Deforestation around the World
By Frank Keeney
283220
English 102 035W
Leslie Jewkes
05/01/2011
ABSTRACT: DEFORESTATION AROUND THE WORLD.
Deforestation is happening around the world. Deforestation has effects on people that rely on the forest for their livelihood and homes. Deforestation will cause animals and insects to find news areas to inhabit and also will create new areas of erosion and flooding zones. Mining also creates new problems of deforestation. Mining companies have to clear the area before they begin to mine witch then increase the destruction of the rainforests. Through the decrease in deforestation, the environmental sustainability of increasing the forest biomass can be achieved on a global level.
Frank Keeney
English 102
Leslie Jewkes
4/17/11
Deforestation around the World
“The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation” (National Geographic). With deforestation happening every day there are many problems that occur with the effects of deforestation. Many areas around the world are dealing with deforestation problems. With the destruction of the world’s rainforests and forests, it causes major problems from animal’s habitat to a regenerating source of fuel to every living thing. Deforestation is happening and it is affecting the world today.
Deforestation is happening in many parts of the world, especially the Amazon rainforest where thousands of acres are disappearing in the blink of an eye. “Between May 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest- an area larger than Greece-and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of the Amazon rainforests have been destroyed” (Butler 2011) It is taking away what habitat local tribes and people use to survive. The local tribes use the rainforest as their home like the Native Americans used the prairie. Extreme loggers are taking away the homes of these tribes and pushing them into new areas that they may not know how to live off of. “Illegal logging is a critical issue in developing countries where it can lead to the loss of wildlife habitat and public revenues. When forests are logged illegally, this undermines good forest governance and reduces their potential to contribute to sustainable livelihoods in developing countries and countries in transition.” (Sustainable Foresty Initiative). With massive deforestation destruction going on, in certain countries it is creating a large problem for everything that depends on that habitat to survive, especially the people that use the rainforests for food and material to provide for their families.
Another reason of the destruction of the rainforests and forests is due to the human population increasing around the world. People need places to live and they need food sources. Agriculture is a large reason for deforestation today; with populations increasing we need more areas to farm for food. Humans also are always looking for other resources that are not renewable, and tearing down the forests helps them to find those resources. In certain areas deforestation is created my small mining company’s that are clear cutting areas for new areas to mine. Mining is another cause of deforestation. Mining company’s hire the loggers to come in and clear cut an area, so they can begin digging into the hillside. “Roughly 7,000 hectares or about 15,200 acres, of pristine forest and wetlands were cleared at two large mining sites between 2003 and 2009, with a dramatic increase in deforestation occurring in the last three years” (Health&Science). Mining is just another reason for the loss of the forest acres. It is destroying the forest just so the mining company’s can dig to find gold, silver, and coal.
There are other parts to play in the destruction of the forests around the world. Deforestation is also destroying habitat for thousands of species of insects and animals that live in the varying layers and canopies of the rainforest. These same areas are being destroyed, killing or pushing the local wildlife into new areas that may not have the necessities to withstand the increase of the animal population. “The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes” (National Geographic).
Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. It also creates new areas of open land that will create problems of erosion and will completely destroy the land that was once covered by forest. “Tropical rain forests are dense groups of trees located in very warm regions with annual rainfall of at least 254 centimeters (100 inches)” (Walters 2011). Deforestation creates new areas of dry land that are not meant to be dry; this takes away plants that have been covered by the trees canopy for hundreds of years. These plants cannot survive in direct sun and are destroyed and we may never see them again. Deforestation affects the habitats that have been around for centuries and turns it into more of a steppe habitat depending on the location of the forest.
The climate has been changing around the world, whether or not is due to deforestation and the changes in the water cycle and plant biomass or it is mother nature, there are many studies that argue either way. Logically though, it seems that as you decrease plant biomass, the carbon-oxygen cycle changes and less carbon is being transformed into oxygen through the trees and plants. This will affect the atmosphere and many other natural processes on earth, which affects humans. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative, an independent organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management, states that sustainable forestry makes an important contribution to mitigating climate change and adapting to changing ecosystems. With deforestation happening, it’s taking away a large part of the largest natural resource that we have.
Deforestation has an effect on countries around the world. Even though there isn’t a rainforest in the United States, we as a country are losing the possibilities of seeing species that are living in the forest from animals to plants. These same species may be beneficial to us for medicinal reasons as well, whether known or unknown. We also see the impact from the environmental stand point.
With deforestation going on, there are ways that we can improve the rainforests and still be able to log them as well. Sustainable forestry is a newer way to carefully manage any forest. Through forest management, instead of straight clear cutting and illegal logging with no care of the affects, then we can have the rainforests and forests around a lot longer and use them as renewable resources. Logging is needed everywhere; it can help improve areas of the rainforest. Forests can get damaged from many things like invasive insects, “The introduction of foreign plants, animals, and microorganisms is one o the most disruptive influences on ecosystems”(Forest Health Issues). Therefore logging needs to be available to go in and take care of the problem so it doesn’t weaken the forest or kill too many trees. By selective logging, loggers can go in and take out the problem trees and use the lumber. When forests are neglected and natural disasters hit, like forest fires, unmaintained forests will burn hotter and faster than forests that have been selective logged and managed.
I spoke with Mr. Juan Ruelas about the issues of deforestation. Mr. Ruelas has worked in the lumber industry for over 15 years in the western United States. I spoke to him about the problems of deforestation and he said “major deforestation has been a problem for every lumber company that he has worked for, it makes buying and selling lumber more difficult.” “Logging is important, but when it is over logged, finding lumber to buy becomes more of a problem. If selective logging was more popular it wouldn’t be as much of an issue to finding better and more lumber.”
Deforestation is causing problems with the forest, but if people started to think about how they go about cutting down trees, then I believe that sustainable forestry could help everyone. Currently, this initiative is more popular and has a better insight of proper and improved ways to manage and use the forests as renewable resources, not something we can take advantage of without considering the consequences. Deforestation is happening and it is affecting the world today, but with proper sustainable forest management, we can decrease the detrimental effects and improper natural resource use and have a better world to live in.
Work Cited
Butler, Rhett A. “Deforestation in the Amazon.” Mongabay.com, 1994-2010. Web. 15 March 2011.
“Deforestation; Gold prices spur six- fold spike in Amazon.” NewsRx Health & Science (2011): 133. Print.
“Forest Conservation and Research” Sustainable Forestry Initiative. 9 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011.
“Deforestation: Modern-Day Plague” National Geographic.1996-2011. Web. 12 Feb 2011.
Ruelas, Juan. Personal Interview. 15 April 2011.
United States. Forest Service. Forest Health Issues. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2011.
Walters, Jennifer Marino. “Adventure in the Amazon.” Science World 67.8 (2011) : 10-15. Print.
“What is a healthy forest?” United States. Forest Service. 2011. Web. 9. Feb. 2011.
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