Geography Project deforestation in amazonWord格式.docx

1、s rainforests.However, since 2000, 155000 km2 of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon have been cut. During the past 40 years, about 20% of the Amazon rain forest has been cut down. Scientists fear that an additional 20 percent of the trees will be lost over the next two decades.The Amazon water lily

2、is the biggest flower in the world with a diameter of two meters. The Caranguejeira spider is bigger than a baseball and one species of monkey weighing 130 grams is about the size of a toothbrush. The Amazon is also home to 57 endangered species including the jaguar. The jaguar population was all bu

3、t wiped out by hunting for the fur trade before it was designated a protected species. Even now, virtually nothing is known about the jaguars lifestyle, but some indigenous cultures of the Amazon revere the jaguar above all forest creatures.It is contained within Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, E

4、cuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, these nine nations. The Amazon is one of the richest areas of the world in animal and plant diversity. There can be more plant species in one hectare of Amazon rainforest than there are in all of Europe. Facts and FiguresThe total area of the Amaz

5、on rainforest （over six million km2 or 2.3 million square miles） is bigger than Western Europe and covers an area equivalent to two thirds of the US.The forest stretches over nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela. The largest part is c

6、ontained within Brazil.The Amazon basin is the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet and about one fifth of all running water on the planet flows through the Amazon.The Amazon River is 6,868 km or 4000 miles long. The same distance that separates New York from Berlin. It is almost two times

7、 the length of the Mississippi river （3744 km/2340 miles） and five times longer than the river Rhine （1312km/820 miles）.During the rainy season from November to June, the main rivers in the Amazon flood vast areas of the forest. The flooded area can spread out up to 200 km from the riverbanks engulf

8、ing an area the size of England. In some rivers, the difference in the water level between wet and dry seasons is equal to the height of an eight-story building.Over 200 species of trees can be found in one hectare of Amazon rainforest. One tree has been shown to have 72 different species of ants li

9、ving in it.There are about 30 times more fish species in the Amazon than in all European rivers.The Amazon River contains over 3000 rare aquatic species including two types of river dolphins, the giant otter, turtles and alligators.During the rainy season, the pink river dolphins move out of the mai

10、n river and into the flooded forest where they can be seen swimming and hunting among the trees.Jaguars are the biggest cat in the western hemisphere and are known to be far-ranging. Movements of 500 miles have been recorded. Jaguars rarely attack humans, in fact, humans have a longer history huntin

11、g jaguars and the demand for their fur has led to a dramatic reduction in population.The sloths vegetarian diet makes them very successful species in the forest and in many areas they are the most abundant larger mammal.Causes Pasture ranching and infrastructureIt is the leading cause of the defores

12、tation in Brazil. The report shows that 70% of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970, is used for livestock pasture.The main reason for the development of pasture industry is that the increasing meat requirement from Europe provide great incentive for ranchers t

13、o increase the size of their pasture so that it requires more land for cattle or other livestock. Thus the forests are facilitated by the pasture. In order to develop the infrastructure for Brazil, many high speed road which cross the rainforests destroy a massive area of rainforests. Hydraulic powe

14、r utilization and mining activitiesHydroelectric dam projects in the Amazon have also been responsible for flooding significant areas of the forest. In particular the Balbina dam flooded approximately 2,400 km （920 square miles） of rainforest on completion and its reservoir itself has been responsib

15、le for contributing to global warming by emitting 23,750,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 140,000 tons of methane in only its first three years of operation. As a rainforest, Amazon rainforests contains great numbers of various mineral resources. In order to get the mineral resources. Humans log the f

16、orests without hesitation just for mining activities. It cause the deforestation in Amazon rainforests. LoggingIt is also a severe problem for the Amazon. The logging in Brazil is economical motivated, the economic opportunities for region to develop, people are lured to log the trees. The Brazilian

17、 government has destroy 800 illegal oven. These ovens are consumed that they made a contribution to logging about 234000 km2 of rainforest. A logged forest contains significantly less species where no selective logging has taken place. A forest disturbed by selective logging is also significantly mo

18、re vulnerable to fire. MiningMining processes include many environmentally degrading activities The process of mining caused the deforestation in the Amazon, and the toxic chemical used in the process, such as mercury, seep into the lands and damage the surrounding lands and wildlife. FireFires are

19、easily occurring in the rainforests during the three-month burning season. Smoke would be produced and that could affect the vegetations photo synthesis. Thousands of square kilometers are burned every year. In 1987 during a four-month period （July-October）, about 19,300 square miles （50,000 sq. km）

20、 of Brazilian Amazon were burned Infrastructure Improvements Road construction in the Amazon leads to deforestation. Roads provide access to logging and mining sites while opening forest frontier land to exploitation by poor landless farmers.Problems Erosion of SoilWhen forest areas are cleared, it

21、results in exposing the soil to the sun, making it very dry and eventually, infertile, due to volatile nutrients such as N2 being lost. Also, when there is rainfall, nutrients are washed away, which flow with the rainwater into rivers or oceans. The land will become useless. Disruption of the Water

22、Cycle Trees contribute in a large way in maintaining the water cycle. They draw up water by their roots, then released into atmosphere. Lots of water that circulates in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, remains inside the plants. When these trees are cut down it results in the climate gett

23、ing drier in that area. Loss of BiodiversityThe unique biodiversity of various geographical areas is being lost on a scale that is quite unprecedented. Even though tropical rainforests make up just 6 percent of the surface area of the Earth, about 80-90 percent of the entire species of the world exi

24、st here. Due to massive deforestation, about 50 to 100 species of animals are being lost each day. The outcome of which is the extinction of animals and plants on a massive scale. Flooding and DroughtOne of the vital functions of forests is to absorb and store great amounts of water quickly when the

25、re are heavy rains. When forests are cut down, this regulation of the flow of water is disrupted, which leads to alternating periods of flood and then drought in the affected area. Climate ChangeIt is well known that global warming is being caused largely due to emissions of greenhouse gases like CO

26、2 into the atmosphere. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the C that is stored in them as CO2. This definitely leads to greater concentrations of CO2. Destroy the indigenous culturesFor the indigenous population the Amazon ra

27、inforest is important because it is their home and their culture is closely related to the forest, rivers and fauna. If we destroy the forest, we also destroy all the indigenous people that are left. Some of the tribes in the Amazon still have not had contact with outside cultures yet. Can we destro

28、y the indigenous way of life? The people have been happily living for thousands of years. Humanity will lose their language, art, tales, and also their knowledge.SolutionExpansion of protection areasThe government should expand areas where logging and mining is banned. These areas are only used for

29、indigenous people to live in or scientific expedition. In this way the vegetation and the biodiversity there could be well protected. Sustainable DevelopmentThis means recycling and plant trees after logging. We get benefits from the rainforest, and it is our duty to keep it and thus people can get

30、benefits further.Using techniques to increase productivityThe unproductive methods of agriculture used by the indigenous people are the main cause of the deforestation in the Amazon. Government should send experts to their farming area to teach them the new techniques to farm to make the process mor

31、e effective. Then there would be less area needed for agriculture.Land policy reform and raising the taxesTo remedy the wasteful use of land, lawmakers should consider laws that restrict these practices. Or maybe lawmakers could enforce some of the existing laws like the 1996 law that forbade Amazon landowners from cutting more than 20% of the forest on their land. For whatever reason the laws on