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.
Geography 101 13 July 2013 The Deforestation of the Amazon The deforestation of the Amazon is going to have catastrophic consequences. The legal and illegal results of chopping down trees in this great wetland, has dire consequences that our generation may not suffer but future generations will. “The Amazon is a vast region that spans across eight rapidly developing countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France. The landscape contains: one in ten known species on Earth; 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet's remaining tropical forests; 4,100 miles of winding rivers, 2.6 million square miles in the Amazon basin, about 40 percent of South America” (“Amazon”). So you ask, why does it matter if we chop down a few trees?
The Amazon Rainforest is and has always been a miraculous and extremely marvelous wonder of the world. It is the home to native Akawaio Indians (exactly how many is unknown), 358 mammal species, 15 percent of the world’s primates, as well as over 55,000 species of plants. Currently, 24 species of mammals and 1,000 plant species are threatened to extinction largely and mainly because of mass deforestation. Columbia's Amazon Rainforest is well over 55 million years old, has had human inhabitants both living in and visiting there for as far back as man can remember. Although old and beautiful in its existence, it is also very dangerous.
Rainforest Facts • Rainforests are home to more species of plants and animals than the rest of the world put together. • An astounding number of fruits (bananas, citrus), vegetables (peppers, okra), nuts (cashews, peanuts), drinks (coffee, tea, cola), oils (palm, coconut), flavourings (cocoa, vanilla, sugar, spices), and other foods (beans, grains, fish) come from rainforests. • We lose between 50 and 130 species every day – 2 to 5 species per hour are being lost forever due to tropical deforestation. • Tropical rainforests act as a global air conditioner - by storing and absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, storing the carbon, and releasing fresh, clean oxygen. • Over 2000 tropical forest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties.
Depending on its location the average yearly rainfal in rainforests is usually 68-98 inches (1750–2500 mm). All rainforests are endangered. This means they are disappearing. We must save them. Learn more about rainforests by watching this video at our rainforest partner’s web site: http://www.supernaturaladventures.com/ You can learn about the Kids for Saving Earth Rainforest here: http://kidsforsavingearth.org/programs/rainforest.htm Additional Resources The Prince’s Rainforest Project: http://schools.rainforestsos.org/kids Sounds of the rainforest: http://schools.rainforestsos.org/freeresources/rainforest-multimedia/rainforest-sounds Where are rainforests located?
Tropical Rainforest Case Study: Papua New Guinea Vocabulary Conservation: to manage the environment in such a way that it will be protected from change. Exploitation: when the environment is used in such a way that it is destroyed and will be of no use to future generations. Sustainable development: the development of an area using techniques and approaches that will help to protect the environment for the future. Location of the case study Rainforest Exploitation Papua New Guinea (PNG) possesses one of the planet's largest remaining tropical rainforest. At least seventy-five percent of its original forest cover is still standing, occupying vast, biologically rich tracts over 100,000 square miles in all.
Today the Amazonia has had 20% of its forest destroyed as a result of cattle ranches, mining, logging and agriculture. Much of this has occurred in the last 50 years. A focus on Brazil: Brazil possesses the greatest portion of the Amazonia. Since 1970, over 600,000 sq km have been destroyed. Between 2000 and 2006 alone, 150,000 sq km (an area larger than Greece) was lost.
It produces 1/3 of the earth’s oxygen and 1/5 of the earth’s fresh water supply by its water cycling. The Amazon absorbs carbon dioxide and cleanses the atmosphere, and therefore prevents global warming. It also has thousands of different endangered species that are threatened to extinction by deforestation. According to World Wild Life more than 350 indigenous ethnic groups are living in the Amazon, some for as long as thousands of years. Today, more than 30 million people live in the region and are dependent on the Amazon’s ecosystem for food and shelter.
Advancing glaciers would have lowered the temperature of the shallow seas therefore such big changes in temperature would alter the amount of oxygen in the water and meant the end for any species that couldn’t adapt. Research shows that approximately 50% of all species became extinct. The Devonian period was the second mass extinction and is known as the “Age of the fish” It is famous for the thousands of species of fish that developed in the Devonian seas. During the late Devonian period, over 408-360 million years ago, ,saw mass extinction and over a fifth of marine families and more than half of marine genera gradually died out over what may have been a ten-million-year interval. Climate and sea-level changes were the causes of the extinction of many types of corals, trilobites and fish with the sponges and coral most greatly effected.
It is a moist broadleaf that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. B. It represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. C. Amazon rainforest is getting smaller and smaller due to anthropic factors and nonhuman factors. IV.