The cattle are then sold to developed countries for meat consumption since most individuals in developing countries cannot afford to buy meat. In both scenarios, it is the developed countries that create the consumer demands that cause rainforest destruction.
The rainforests are very important to the world for a variety of reasons (Kristula, 1997). One major reason is that the plants in the forest change carbon dioxide into clean air, which fights pollution. In addition, by absorbing carbon dioxide, the rainforests help deter the greenhouse effect. The trees of the rainforest store carbon dioxide in their roots, stems, branches, and leaves.
The plants and animals of the rainforest also provide human beings with food, fuel wood, shelter, jobs, and medicines (Kristula, 1997). "Image losing the potential cure for cancer or AIDS that might have been found in an undiscovered plant from the rainforest," says the Tropical Rainforest Coalition (1996).
It is an increasingly widespread belief that the rainforest houses important plants that will cure the worst diseases of today (Kristula, 1997). Although there is scientific proof of its value, the rainforest continues to be cut down. According to the National Forest Association of Forest Industries (1996), "there are about 4 billion hectares of forest in the world, of which about 25% is tropical rainforest."
The rainforest provides many benefits to the areas surrounding it and far beyond (Kristula, 1997). "Only 20% of the nutrients of the rainforest are in the soil; 80% of the nutrients remain in the trees and plants. The rainwater of the forest is recycled by evaporation. Clouds above the forest's canopy help reflect sunlight which keeps temperatures within the forest to remain more stable."
However, the soil of the rainforests is only suitable for being rainforest soil, crops do not grow well in it. "When forests are cut down, the soil erodes quickly and soon only a dry desert remains," according to Kristula (1997).
One of the main reasons for destruction of the rainforests is logging (Kristula, 1997). Trees from the rainforest are used to build houses, make furniture, and provide pulp for paper products, such as newspapers and magazines. Rainforest that was destroyed can grow back over time, but they will never have the same variety of plants and animals they once did.
Corporations have convinced many rainforest...
Tropical Rainforest Depletion Tropical rainforests are arguably the most precious natural resource on our Earth and constitute the world's most diverse biological eco-system. They are the home to 70% of the world's plants and animals, containing more than 13 million species (Roper, 1999-"Importance of ... "); provide high quality wood for a number of every-day and industrial uses such as for furniture, shipbuilding, and paper; are a repository of almost one-fourth
The women sustainably harvest items from the forest, and how produce essential oils, lotions, and soaps from the ingredients they harvest. Because they only harvest ingredients instead of using the entire plant, the forest lives on, while they still are earning an income from the sales of their products. Many experts have ideas about how to improve on sustainable development in the region. Another expert says, "For instance, improving the
Amazon Rainforest in Brazil is under attack from a variety of sources. The Rainforests are not only integral to the Brazilian economy, but to the world as well. The Rainforest provides a rich source of natural and generative resources to the country as well as serve as one of the largest natural carbon deposits, or carbon sinks, on the planet. The country is home to nearly half of Earth's rainforests,
In fact it is large companies and the inequities of international trade which are the root causes of rainforest destruction." Consider the following facts:(1)M millions of hectares of primary rainforests are being destroyed in South East Asia by logging, and the driving force in this industry is not the local population but international demand for timber; (2) in Central America, 40% of all the rainforests have been cleared or
(Assefa and Degefa, ND, online at (http://www.hmbasha.net/Starbucks_Ethiopia.htm) Until, very recently there were many upscale coffee drinkers that assumed that the nations that hold a geographic monopoly on the coffee market (as coffee can be grown in a very limited region) were benefiting from the overall growth of the success of coffee as a preferred drink all over the world. They were wrong, nations that sell coffee usually in its raw
But the supply far outstrips demand, Europeans are finding. The climate of this marketplace itself is decidedly cloudy. Advance prices have plunged by half. At this point, one shouldn't portray it as a liquid, vibrant market," said Atle C. Christiansen of PointCarbon, a Norway-based research firm (Climate, 2004). More than six years after governments negotiated the historic climate accord in Kyoto, Japan, the world is taking only halting steps _ not always
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