On
our planet there are a few extremely large rainforests that cover our planet.
These areas of lush forest are home to millions of species of animals, many
being insects. The climate is considered tropical, which is extremely warm and
humid. The Amazon rainforest probably being the most well know, is located in
northern South American in countries like Brazil, Co
lombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
lombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The
issues with deforestation of the Amazon are huge. The Amazon is home to
millions of animals that use the land which includes all of the vegetation and
the water that runs through the area. The trees that inhabit the land are considered “Carbon Sinks.” This
means that the trees withhold carbon dioxide, so that it doesn’t go into the
atmosphere. The significance of this is that those trees are trying to stop
climate changes to the best of their ability. When that extra carbon gets into
the atmosphere we shall see even warmer temperature than we already have. Another product produced by the trees is oxygen, which is created by taking in that carbon in the air.
Most
of the causes of the Amazon deforestation are caused by man. There are a couple
of main issues: mostly because of Logging, agriculture, and cattle farming.
Most of the trees being logged is done illegally. When the logging is done, and
the trees have been extracted, this leaves huge open area of land, open for the other issues. With
the cleared space the land is being used by farmers for agriculture and cattle
raising. The main plant being farmed is the soy bean. With the soy bean being
over farmed the soil becomes infertile. The cattle are probably the biggest
problem. The animals that are being raised completely destroy the vegetation
that surrounds the areas of these farms. Another way that people have been
opening the space and removing trees is by burning large areas. The burning of
the trees causes huge amounts of greenhouse gases to enter the air. It is like
a double edged sword, by burning all the trees, they put gases into the air
that the trees are actually trying to take out of the air.
These
are some of the many issues that arise out of the Amazon deforestation.
Hopefully with better ways to inform and regulate the areas of the amazon,
things will change positively for the rainforest and its creatures.
This is an image that shows some of the Deforestation that has taken place up to 2006
What's interesting is what came out of the Paris summit this year because I believe many South American countries agreed to significantly cut back on deforestation in the Amazon. Money has a huge influence on this though as farming as agriculture is a massive export in many South American countries and they need the land that the Amazon sits on to continue to feed large parts of the world. Unfortunately, the way we've built our global economy seems to always present these challenges to reducing climate change; i.e., money make the world go round.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to see the difference between the Amazon in the 1900's and the Amazon today, assuming there is a difference. Also I think it would be interesting to learn more about whether or not the amount of deforestation has been increasing or decreasing over the decades. I have always been sensitive to this topic because trees are essential to our survival, and to not only cut them down but also destroy the soil in the process. Now it isn't that we have less trees, it is that we can't plant new ones.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about law enforcement with deforestation in areas like the Amazon. How easy is it to get away with illegally logging? How fast will it be until the rainforest is decimated beyond repair? We all need to assume responsibility through buying certain products and not buying others that hurt the rainforest and the industry needs to do a better job of monitoring as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is awesome to think that nature is trying to right itself and that the rain forests are actually carbon sinks. The fact that they are steadily being chopped down is horrible; I don't see how someone could do it. At least they trees are not yet adversely effected by the carbon dioxide levels in the air and should be able to come back if we stop chopping down the trees.
ReplyDeleteDeforestation in any area across the globe is usually detrimental to the overall health of this planet. This is a subject that I think many people know about, but very few actually act upon. It seems like there needs to be more legislation passed to prevent any more trees from being demolished. Hopefully people will realize that these trees need to stay around and that decreasing logging will benefit everyone.
ReplyDeleteI found your post very interesting. I really enjoyed your pictures as well, I do not think all of us are really familiar with South America. I think that the rain forrest have been one of the most common and well known issues of our time, it is for some reason easy for people to jump on the "do not cut down the trees" campaign but not to learn about climate change.
ReplyDeleteDeforestation is a global tragedy. To me, the most unfortunate and negative aspect of deforestation is it's effect on the survival of many species, specifically those that are native to jungles and rainforests. I have always found the campaigns for "cut a tree, plant a tree" sort of funny, because it takes some trees hundreds of years to develop into plants that can support many humans. Although some individuals are trying to keep our forests alive, the destruction of forests is occurring too rapidly to sustain not only the entire human race, but many other organisms as well.
ReplyDeleteDeforestation goes quite far many times. I totally understand wanting to grow and develop a booming economy by clearing trees, but at some point there has to be a balance. Fires are obviously a disaster that will accelerate the global warming process. I like that you included the map that helps us identify and get a sense of how much we are doing with the Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to hear that more laws and policies are enforced in the Amazon. Do you think to think the significant drop in deforestation is mainly due to tree depletion or creation of laws?
ReplyDelete