The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world and it needs to be protected at all costs. The deforestation of the Amazon not only hurts the rainforest itself and all the species in it, it could be harmful to the entire world. The Amazon rainforest is responsible for creating ¼ of the world’s oxygen and is often referred to as the “lungs of the Earth” (Deforestation 178). In addition to providing a significant amount of oxygen, the Amazon rainforest is also home to thousands of species. In fact, one 25-acre patch of the rainforest contains 750 kinds of trees, 1500 kinds of flowering plants, 125 species of mammals, 400 kinds of birds, and countless other unknown species (Deforestation 187). As the Amazon is being deforested, these
1. Mann’s overall thesis is that the Native American’s way of life was very sophisticated and advanced for its time. Evidence of the Native American’s resourceful way of life is illustrated in their ability to manipulate their environment. Mann states that it is likely that the Indians shaped the land more than the Europeans have over the course of 250 years. The Indians literally created their environment through the use of fire so it would be easier to hunt for prey.
(Document 3) In Brazil, many people are moving into the Amazon. Brazil does not have the resources to supply the entire population because of urbanization. The people that moved to the Amazon started cutting down trees, which led to the deforestation of the Amazon. Animals are not only the ones living in the forest, but humans live there too.
Michael Boydstun ENVS 101-1998 Environmental Impact of deforestation In the Pacific Northwest The first people to explore the wilderness in what is now Oregon and Washington documented beautiful forests of mesmerizingly large trees as far as the eye can see. The explorer’s initial reports brought in people who came to make a profit off the forest and the vast amounts of lumber it could provide. Lumber mills were built before the area was even added to the union. The environmental footprint started out small, but the lack of regulation, lack of enforcement of the existing regulations, and an increase in technology quickly created a large environmental battle over the whole region.
The ecosystem that I found to be the most interesting is the Daintree Rainforest. This rainforest is estimated to be 180 million years old and has a very fascinating and distinctive land. The Daintree Rainforest is a tropical rainforest that is located on the north east coast of Queensland, Australia; taking up a total of 0.1 percent of Australia’s land mass. The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest existing tropical rainforest in the world and the biggest rainforest located in Australia, it is a total of over 1,200 square kilometers in size. This forest got its famous name from a man named Richard Daintree, a 19th century Australian geologist and photographer.
Deforestation has been a big problem in Canada for many years. Destruction of forests began somewhere around 1880’s specifically in British Columbia. It went all the way to 1990’s where 64,000 hectares were lost, however that quantity has decreased in 2012 to about 45,800 hectares. Today, Canada’s 348 million hectares of forest lands shows about 9% of the world’s forest cover, although account for 0.3% of global
Did you know, one and a half acres of forest is destroyed every second? Rainforests are being destroyed at alarming rates, and serious things need to be done! If we don’t stop rainforests from being cut down, animals will go extinct, and habitats will be destroyed.
Borneo, located in Southeast Asia, is a vast island divided amongst Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It is the third largest island in the world, with a population of approximately 16 million. Borneo is home to the oldest tropical rainforests in the world, which are approximately 130 million years old. These extravagant rainforests have up until recently entirely covered the island. Amidst the world’s most biologically varied ecosystems, the tropical rainforests in Borneo are home to many animal and plant species, including gibbons, Orang-utans, sun bears, and more.
The Brazilian Amazon is home to 40% of the world’s tropical rainforest. Incidentally, it also has the world’s fastest rate of deforestation. Tropical Rainforests around the world are lost at the rate of one acre per second with the average rate of Brazilian Amazon being such that 2 million hectares of forest land are cleared every year. There are multiple causes for this extensive rate of deforestation and this paper will address four such causes namely (1) rapid population growth, (2) industrial logging and mining, (3) changing spatial patterns of deforestation, and (4) wildfires. Moreover, there are several Brazilian state policies that encourage deforestation practices of which this paper will look at five key aspects – (1) taxes on agricultural income, (2) rules of land allocation, (3) land taxes, and (4) tax credit schemes and subsidized credits.
Introduction: Description: Deforestation is defined as the permanent destruction of forests in order to make land available for other uses. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 18 million acres of forest are lost each year. This equals to approximately 36 football fields of forest being cleared each minute. Though deforestation occurs all over the world, it’s the tropical forests which are being particularly targeted. Due to this countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, the Democratic republic of Congo and Thailand have a very
Deforestation results in the loss of biodiversity Deforestation is having its most devastating effect on biodiversity in tropical rainforests. The destruction of millions of hectares of forests by human activities means: • The removal of the bases of numerous food webs • The loss of habitats for many species of flora and
Even so, if there are 100 million species currently in existence, we are losing between 10,000 and 100,000 each year.” No matter which numbers are accurate, mislaying of biological diversity is a very serious-minded problem - and it seems to only get worse every single day. Unfortunately, an overwhelming volume of the earth 's biological diversity is in the equator region, a field tortured by extreme poverty and thus under serious risk of species loss. Conservation International has appointed 34 distinct regions as "biodiversity hotspots," areas that grip at least 1,500 classes of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and have lost at least 70 percent of their own habitat. These 34 hotspots fill in only 2.3 percent of the Earth 's land surface, and eventually host over 50 percent of the world’s plant classes and 42 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate classes as endemics.
The tropical rain forest is one of the major vegetation types of the globe (Richards, 2006; Whitmore, 1998). It occupies a total area of 1818.43 million hectares, representing 47% of the total land area occupied by all forest types of the world (FAO, 2003). The tropical rain forest is the most diverse of all terrestrial ecosystems, containing more plant and animal species than any other biome (Turner, 2001). In spite of this diversity, most species are locally endemic or rare and patchily distributed (Richards, 2006). It is worthy to note that in recent times, the concern has been to concentrate conservation effort in the tropical rainforest because of its richness in biodiversity.
Without the transpiration of trees, deforested areas become drier. Changes in weather and shelter cause deforested areas to undergo a tremendous loss of biodiversity. The scientist hasn’t even come close to testing 1% of the plants in the tropical rainforests for medicinal use, but they regularly discover species that are helpful to us the people. But, these forests and their potential benefits are looking like they may disappear by the end of this century if we don’t stop
Forests are homes to around 80% of the world’s flora and fauna. The most visible impact of deforestation is that the forest habitants will lose their habitats. Some species will also not be able to cope with the changing habitat. Hence, they will begin to migrate to regions that are suitable for them. In this period, they will be more exposed to predators as well as natural harm.
The impact that deforestation has on animal populations is absolutely devastating. According to conserve-energy-future.com an estimated “28,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next quarter of the century due to deforestation” (Rinkesh, 2009, Fact 12). If this statistic does not scare you, you need a reality check. It is also stated by Rinkesh that not only animals will be harmed within this process, the loss of bacteria, plants, and fungi will be felt throughout the world (2018). It is estimated that around 25% of cancer fighting agents are found in the Amazon rainforest, and at the current rate of deforestation, the Amazon rainforest will be gone within the next 100 years (2018).