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Example research essay topic: Vanishing Forests In Brazil Part 1 - 2,180 words

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VANISHING FORESTS IN BRAZIL: SLASH, BURN AND GONE INTRODUCTION One of the major issues confronting the world today is the environmental impact of deforestation. For a very long time, people have depended on forests to supply their primary needs food and shelter, for instance and up until the present time, the forests are still considered as an important resource. The earliest deforestation may have been the burning of the forest to create openings for wildlife and later, chiefly as a result of clearing land for growing crops, and developing pasture for grazing animals. (Wikipedia). Currently, the business sector and environmental groups continue to debate the issues revolving on deforestation. Most affected perhaps, are the tropical rainforests regions where the environmental risks are considerably higher and where forest products are a major economic resource. What are the pros and cons of deforesting rainforests?

Can a compromise be made between opposing opinions, resolving issues of economics and environment? The issue of continuous deforestation of tropical rainforests is not one that should be taken lightly, nor should it be set aside in the name of economic progress. If the economic advantages of forestry is to be considered as much as the environmental impact of forestry activities, then a resolution has to be formed between economics and environment. Deforestation activities in tropical rainforests have increased over the years due to higher demand for timber for the furniture, construction sector, and pulp and paper industries. The situation is worsened by the continuously growing local populations and their demands for agricultural expansion and wood fuel. Deforestation in the tropical regions became rampant as logging became a profitable business, with unwavering market demands.

Because of the heightened awareness on current environmental problems, it becomes easy to conclude that deforestation does not bring about any good. However, a lot of businesses that keep economies alive rely so much on the forestry sector. According to Norman Myers, the wood and timber industry is valued at more than $ 400 billion annually and is expected to grow by 50 % by 2010. Among several businesses that are contingent to the forest is the pulp and paper industry, which primarily uses forest tree trunks for raw materials. Unless the world develops a paperless society, the pulp and paper industry will continually be a significant business sector that environmental groups need to contend with. Even paper recycling programs that are designed to protect the environment have their limitations.

For example, paper can be recycled only for a limited number of times. After several recycling processes, the fibers become weak, requiring the addition of fresh pulp into the mixture to produce good quality paper. When the limit has been exhausted, eventually, paper manufacturers will have to harvest trees to acquire new pulp from forest timber to come up with quality paper products. Also, it requires too many chemicals to make high quality paper through the recycling process, resulting in other environmental problems such as wastewater management and pollution. The logging industry is also a primary resource for the construction business and for furniture manufacturing. Just like the paper products industry, these businesses still cannot do without logging activities, especially as market demands continually increase.

In construction, there are very few alternatives to forest timber, which are bought from third world countries at a low price. Forest wood is extensively used in the construction business from the start of the construction up to the finishing materials. Forest products are also prevalent in the manufacture of furniture, although environment groups are encouraging consumers to purchase furniture made of materials other than wood. In third world countries, logging activities are usually an answer to economic problems such as international debt.

An example of this is the situation in Brazil in 1995, wherein it had to pay down debts amounting to $ 159 billion. Part of the annual payment came from the profits the logging industry gained from forest products shipped to foreign countries. (Urquhart, Gerald). In third world countries, where most of the tropical forests are located, it is more difficult to control logging activities as poor farmers typically engage in slash and burn to meet their basic needs. Agricultural development schemes in Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia, [for instance], moved large populations into the rainforest zone, further increasing deforestation rates. It must be understood that these poor farmers have little choice but to engage deforestation activities in order for them to gain land for raising crops for their sustenance.

Environmental groups and policymakers express concern over the aggravated situation of tropical rainforests at the present time. To send out their message to the world, they are pursuing unending information campaign and conducting scientific studies to signify the importance of forest covers to the earth as a whole. It is essential to make people aware of the functions of the rainforests in the ecosystem for the whole world to appreciate their importance. Not only are they the home to thousands of species, they are also one of the best sources for pharmaceutical ingredients that could provide answers to fatal diseases and health problems. To date, not all of the species in the rainforests have been fully identified.

It has been said that we know more about some areas of the moon than we do about our tropical rainforests. (Catherine Caufield, In the Rainforest). Indeed, we are cutting down tropical rainforests on a massive scale. By doing so, we are destroying whole ecosystems causing soil erosion, desertification and loss of species, threatening indigenous peoples, and contributing to the greenhouse effect. This paper takes into consideration the fact that mans environmental problems are due, in part at least, to his tendency to assume that he lives above natural laws; that his thoughts and behavior have their roots in modern technology. He does not realize that natural laws, unlike manmade laws, are never broken, but are only illustrated by the consequences. Importance of the Issue Deforestation is a problem with global consequences.

Recently, Brazil's Amazon rainforest has come center stage prompted by concerns for a warming planet. In 1991, it was predicted that at current deforestation rates, only scattered "remnants" of tropical rainforests will exist and a quarter of all species on Earth will be extinct by the time today's preschoolers retire (Binswanger, 1991). This rapid rate of deforestation raises concern in a number of different environmental issues such as biodiversity loss and global warming (Binswanger, 1991). Background on the Topic Recently, the government of Brazil released figures showing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Figures on deforested areas manifest that 10, 088 square miles (26, 129 square kilometers) for the year ending August 2004. Deforestation in the Amazon in 2004 was the second worst ever as rain forests was cleared.

What gave way instead were huge tracts of land for cattle ranches and soy farms. Within just a year, from August 2003 until August 2004, there were about 26, 000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest that have been destroyed. This paper explores the various reasons and causes of this deforestation and attempts to give solutions to such a grave problem as this. Experts claim that deforestation in the Amazon is the result of several activities such as the clearing for cattle pasture, colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture, commercial agriculture, and logging. First, this paper will examine the current problem of deforestation that Brazil is facing. Then it will go into the root of the current problem and examine the legacy connected with this issue.

Tropical rainforests regulate the worlds water cycle, storing rainfall and slowly releasing moisture into the air. Without the moist forest cover, the soil would become dry, hard and easily eroded. This paper explores the root causes of deforestation in Brazil as the causes reveal deeply-entrenched problems that need to be examined and brought to light in order to solve it over the long haul. Current Problems/Challenges that the Country Faces Loggers Tropical hardwoods such as teak, mahogany, ebony and rosewood are major exports from different countries. The wood is used for a variety of products from expensive furniture, to veneer on television sets, to cheap shipping crates, to chopsticks. Some of the timber that is logged is used domestically to provide fuel for heat and power.

Most, however is exported to developed countries. One formidable group responsible for deforestation are the loggers. In Brazil, felling trees for the timber trade reveal ecological damage as well as conflict with Indians, rubber tappers and posseiros. There are an estimated 700 species of wood considered appropriate for hardwood export. Loggers have been killed as a result of the greed and illegal incursions upon the reserves. The National Foundation for the Indian (FUNAI) has been repeatedly accused of negotiating unfair contracts between logging companies and indians for trees.

After a FUNAI-negotiated contract, indians would discover through grassroots advocacy groups that an unfair price was paid as compared to the actual market price (Amazon Conservation: How to Save the Amazon Rainforest). Ranchers Rainforests are also cleared to provide land for farming or cattle ranching. In some countries, especially in Brazil, the act of clearing the land confers legal title or ownership on the person doing the clearing: moving into the rainforest and clearing land thus becomes one way for the landless to own property in many poor countries. However, statistics reveal just who is benefiting from land speculation: 93 % of the arable land is owned by 7 % of the landowners (Anderson, A. 1990). The Brazilian government support and encourage migration to rainforest areas; not only does such migration reduce population pressures on the cities, but it also ensures national sovereignty in unprotected or undefended frontier territories. Once the land is cleared of trees, crops may be planted.

However, rainforests typically have very shallow soil, not suited to agriculture, and can be cultivated for only 2 or 3 years on average. Environment experts sometimes label the ranchers in Brazil as predatory occupants of the Amazon. They are known to grab as much land since the governments law had declared ownership to the individual who cleared the land and put it to effective use. Thus, the rich ranchers are seen as the main culprits here. They clear large tracts of land for their own selfish use.

Around 23 of the 28 largest landowners in Brazil have their immense estates in the Amazon region covering more than 60 million acres, (Amazon Conservation: How to Save the Amazon Rainforest). Thus, many small landholders, or posseiros, lose their acres. They receive threats and are the targets of violence by large landowners. This frenzied land-grabbing has resulted in 85 % of the occupied lands in ther Amazon being devoted to cattle grazing. For how can real changes occur here when the officials themselves lay as culprits to problem? An example to illustrate this, there is a place called Mato Grosso in Brazil.

This was lush forest in the heart of the Amazon. Today Mato Grosso is known as the capital of Amazon deforestation. Why so? A large part of the forest has been removed, with trees illegally cut down, giving way to what it is today grazing pastures and soy fields, with a landscape that is so much different from the original one. To top it all, when one asks who owns these soy fields, one discovers that he is the states governor, Blair Maggi. Incidentally, he owns the largest soy exporting company in the world (Reel, Monte.

Washington Post Foreign Service June 12, 2005 p. 20). Root of the current event / problem Government Tax Policies and Incentive Systems: These environmental externalities have been directly linked to Brazilian governmental tax policies, tax incentive systems, rules of land allocation, and the agricultural credit system. These policies create economic distortions that harm the environment by increasing the demand for farm, pasture and ranch land. It is a sad fact that the policies of Brazil, aside from destroying the environment, also reduce the chances of the poor to become farmers. These farmers are pushed to other lands, especially the jungles to find arable land. Too Cheap Credit Credit in Brazil is basically too cheap.

Real interest rates on official credit were negative until 1991 (Binswanger, 1991). Poor farmers are unable to obtain farmlands and again are forced to search deeper into the Amazon for unclaimed land (Binswanger, 1991). It is a vicious cycle really. This procedure encourages mechanization which then reduces employment. There is no tax or subsidy that slows deforestation. There are numerous distortions in Brazils governmental policies that cannot work.

Thus, these polices have been shown to increase the size of land holdings, promote deforestation and hurt the farmer by making land harder to attain due to the high process. Thus, the tax system, land allocation rules and credit schemes must be restructured to reduce or eliminate the distortions. It is hoped that with the removal of the distorting policies and implementation of the suggested strategies, deforestation can be slowed in the Amazon rainforest (Anderson, Anthony, 1990 as cited in Binswanger, H. 1991). What are possible solutions?

Rehabilitation and increased productivity of formerly forested lands...


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