Amazon Deforestation
The Amazon forest is the
largest forest of the planet, the place with the greatest biodiversity, the
"lung" of the world. But
this scenario has been changed. The Amazon that was once a forest land that
housed several species of animals, birds and native, became an area intended
for farming, grain production and urban center. If no action is taken, the
Amazon can be completely cleared in a few years.
The
main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and
development of land. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of Amazon forest
cleared for cattle ranching and roads increased from 415,000 to 587,000 km ². In
February 2008, the Brazilian government announced that the rate at which the
Amazon forest is being destroyed had been accelerating significantly during the
time of year that it usually lower: In the last five months of 2007, more than
3,200 square kilometers.
Besides affecting biodiversity
(Amazon owns more than 30% of global biodiversity), Amazon deforestation
affects, and much, life of local populations that without the variety of
resources of the largest freshwater basin in the world, find themselves
without possibility to ensure their own survival, becoming dependent on
government aid and non-governmental organizations.
However,
several actions have been taken to prevent the worst from happening and
preserve the richness provided by Amazon. NGOs like Greenpeace, SOS Mata
Atlantica, WWF, IPAM (Institute for Amazon Research) and several other
entities, campaign and study aiming to publicize and facilitate sustainable
development and the recovery of degraded areas of the Amazon in Brazil.
Luiz Fernando Simões
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