air, it can lead to lung cancer and other diseases. By destroying the Amazon ecosystem we could drive many exclusive species that only live in the Amazon to extinction. Will we know the harm we have caused right away? Probably not, but we will definitely find out sooner rather than later. The cause of the Amazon deforestation is due to our need for wood to stay warm, and for developing countries to use it for fuel. Our top priority in conserving the Amazons is the unforeseen environmental impact that can be caused to our planet and to us. “Tropical deforestation also has other negative externalities, such as the loss of biodiversity, erosion, floods, and lowered water levels” (Jusys).
When we are looking at the Earth from space, and this a remarkable for us because no direct evidence of animal life at all because when we looking will not see the place what is has green land. That’s mean many countries are cutting the trees. In deforestation in Brazil. The Brazilian government wants to make more land for housing and make people live there. They also, want to timber to make paper, furniture for housing or anythings else. Normal strategies for deforestation are blazing trees and clear cutting. These strategies leave the area totally desolate and are disputable practices. Clear cutting is when extensive swaths of area are chopped down at the same time. Also
how the deforested land is used and strategies to help reduce deforestation will be discussed. It is
The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.
Deforestation is one of the most significant issues of our time; considerable measures must be taken to prevent further pillaging of our unique forest resource.
Deforestation is a major global problem with serious consequences to the planet. These consequences have a negative effect on the climate, biodiversity, the atmosphere and threatens the cultural and physical survival of life. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. It has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area, so that now indigenous forests cover only 21% of the earth's land surface. The world Resources Institute regards deforestation as one of the worlds most pressing land use problem.