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Deforestation of the Amazon: Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions

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Deforestation of the Amazon: Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions
Deforestation of the Amazon:
Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions

NAME
Geography 101, Section 040
PROFESSOR
6 December 2012
Abstract
This paper explores the causes, effects and possible solutions of the deforestation of the Amazon Forest. It is important to understand why more than 580,000 square kilometers of Amazon forest has been destroyed in Brazil since 1980 (Rhett Butler 2012). The main topics of this paper, in order to fully explore the issue at hand, will include: 1. What is Deforestation? 2. What Are the Major Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon? 3. What are the Effects of Deforestation on the Amazon and it’s People?

Deforestation of the Amazon: Causes, Effects and Possible Solutions
What is Deforestation? Edward Bergman and William Renwick in their text Introduction to Geography: People, Places, and Environment (2008) define deforestation as the clear-cutting of forest (p. 138). Rhett Butler (2012) observed that in 1995, the worst year ever recorded for deforestation of the Amazon, over 29,000 square kilometers of land were accounted for as deforested. Even with the slightly slowing rates of deforestation since 1995, it is still proceeding at a rate of only a little less than 30,000 square kilometers per year (0.6%). An area about the size of Texas (650,000 square kilometers) had been deforested by 2000 (Bergman & William Renwick, 2008 p. 138).
What Are the Major Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon? Butler (2012) and Perfecto and John Vandermeer (2005) give detailed reports of the major causes of deforestation in the Amazon that include the following: • Cattle-ranching • Colonization and subsequent agriculture • Infrastructures • Cash-crops • Logging Large-scale cattle ranching currently accounts for approximately 60% of deforestation according to Brazils National Institute for Space Research and Agricultural Research Corp, INP/ Embrapa (2011).


References: Bergman, Renwick W. (2008) Carbon, Oxygen, and the Nutrient Flows in the Biosphere. Butler, R. (2012, May 20). Deforestation in the Amazon. URL www.mongabay.com Carvalho, R Perfecto, Vandermeer P. (2005) Breakfast of Biodiversity Théry, H Figure 3. Soybean cultivation in (a) 1977, (b) 1990, (c) 1996. Areas of circles are proportional to soybean areas by county (Théry 1999).
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