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In recent years one of the biggest threats the world as a whole faces is the destruction of our environment. The destruction of the Brazilian rainforest is probably the most important issue that should be taken into consideration because it is the cause of other major ecological problems we are facing such as: global warming, the depletion of our ozone layer, and noticeable climate changes around the world. Brazil's deforestation problem has turned into earths deforestation problem. Experts say that not too long ago 14 % of the earth was covered with rainforests. Today only 6 % remains and everybody focuses their attention on Brazil because 30 % of the remaining rainforests are found in that country (Rain-tree).
Deforestation is so dangerous because much of the carbon dioxide that all countries produce is turned into oxygen in the rainforest through the process of photosynthesis. Experts say that 20 % of the earths oxygen is produced in the Brazilian rainforest. It is estimated that 90 % of all animal and plant species live in the Brazilian rainforest so extinction is another major issue (Rain-tree). The money that deforestation brings to the Brazilian government is a huge motivator since it is a developing country.
There are several ways and reasons for which rainforests are destroyed. The major cause of deforestation is logging. The forest is most valuable for its timber so its preservation would cost a lot of money. Commercial loggers destroy huge parts of the forest to reach the trees they want. Trees are brought down and along with them their vines and lianas, which are connected to other trees. When these come down, along come large canopies of green formed above the ground by these vines and lianas.
The removal of the trunks cause extra damage since they are carelessly pulled out of the rainforest, destroying and damaging anything in their path. The large machinery compacts the fragile soil with their large tracts, making it very difficult to regenerate. Noise pollution and the destruction of the zone frighten animals living in the area, making them flee to other parts. Commercial loggers make roads to reach other parts of the forest easier. A road connecting point A to point B will disrupt plant and animal life anywhere near it. The roads are then used continuously and animals are forced elsewhere.
What most hurts the forest about logging is local people without land that build their homes next to these roads, they are called shifted cultivators (Heat 115). Shifted cultivators usually result when peasants land is stolen by the government because large corporations or companies unjust fully buy the land. These land less people then build their homes inside the rainforest and plant food in order to survive. The Brazilian government blames these people for 60 % of the deforestation (Heat 210). In Brazil over 40 % of land that is good for cultivating is owned by only 1 % of the population (212). Another major cause of the deforestation problem is agriculture.
When areas of rainforest are destroyed, ranchers or crop growers move in and clear the entire area. Cattle grazing is very common. Ranchers move in with their livestock and use it to graze until the land is completely barren and stripped of nutrients. After destroying a section, they simply move to a different area and repeat the process. Crops that are grown on rainforest land bring the same consequence; barren, un fertile soil. The problem results when farmers plant crops on the land and begin using pesticides and machinery on the soil.
The pesticides alone cause extreme damage to the rainforest. After cultivating their crops farmers leave the useless land and, like the ranchers, move to a different area. These are the major causes for the rainforest destruction but there are many more. Mining in the forest is also a contributor because of large machinery that disrupts life in the area, moves native tribes elsewhere and contaminates the air. For example, Brazil built several hydroelectric dams because they feared an energy shortage. Large sections of the rainforest were cleared to build the dams.
This caused erosion problems around the area and animals and tribes living close to the dams had to move. The dams caused several water borne diseases that contaminated the area. According to a World Bank report, Brazil had enough energy to supply to its entire people without having to have had built any of the dams (Causes). Practices like these, which bring in quick money but leave irreparable damage are drastically reducing the rainforests size. An example of this is how the Atlantic coastline of Brazil has been reduced to 1. 7 % of its original state because of cattle grazing (Rain-tree). Experts estimate that in one day 137 plant, insect, and animal species become extinct, equating to 50, 000 species each year (Rain-tree). 2. 5 acres of rainforest can be the home of over 750 different trees, while a single pond in Brazil can hold more fishes than all of the rivers in Europe (Rain-tree).
It is hard to imagine but the Brazilian rainforests has about 3, 000 different types of fruits, when only 200 of these are used in the Western World (Heat 110). Rainforests contain half of all animal species living on earth (Rain-tree). Because of human intervention in these rainforests animal species are disappearing about 1000 times faster than they would on their own natural rate. When one species disappears the whole ecosystem is changed and other species that depended upon the first begin to die out until they also become extinct. This chain reaction has wiped out thousands of different species of animals. Most indigenous people living in the rainforest depend on the animals for food and some are believed to be sacred because they are part of their beliefs.
When species become getting extinct these peoples lives are affected tremendously. Clear cutting, mining, and dam building are all form of intervention that result in endangered species. The introduction of foreign species into the rainforest further develops the problem since this throws the ecosystem off balance and the different species struggle to fit in, sometimes by killing off others. The poaching of wild animals in the rainforest is another major problem. Furs and exotic birds are very popular among richer countries. Poaching has become more and more common and the extinction rates sore higher each year.
Because of economic necessity most poor families living in the rainforest recur to this act by setting traps and capturing animals that are popular on the international market. Animals are sold for very low prices and resold in other countries for much more higher prices. International wildlife trading is a business that makes between 2 3 billion dollars a year so one can see why many local Brazilian people are tempted into it (Rain-tree). Extinction does not only affect animals. Each year thousands of plants in the rainforest become extinct. One fourth of our pharmaceutical medicines in the Western world come from the rainforest.
Local people in Brazil use rainforests plants medicinal values greatly. Most indigenous tribes use plants as medicine. Examples of the importance of these plants: Over 70 percent of the plants which are attributed to having anti-cancer properties are found in the rainforest (Heat 139). Unfortunately the Madagascar Periwinkle, a rainforest plant, increased the chances of survival for children with leukemia from 20 percent to 80 percent (Rain-tree). This equates to 8 out of 10 children who are now living thanks to the properties of a single plant found in the rainforest.
The Madagascar Periwinkle is now extinct in the wild because of deforestation. The sale of medicines that are plant-based topped 40 billion dollars in 1996 in the United Sates alone (Rain-tree). Forests are destroyed by the second and very few, only 1 percent, of the plants are tested for medicinal properties. Scientists believe that if a cure for AIDS exists it is probably hiding in some rainforest plant (Rain-tree).
Most of the plants that are know to have medicinal properties were discovered by indigenous peo...
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