...Mateo Vargas Mrs. Cox English IV per. 3 12 November 2015 Deforestation By the time that you finish reading this article 324 football fields or 428 acres worth of forests will be lost to deforestation. Yearly this is a rate of thirty five million acres of forest loss. This is equivalent to a space the size of Nicaragua.*** Deforestation is the long term or permanent loss of forest cover and its transformation into another land use. Deforestation happens when forests are cut down faster than they are renewed.*** Deforestation has been occurring since the beginning of human development. The rate of deforestation has increased over time with the development of new technology. Technology allows for people to clear forests faster and do more harm....
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...Causes and Effects of Deforestation Throughout the Amazon Rainforest Over the past 50 years, deforestation rates throughout the Amazon Rainforest have been gradually increasing, and could potentially lead to the full destruction of the forest. Government participation in saving the rainforest along with community ownership could result in positive outcomes for the Amazon’s future. Many things are being affected by deforestation, such as species of animals and plants, people in general, and climate. Even though the Amazon Rainforest is close to 2.27 million square miles wide, over 600,000 square miles have been cut down since 1970. According to Hannnah, over half of the Amazon could be destroyed by the year 2030. Many farmers in the 1970s...
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...Deforestation Environmental Science SCI-204 iLab 1 People relay on products from rainforest everyday and never realize it. Today, people around the world use woods that come from rainforest for products like desk, flooring, instruments, and many other products made from exotic woods. “Tropical forests yield some of the most beautiful and valuable woods in the world, such as teak, mahogany, rosewood, balsa, sandalwood and countless lesser-known species.” (Rainforest Alliance, 2014) Many medications are made up from plants and trees that are only found in rainforest. “Some 120 prescription drugs sold worldwide today are derived directly from rainforest plants.” (Talk, 2014) Many food products come from rainforest. Things like coffee beans, bananas, nuts, chocolate, and spices all can be found in the rainforest. “At least 3000 fruits are found in the rainforests; of these only 200 are now in use in the Western World.” (Taylor, 2012) Another product people use everyday is oxygen. The Amazon produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen. “The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen.” (Taylor, 2012) The next time you inhale, and fill your lungs with life giving oxygen be thankful to the rainforest. The rainforest has helped the world with many products, and all of them are important to everyday life. When you go to your local coffee...
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...Deforestation in the Amazon Discussion of the geographical, economical, and the overall influential importance of the Amazon Rainforest is, in my opinion, a necessity to understanding why deforestation is a huge mistake and will lead to major consequences for the entire planet. Common important facts about why deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest might include issues such as greenhouse gases or entire ecosystems demolished. Geographically, The Amazon Rainforest is by far the biggest rainforest left on our planet (sad to say) proportional to the size of Australia. The rainforest itself reaches out to several countries around Brazil. Economically, the regions of the Amazon Rainforest provide surrounding countries and entire continents with some of the most basic necessities and natural resources. Bananas, papayas, oranges, and pineapples are some of the major food exports out of the Amazon Rainforest regions. Along with food resources, many spices and other natural resources are only found in the Amazon Rainforest regions. Continuing the deforestation in order to use the land for other means of resources would harshly alter the economy of South America entirely and further affect the import/export economy of the United States and others. In addition to its economic influence, the Amazon Rainforest regions have aided advancements in medicine and scientific breakthroughs. Many explorations and scientific research of animal and plant life in the Amazon Rainforest...
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...Causes and consequences of reduced biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon basin in South America. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract oftropical rainforest in the world. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations contain "Amazonas" in their names. Besides short term rubber exploitation of the Amazon rainforest in the early 20th century, the Amazon was largerly ignored in terms of economic development and deforestation until the 1960s. In the nine years from 1991 to 2000, the total area of Amazon Rainforest cleared rose from 415,000 to 587,000 km²; comparable to the size of Spain or Madagascar. Most of this lost forest has been replaced with pasture for cattle. Before 1970, the estimated remaining forest cover of the Amazon was around 4,100,000, in 2011 it was around 3,354,711. Even though the level of deforestation in 2011 decreased, the Amazon is still being deforested at a rapid rate. The main causes of deforestation of the Amazon are: * Creating huge cattle ranches * Creating soybean farms * Exploiting mineral deposits * Using wood as a fuel * Using wood for furniture...
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...THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE LAST PARADISE ON EARTH The beauty of the Amazon Rainforest is incredible. To see it, is to have an awe-inspiring experience. “The Amazon Rainforest has evolved over millions of years to turn into the incredible complex environment” (Amazon Rainforest) It is a beautiful landscape filled with some of the most beautiful animal and plant species on earth (see figure 1) .and is one of the world's greatest natural resources. The Amazon Rainforest produces about 20% of the earth’s oxygen because its vegetation continuously recycles carbon dioxide into oxygen. It has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" (Amazon Rainforest). This rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and covers over a billion acres. The areas included would be Brazil, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru. Figure 1 “Why is the Amazon Rainforest so important?” The Amazon is very ecologically important for many reasons. First of all, the rainforest has probably the largest collection of plant and animal species in the whole world. It is estimated that a single hectare (2.47 acres) of Amazon rainforest contains about 900 tons of living plants, including more than 750 types of trees and 1500 other plants (Rainforest Facts). The Amazon rainforest is considered the richest biological incubator in the world. Amazingly, the Andean mountain range and the Amazon jungle are the home to more than half of the world's species of flora and fauna; and are home to over 438,000...
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...2-4-2014 | | Amazon Deforestation | | Deforestation is the loss or destruction of naturally occurring forests. It is primarily due to human activities such as cutting trees for fuel, slash-and-burn agriculture, clearing land for livestock grazing, oil extraction, and many others. Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate change. It can occur around the world, even though it’s more common in tropical rainforests. Countries with significant deforestation currently or in the recent years include Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and parts of Eastern Europe. Though deforestation has increased rapidly in the last fifty years, it has been known to be practiced through history. Deforestation is typically done to make more land available for housing and urbanization and cattle ranching. Most of the logging industry that contributes to deforestation is done illegally, as reports from the World Wildlife Fund state. Common methods include burning trees and clear cutting, which is the controversial practice of complete removal of a given area of forest. In Brazil, you will find the Amazon rainforest. It is 5.7 million square kilometers and the largest continuous rainforest in the entire world. Since 1970, one sixth of the Amazon has been cleared mainly for ethanol production and cattle. While techniques like slash-and-burn provide a short term boost in agricultural production, rainforest soil is typically very thin and does not support...
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...The biggest rainforest in the world has always had one of the biggest argument points in the world today. It’s been a struggle of power that has been a problem since 1870. The biggest question about the Amazon Rainforest is what should it be used for.There are 6 main groups that want to use the land of the Amazon Rainforest, (Native Amazonians, settlers, environmentalists, ranchers, loggers, and rubber tappers) but I will talk about the rubber tappers do and want to do. The rubber tappers tap into trees using tappers and take out the rubber sap. This is very difficult to do and only experienced workers can do it without harming the tree. The rubber tappers want to preserve the trees to collect rubber for things like erasers and tires. These...
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...The Amazon rainforest is home to many living animals that are facing consequences made by the various groups interested in the resources of the rainforest. One of the many groups that are interested in the rainforest is environmentalist. They want to protect the rainforest because of the resources that could be found and used for everyday life. Because of this, the most appropriate way to address land conflict is to slow down the development and protect unknown species because the environmentalist needs to preserve the rainforest. Environmentalist needs to slow down and protect the development of rainforest. Environmentalist wants to preserve the land and its species so they can further study the unknown that could be or is in the Amazon....
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...Executive Summary Why are the rainforests so important to human and animal life? Scientists believe the rainforest are considered the “world’s lungs” and actually eliminates CO2 from the atmosphere and provides oxygen for every living creature. In addition, pharmaceutical companies are realizing the importance of the discovery of anti-cancer drugs that are only found in plants in the rainforest. We are not thinking of the consequences that deforestation of the rainforest will have on the Earth. We need to stop the deforestation and the destruction of the rainforest before it is too late. It is said that Mother Earth has given many responsibilities to the trees. Without the trees in the rainforest, it could have global implications not just on life but the quality of life to all living things. Trees in the rainforest improve the quality of the oxygen that all creatures breathe by trapping carbon and other particles produced by pollution. Trees also determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. As more water is able to be put back in the atmosphere, clouds form and provide another way to block out the sun’s heat. Trees are what cool and regulate the earth’s climate in conjunction with other such valuable services as preventing erosion, landslides, and making the most infertile soil rich with life (Connor, 2009). To be considered a rainforest, the forest must get at least 80 inches of rain per year. Most tropical rainforests get anywhere from 160 to 400 inches of rain...
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...of environmental resources include: clean air, clean water, and wildlife. Amazon Rainforest Deforestation The main sources of deforestation in the amazon rainforest are human settlement and development of the land. Deforestation of the amazon rainforest can be attributed to many different factors. The rainforest is mainly seen as a resource for cattle pasture, valuable hardwoods, housing space, farming space (especially for soybeans), road works (such as highways and smaller roads) and medicines. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/deforestation). Did you know that in the amazon rain forest, around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. From reading this article I found at (www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation) I learned that forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink-soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Due to deforestation forests around the world are being jeopardized of their benefits. Deforestation has many forms such as fires, clear cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. Forests provide shelter for over 70 percent of animal species here on earth. If not taken seriously, the effects of deforestation can eliminate...
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...Preserving the Amazon Rainforest Introduction The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world; it lies in parts of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, and Brazil (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). Consequently, it has the largest biodiversity of the world. In fact, there are over 245,000 different species found within the Amazon Rainforest (From the boa, 2018). Though extinction is a natural phenomenon, unfortunately human activity has sped up natural extinction rates of several species all over the world, including the Amazon. Similarly, a study by Ceballos et al. (2015) shows that the earth may even be entering a sixth mass extinction. Not only does this have a negative impact on the affected plants and animals, but also on the communities surrounding and dependent on them. Climate change and deforestation lead to large-scale environmental issues that cause animals to become endangered. Without change, future generations will not be able to benefit from the resources which the Amazon provides. Carbon Emissions According to the World Wildlife Fund (2018), “there is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet.” A decrease in the health of the planet creates negative repercussions not only for the animals of the Amazon, but also the plants. Home to 40,000 plant...
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...Deforestation of the Amazonian Rainforest Tiffani Swank GE150 Survey of the Sciences Erica Price/Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. to 12:24 p.m. Earth’s natural resources are what we are extracting from the earth. Industries, which excavate the earth’s resources, include forestry, oil extraction, and mining. Present-day society is based upon a vast consumption of non-replaceable minerals and fuels such as coal, oil and natural gasses. Other materials such as cotton, wool timber and produce, if utilized wisely can be replenished. Is the carbon dioxide level higher, due to massive amounts of forest being cut down and the levels of carbon dioxide left in the atmosphere higher? Therefore, my hypothesis is that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest leads, not only, to a reduction of the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere, but also to an increased release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The earth’s natural resources are there for all of us to use. We need the water, food, air, energy, medicines, warmth, shelter and minerals that the earth’s natural resources give us. Therefore, keeping us fed, comfortable, healthy and alive. If we use the resources carefully then they will last indefinitely. But if we use them wastefully and excessively, they will soon run out and all will suffer. The excessive waste is happening in our rainforest every minute of every day of...
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...Deforestation is threatening to destroy the planet’s rainforest ecosystems. Currently, the Amazon experiences the highest rates of deforestation in the world, averaging close to 2 million hectares per year. The large-scale removal of trees caused two once-in-a-century droughts in the region in the past nine years. The 2005 and 2010 droughts induced more frequent fires and reduced surface runoff for the region. The Amazon also went from being a global net carbon sink to a source of global net carbon during the drought years. In general, the region also experiences more frequent smaller droughts because the land-use changes have disturbed the region’s hydrological cycle. The forest can no longer evapotranspire effectively because the albedo...
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...there is a large biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, which is the tropical biome which I have studied. The Amazon covers 40% of the South American land mass, passing through countries such as Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile. It is one of the most biodiverse regions on earth, homes to about 1 million different plant species, over 500 species of mammals, and over 2000 species of fish. There are also a few endangered species in this biome, including the black caiman, which is a reptile and a pirarucu, which is a fish. The standard of living is simply the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community. For the standard of living to improve for generations today and for future generations, it is often necessary for development to occur. And for development to occur, it is almost inevitable that the biodiversity in the area will be affected in one way or another. There are currently some threats to the Amazon rainforest, mainly being deforestation, overhunting and overfishing. If these activities are done in abundance, then it is not possible for people to achieve a reasonable standard of living in the future. So measures must be taken to sustainably develop the Amazon biome, which I will elaborate on later. Deforestation is definitely the biggest threat to the rainforest – 13% of the original forest has been cleared, which is a massive amount if we remember that the Amazon rainforest is huge. 13% of the amazon rainforest is around 70,000km2. There are various...
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