Any thing as long it has something to do with the study of environmental hazards - Essay Example

Various researches have indicated that the Amazon forest is shrinking. This is a serious environmental hazard as depletion of the Amazons leads to serious environmental outcomes. These outcomes have been detailed by Philip Fiernside in his article on Environmental Change and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Another article by Laurance, W.F and his fellow researchers published in Science Journal titled ‘The Future of the Brazilian Amazon’ discusses the same issue. These articles are critically analyzed in this paper.

These articles is further compared and contrasted in this essay. The article on ‘Environmental Change and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon’ addresses the implications of Amazon rain forests depletion. This paper provided explicit information on the consequences of the rainforest depletion. This however does not provide additional information on available knowledge in the researched subject. For instance Dickinson (1981) has studied and documented he effects of tropical deforestation on climate.

However, this paper was generic in comparison with Fearrside’s paper. The observations which were generically made by other researchers were specifically applied in the case of Amazon forests by Fearrside. Thus the findings of the paper are the reiteration of other researches done on the subject. The article is a paper presented at the Symposium on Change in the Amazon Basin, 44th International Congress of Americanists at Manchester (Fearnside, 1985). The article introduces data suggesting depletion of the Amazons.

The paper in its introduction has referred to various other researches which have estimated the shrinkage of the rainforest. It also briefly discusses the causes of deforestation. Further, the paper explains the soil degradation concerns associated with deforestation. Leaching and Fixation of Nutrients, Soil Compaction and Clay Migration, Erosion, Laterization, Aerosol and Nutrient Supply are the concerns which are identified by the paper with regard to soil degradation (Fearnside, 1985). The research has also dealt with the production systems which are associated with the Amazons and the impact of deforestation over these also has been discussed.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forest Production in connection with the Amazons will be seriously affected (Fearnside, 1985). The macro ecological concerns posed by forest depletion have been also included in the paper. Similar studies has been conducted by Gomez-Pompa (1972) The most distinguishable feature of the paper on Environmental Change and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is that while covering the impact of deforestation, it has covered a wide range of concerns. The paper is thus interdisciplinary in nature.

It has covered the direct environmental issues using quantitative data from other researches. More indirect impacts like the concerns over production systems have been dealt both quantitatively and qualitatively. The coverage of Macro-ecological concerns gives more depth to the research. Issues like that of the indigenous people also have been dealt in the paper. This sociological approach makes the paper interdisciplinary and wider in its approach. This approach of the paper fills the gap that earlier researches have left with.

Most of the studies prior to this study focused on evidences for ecological damages that deforestation causes. However, the fact that the adverse impacts on