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.
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?
It is easy to see why this rainforest is so marveled upon. The Amazon rainforest is the most species-rich rainforest in the world, and makes up more than half of the remaining rainforests on the planet. However, with the increasing need for cattle pasture, farming space, and precious wood, deforestation has been devastating the Amazon. Deforestation is the removal of trees, where the left over land is changed for non-forest use. Although clearing trees in the Amazon provides economic benefits, the environmental effects are serious dangers to it’s ecosystem as well as species within it.
Between 2000 and 2006 alone, 150,000 sq km (an area larger than Greece) was lost. The problem is complex and encompasses ‘actors’ from all spatial scales including local indigenous peasants, NGOs, industry/transnational companies and of course, government. As aforementioned, deforestation can be contributed to clearing for pastureland, (misguided) government policy and commercial exploitation of forest resources. Imagine you are one of the ‘actors’ (as specified below) contributing to or being impacted by deforestation: The Government Deforestation is closely correlated with the economic health of Brazil. And thus Brazil encourages economic development in the Amazon through favourable taxation policies such as low tax rates from agriculture, and agricultural subsidies.
The Killer of the Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, located in Brazil, is an essential part of our planet. According to the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research (ACEER), the Amazon rainforest holds over two thirds of all the fresh water found on Earth and also produces twenty percent of Earths oxygen supply. Unfortunately, a devastating transformation is taking place throughout the majority of the forest because of the process of deforestation. There are many negative impacts that come with this. Some of which include, global warming, destruction of habitat, and soil erosion.
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.
In Africa there is a lot of Plantonuim, this Plantonuim is eighty percent of the worlds Plantonuim, the presented fact came off of Mr. Nizar Hadeli. This is a positive because the more that Africa has what the world needs the more money it brings. Africa has a lot of soil that other countries are not used to, this is a great positive because when the Europeans came they were fine at first in southern Africa but as they made their way up many people could grow crops because they did not understand the soil, so the Europeans could not plant above Capricorn. The following fact comes from the movie Guns, Germs, and Steal. Another beneficial thing about Africa is how they are in the
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.
However, after four decades of aid receiving, poverty is still the biggest challenge in Africa. Data show that overall foreign aid has failed not only to promote economic growth but also to improve the lives of the people on the continent. As such, poverty has even worsened around the African continent. The World Bank (2008) reports that the number of poor in Africa has nearly doubled, increasing from 200 million in 1981 to 390 in 2005 despite massive foreign fund inflows. Furthermore, Dambisa Moyo (2009) in her much acclaimed book Dead Aid goes further by highlighting the failure of aid in Africa.
Use case study p.55 community of Wakapoa, population under 40 no longer speak native language. Family traditions lost. Deforestation -ve - The greatest threat to the increase in soya production in the Amazonia would be greater clearance of the rainforest in order to increase the amount of agricultural land available. Also caused by logging and locals farming. P. 80 area size of Wales cleared in N & S