Amazon Destruction Essay

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The largest tropical rainforest in the world, the Amazon, is being rapidly destroyed. The reasons are many, and little is being done to prevent this. The use of chemical defoliants and the attempt of building a road through the Amazon has done horrific damage to the rainforest. Logging is a part of the reckless destruction of the beautiful rainforest. Cattle ranching contributes greatly to the demise of the amazonian rainforest. In Brazil, small-scale agriculture represents one third of the rainforest lost per annum. Mother Nature plays her own part in the deforestation of the Amazon using fires, droughts and tropical storms. In Columbia, the rainforest is mostly destroyed by poor farmers trying to make drug plantations. They do this because it generates more income than any other crop. In creating these narcotic fields they force the government to act. This happens in such great numbers that the government is left with limited options. Extremely dangerous herbicides are sprayed over great distances damaging both the plantations and nearby natural ecosystems. The farmers who plant the coca seed just move to wherever there is more fertile soil. The ecological impact of planting coca seeds is huge. For one acre of planting is takes four acres of rainforest to be cleared. The improper, illegal mass dumping of the chemicals used in the process of creating actual cocaine has a severe impact on its surroundings. The construction of roads to mining, oil and logging sites takes it toll on the beauty of the tropical forest. The Trans-Amazonian Highway is a great road that goes through the northern part of Brazil’s Amazon. The majority of roads are built by government agencies and proper precautions are taken into consideration. It is those that are built by private companies that are trying to maximize profit that do the most damage to the rainforest. The Trans-Amazonian

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