Disappearing Forest
Since 1970, rainforests are being destroyed across the world. Since 1970, the well-known Amazon Rainforest has been reduced by 25%.
Why is the Amazon being Cut Down
With the Amazon’s rich soils and good rainfall comes people who want it destroyed for growing high demand foods, ranching, logging, etc.
Logging is the second largest cause of deforestation in the Amazon. Bigger trees are usually sold to make furniture and smaller trees are used to make charcoal.
Unsustainable agriculture is another cause of deforestation. A lot of the fruit, cereals, and pulses that we eat are from plantations made from the destroying of rainforests. The soil is only good for a few years and once it is unusable, more of the forest is cut down to keep up the demand for these products.
Cattle ranching uses the most amount of the infertile or burned land. When plantations are no longer good they are just turned into a place to ranch cattle. Doing this produces a lot of beef for the rest of the world. According to the Rainforest Concern, “it is estimated that for each pound of beef produced, 200 square feet of rainforest are destroyed.” When the land's soil becomes dry and unusable they move onto a different place to ranch the cattle.
Mining, oiling, and damming of the Amazon are also reasons why this rainforest is being destroyed. Oil companies rip up the ground and build roads to find oil deposits. This is also true for mining companies that mine on untouched parts of the Amazon. Although dams can create clean energy, the dams will flood the rainforest and with that, the area flooded will rot making the water acidic and corrodes the dam.
Importance of the Amazon
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. So, cutting it down and destroying it will have consequences felt worldwide.
The Amazon is responsible for helping to regulate the world's oxygen and carbon cycles. Without this regulation of carbon and oxygen, global warming will be even worse than it already is.
The Amazon is often referred to as a “carbon sink” for the world. When deforestation keeps going on it will absorb less and less carbon. Not only does it absorb much of the world's carbon, but it also produces around 6% of the world's oxygen.
When logging and burning of the Amazon take place, carbon is emitted into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. According to Jennifer Lema, “Recent research has suggested that these forests might actually be emitting more carbon dioxide than they’re absorbing.”
There are over 40,000 different species of plants that thrive in the Amazon Rainforest. And within that 40,000 species, many of the plants have an important role in medicine and/or are found in foods we eat.
Not just plants and the atmosphere are being affected. This rainforest contains over 10% of the world's animal species, so when burning or logging of the Amazon takes place, it is felt heavily by the wildlife. When a fire started in the Amazon, 7.7% of the rainforest was burned but also 2.3 million animals died.
Sources
Effects of deforestation: The pachamama alliance. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2021, from https://www.pachamama.org/effects-of-deforestation#:~:text=The loss of trees and,of problems for indigenous people.
Leman, J. (2019, September 05). 4 reasons why we desperately need the Amazon rainforest. Retrieved February 09, 2021, from https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a28910396/amazon-rainforest-importance/#:~:text=The Amazon rainforest plays an,carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Why are rainforests being destroyed? (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2021, from https://www.rainforestconcern.org/forest-facts/why-are-rainforests-being-destroyed#:~:text=The forests are cut down,more rainforest for new plantations.
