Sustaining the Amazon Basin - Coursework Example

Sustaining the Amazon Basin The river Amazon is the second longest river of the world. In terms of carrying water it is world’s largest and around 20percent of the total deposited river water into the ocean is contributed by Amazon. This great river in its voyage starting from Andes Mountains to the Atlatic ocean has created world’s largest river basin called Amazon Basin. The Amazon Basin comprises of a part of South America. Approximately half of this basin lies in Brazil and the rest stretches into Peru, Bolivia and Columbia. The rain forest of the Amazon occupies an area of 8,235,430 sq. km and comprises of dense tropical forest. A wide variety of known and unknown plant and animal life resides within this dense forest. Large areas of the forest is unexplored. The dense growth of the forest is a consequence of the continuous rainfall and regrowth of leaves. The huge diversity of trees are characterized by straight smooth trunks and large leaves. The basin is surrounded by the highlands of Guiana to the north and that of Brazil in south. The main occupations of the people in this region are that of fishing, agriculture and also herding. Some light industries are encouraged in the Free Zone of Manaus created by the government of Brazil in 1970s. These industries comprise mostly of electronic and motorcycles. The Amazon Basin is regarded as a hotspot in terms of biodiversity. Over the years, owing to abrupt logging, deforestation and contamination of water, the enriched biodiversity of Amazon Basin is at a stake. On one hand it has severly affected the aborigines. On the other hand, this environmental degradation is detrimental to the long run sustenance of life. The three threats that has been identified as the main contributor to the environmental degradation of the Amazon Basin are abrupt logging, massive level of deforestation and water degradation. Logging: The world wide demand for wood is at a rise. Even though plenty of substitutes for wood has been invented over the years, the attraction for wood has remained at a stable level. This is due to the beauty and the longevity that is associated with better quality woods. More interestingly, the value addition for wood products is quite significant and that leads to a cumulative rise in demand for wood (One mahogany tree, whose price in forest areas is about US$30, can produce US$130,000 worth of furniture in the U.S. marketplace.). The intuition is that the business demand for timber rises from two points – first, those people who are engaged directly with logging, cut trees to sustain their lives. With the rise in population, this demand is increasing. On the other hand, the producer of wood products for whom the level of profit is immensely high are demanding more wood to reap more profit. The economic significance of logging in Amazon Basin can be well understood through the living standard of the local people. A larger part of the population living in Amazon Basin are impoverished and bereft of any particular skill. So, to sustain their lives, a large number of people engage themselves directly with logging. Therefore, logging provides employment to a large number of people living in Amazon Basin. Again all these timber provides valuable foreign exchange to countries like Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Columbia. However, the benefits associated with logging might easily get surplused with the cost associated with it. Logging may cost a country loss of valuable biodiversity and an added expense to incurr in preventing polution. Government control of logging: It is obvious that this demand driven shock to logging will ultimately lead to the destruction of valuable forest area unless the government appears into the action. Government can be of immense help in curbing abrupt logging. Amazon Basin is not a small place to look after. So a centralized system to monitor and prevent illegal logging will end up in a failure. A decentralized system would be much more helpful. The government of all the nations sharing some parts of Amazon Basin have realized the importance of stopping this illegal logging right now. However, their policies seem to lack in coordination. Brazil has chosen to nationalize logging practices and Peru strictly prohibited logging in some particular areas. Accepting these facts it must also be added that some government policies are adding to the woes. The improvement of the transport withint he forest has been used by the loggers to their benefits. Furthermore, giving permission to various industries to set up in Amazon Basin has only increased the risk of further logging. Comparing to the size of the basin, the governments also lack the necessary manpower to deliver a fullproof plan. News is flying in the air that government officials and often the person responsible for looking after the forest are joining hands with the illegal loggers. The lawlessness into the core of the forest has aggravated the problem and altogether the governments are failing to curb the illegal logging to any substantial extent. The demand for timber: The countries associated with Amazon Basin are economically poor countries. The area of those countries comprising the Amazon Basin suffers from intense poverty. In order to make a living the part of the population which resides in the Amazon Basin indulge in logging. These people are bereft of any particular skill and are often left without any option other than to opt inreasingly for logging. Now, if the government stops logging by creating a set of rules, it might be signing of a death sentence for this population. Logging is not always done keeping with an economic view. It often directly relates with the day to day needs of the local people. In most of the cases, the population living here depends upon the plant resources to get their fuel wood and if stopped from logging, may end up in complete abolition for that particular part of the population. So the poverty of the region leads to over exploitation of the natural resources and a high demand for timber. Deforestation: Deforestation refers to the conversion of forested areas into non-forest land. This conversion is mainly a result of the search for arable land, pasture, logging, and a continuous thrive for the human being to improve his material well being. Interestingly, deforestation without necessary reforestation actually results in a decline in quality of life. Besides, deforestation leads to loss in habitat and biodiversity and in the long run, lack of wood for fuel and industrial use. However, these are not all. Deforestation is responsible for reduced rainfall and global warming as well. More alarmingly, world’s greatest rainforest area, the Amazon basin, due to increased rate of urbanization is shrinking at a fast rate. It has been estimated that if proper care is not taken immediately, in the year 2030, the great Amazon rain forest will be left with only 20 percent of its present size. Causes of deforestation: Deforestation can be caused due to many reasons. It may occur from a catastrophic clearcutting or from a slow negative effect on the forest. Slash and burn, urban development, wild fire and acid rain are the other reasons. Slash and burn: Acres after acres of forest areas, burnt to ashes in order to provide more land for agricultural and pastoral purpose immediately leads to deforestation. These processes are known as the slash-and-burn technique and are an outcome of the staggering population growth. This practice has been widely observed in the tropical forests of the Amazon Rainforest. Wild fire: Wildfire is essentially an uncontrolled fire that occurs in the wild land and engulfs houses and agricultural lands as well. Such wildfires may be caused due to human carelessness, arson, eruption of volcano etc. Acid rain: Often it may be found that the rainfall and snowfall may absorb the acidic components of the air while falling upon the earth. This turns the nature of rain water or even the snow acidic in nature, especially when the concentration of acidic parts is very high. When they reach the earth they affect the objects upon which they fall. Such rains might adversely affect the growth of forests, that is slow the growth of trees, often causing the leaves and needles to turn brown and fall off. This actually results from the weakening of the growth of trees and the damage caused to the soil due to the acidic nature of the rainwater. The trees therefore becomes more vulnerable to the other surrounding threats. Urban development: One of the probing issues regarding deforestation is the fact that land is increasingly utilized to construct roads and buildings, stores and other constructions. In this spree of urban development, large areas of lands are being used for construction works. With increase in the population growth more and more lands need to be cleared for the purpose of residence and industries, that is, urbanization is a major consequence. If the trend continues, it will reduce the circle of wilderness and wild animals will find it difficult to live. Impact of deforestation: The short run and long run effect of deforestation can be devastating on the human race. The impact of deforestation can be subdivided into two categories, the environmental and economic impact. However, these two subcategories are not mutually exclusive, rather they reinforce each other. The environmental impact: First of all, deforestation severely reduces the biodiversity of an area. This happens mainly due to the habitat loss out of deforestation. Deforestation results in reduced number of trees. Trees purify air in times of photosynthesis by inhaling carbon dioxide, which is poisonous to almost all the living creatures and exhaling oxygen that is necessary to sustain life on earth. Therefore, deforestation is one of the main reasons of increased air pollution, standing responsible for a number of air quality borne diseases like asthma, asphyxia, lung cancer, etc. Trees also help to store ground water and protect the ground water from evaporating. Apart from the canopy of trees, the ground will be directly exposed to the sunrays and the ground water that is present in the upper layer of the soil will get evaporated making the soil dry and arid. That is why it has been historically found that deforestation results in reduced amount of rainfall and that often turns a place into a desert. Trees have been a great help in checking soil erosion. The root of the tree holds the soil together and prevents it from being washed away during floods or rainfall. Trees even prevent the soil from erosion at the time of heavy wind. Therefore deforestation is directly correlated with soil erosion. As it has been mentioned previously, deforestation leads to lower level of absorption of carbon dioxide and this gas moving freely into the upper atmosphere creates an umbrella like cover that allows the sunray to come in, but prevents it from going back after its reflection on the earth’s surface. Therefore, it increases the average global temperature and known as global warming. Global warming is one of the most alarming issues facing human civilization today; slowly bringing a climatic change that will surely prove costly to many species. Water Degradation: Damns are encouraged to be built over the River Amazon by the Brazilian government mainly with the purpose of generating hydroelectricity for industries and houses. However, these plans are often not bereft of any problems. On one hand damns, while releasing the water, flood miles after miles along the river basin and on the other hand increased number of damns built along the river will reduce the speed of the river current and hence sedimentation will occur at a higher rate, decreasing the depth of the river bed which will again lead to flood. An instance could be drawn from the Balbina hydroelectric dam harnessing the river Uatuma, a branch of Amazon. This dam would send its energy to Manaus, which is not near to the concerned area. The project has been contemplated long before in order to preserve the wilderness but currently it has drawn people’s resentment as they are not being able to access the much-coveted power and also their settlements are disrupted in the process. After a long time of delay and expenses, the project is not that successful as it was deemed to be. The water released form hydroelectric projects often are of higher temperature causing death to the valuable river inhabitants like fish, fresh water dolphin, and various other species. The hydroelectric power generated would also lead to the growth of small industries around the river basin. This would automatically entail discharge of waste into the river water and is a major cause of the growing water degradation. The energy plan is under review and three more damns have already been built. The irreversible damage is also great due to damns. It drives the inhabitants away from the river mainly due to floods and drowns their village. It also destroys the plant and animal species while making them extinct sometimes. Fishery is practiced all along the coastal regions for sustenance as well as recreational purposes. Mass level of fishing at the Amazon Basin often reduces the volume of fish in the water to such an extent that those species that use fish as the prime source of food immediately suffer. Again, due to the throwing of fishing net and hook into the water often leads the dolphins and crocodiles to fall prey. Farming is one of the principle occupations of the people in this region. The right utilization of the land might lead to an extensive farmed land near the Basin. The nature of soil is suitable for the growth of agriculture and the position is ideal for irrigation of lands. However the risk of the floods and sedimentation might pose a problem in the long run. During the floods the farmed lands might get washed off, carrying with it not only the crops but also the inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides used in the farms. The river water thus becomes contaminated and hardly manages to maintain its freshness. Yet farming provides bread to many and hence cannot be avoided. Therefore, for the natives, a practice of shifting cultivation is of great help. They farm a certain area for sometime till it is non-cultivable due to fall in quality of lands and depletion of soil nutrients. This does not harm the forest as forest clearing may be avoided. Crops like manioc, yams, beans, and pumpkins are grown. The felled trees are often burnt to provide fire and the ashes turn the soil into fertile lands for farming. One of the most important industries to the Brazilian economy is mining. The mineral deposits existing in the Amazon Basin include diamonds, bauxite (aluminum ore), manganese, iron, tin, copper, lead, and gold. In 1980s most of the immigrants worked in the competitive gold mines. However, this has lead to adverse practices. For instance the mercury used for mining process may be washed away into the river waters along with the sediments. Pollution of the waters has also come from the discharge of oil, litter, and human sewage into the river. Even the vegetation and animal habitat are destroyed near the mined areas. Not only that, abundant open mine hole often lead to the change of direction of the river flow and the consequences can be severe. It may drown a land area previously used for cultivation or inhabitation or may move away from its original path such that that area becomes dry and useless for the inhabitants. Steps taken so far: An innovative program known as the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) has been designed by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). The idea is to create a system of well-managed parks as well as other protected areas covering around 193000 square miles in Brazil. This would surpass the area of the US National Park System. These networks and reserves have to be built on the basis of careful scientific planning as well as public consultation. Along with the Amazon communities Greenpeace has been working in order to investigate and expose the threats to the river and to deal with the major actors that drives the destruction of the critical forest regions. A satellite mapping team has been formed in order to enhance the effectiveness and track or identify the factors responsible for the illegal road constructions and deforestations. This is complemented by ground investigators and aerial survelliance. A law has been granted by the Brazilian government (President Luiz Lula da Silva) regarding the grant of licenses for logging of wood in publicly owned sectors of the Amazon rainforest in order to stop its destruction and acquiring an oversight into the entire process. According to the law signed, a 40-year license will be granted to the timber companies under the condition that all logging would be sustainable. The Peruvian government suspended all the logging operations in the province of Tahuamanu comprising of Inapari, an environmental emergency zone in the year 2000. According to the government these drastic measures would be necessary in the context of massive felling of trees by a US firm. The Bolivian government still needs to move beyond the basics of planned logging and applied treatment of silviculture in order to bring about regeneration and improvement in growth of trees to maintain a standard quality. Along with this designated annual cutting areas have enabled the sustainability of forest management but a long way is yet to be covered in order to bring about an ecological and economical balance. The forestry law implemented in 1997 has promoted all these. The British Columbian government has reached an agreement with different environmental groups, the logging companies, and First Nations such that one third of the Great Bear Rainforest is saved from logging of any kind. This is an area of above two million hectares. The logging companies would be required to implement a strict ecosystem based management system by 2009 in the remaining two thirds of the forest, which is outside strict protection. This decision is welcoming news for the forest, which was undergoing an alarming destruction and deforestation in order to provide raw materials for wood, paper, and toilet roll. A large protected area is needed in order to sustain the ancient forest of the world. Some Achievements: The environmental enforcement agency IBAMA of Brazil launched the Operation Mahogany characterised by dramatic field raids. The heavily armed officials of the Brazilian government along with the Greenpeace members landed in helicopters at illegal operations related to mahogany logging all over the state of Pará. During the initial 11 days of the operation, illegally cut mahogany worth US$ 7000,000 was seized. A Greenpeace airplane and ship (M.V. Arctic Sunrise) was used for transporting government officials and supplies. A combination of efforts lead to the arrests of violators, raids. A document forgery ring facilitating mahogany trade was arrested. The Mississippi-based Newman Lumber and its Peruvian partner have been accused of illegally cutting millions of dollars worth of mahogany and cedar from an area of 100,000 hectares of forest in the province of Tahuamanu by the National Institute for Natural Resources (Inrena) of Peru. The sawmills of the companies were shut down at Inapari and this halted all the logging contracts in the district. This also involved sending of soldiers to seize the illegally cut wood. A partner of Newman was fined an amount of $500,000. Recommendations or remedial measures: Forest management control: Efforts towards stopping slow deforestation can be taken at the management or administration level. In this regard, the administration needs to devise means such that short-term gains through conversion of forests to farmlands become less lucrative and the problems in long-term gains are highlighted upon. Japanese had undertaken means to stop deforestation through long term planning and substituting timber by other products. German landowners developed the mechanism of silvicuture (sustainable growth of trees) to deal with the problem of deforestation. Farming: In order to catch up with the growing population, new methods of farming have been invented. Sue of high yielding variety of seeds, intense cultivation, improved form of chemical fertilizer and pesticide and more and more use of machinery in farming has narrowed the gap between food demand and food supply. However, increased level of use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides often robs the soil of its fertility. Therefore in recent times, cyclical agriculture is receiving immense popularity. Cyclical agriculture apart from raising the production level also enriches he soil with nutrients. Hopefully, under the new farming techniques, less land will be required to grown more food, hence resulting in less deforestation. Reforestation: Filling the deforested plant area with new trees is perhaps the most effective and direct policy to tame the onslaught of deforestation. An excellent example of such reforestation may be China. China after confronting deforestation for a pretty long period made it mandatory for each citizen within the age group pf 11 to 60 to plant 3 to 5 trees each year. This policy has resulted in the plantation of 1 billion trees since 1982. Furthermore, in order to generate public awareness and the to emphasize the importance of planting trees, 12th March has been declared as the Plantation Planting Holiday for every Chinese. Forest plantation: Botkins and Sedjo suggest that in order to meet the world’s demand for wood, high yielding forest plantation is necessary. Estimation suggests that plantation yielding 10 cubic meters per hectare annually, can meet the timber requirement for international trade on 5 percent of world’s existing forestland. If this demand has to be met by natural forest products instead of high yielding forest products then around 5 to 10 times more land would have been required. If this policy is followed then the demand for timber could be met without shrinking the forest area. Preventing calamities: First and foremost a well-integrated information system needs to be structured such that the news of natural calamities might immediately reach the controlling body of forest management. In that case immediate remedial measures may be taken. Wildland fire suppression is often used to control wildfire. Other sophisticated tools are used for firefighting in areas more prone to wildfires. A suitable back up system equipped with proper resources and skilled manpower needs to be present. Above all, the prime way to deal with the problem would be spreading of mass awareness about the negative impact of deforestation such that they might think twice before felling a tree for their selfish purpose. Make legislation to prevent illegal fishing a timber logging: Governments should be prompt in framing a set of guidelines regarding a manageable level of fishing and logging. Strict monitoring must follow suit in order to assure proper compliance with the set of guidelines. The violator of the law or an offender should be punished under any circumstances regardless of their nationality, origin, social class, or ethnicity. A Foreign aid: To monitor a vast place like the Amazon Basin, individual monitoring will not be sufficient. A GPRS system is at its utmost need. Countries already using GPRS system like USA should be consulted with and the financial bottleneck regarding the installation of the GPRS system might be overcome through foreign aid. This foreign aid can also be used to build up a suitable infrastructure dedicated towards protecting the Amazon Basin. Environmental groups: Public awareness cannot be substituted by any other means whenever it comes into account of protecting a national property. Environmental groups should be encouraged to form and the existing environmental groups should be invited to carry research on Amazon Basin. This might highlight many untapped potential and risks related to the sustainability of the Amazon Basin. Encouraging a public-private partnership: A public-private partnership may prove fruitful for the protection of the Amazon Basin. Local inhabitants might form information net and readily inform the concerned official of any maladies within the forest premises (such as illegal fishing and logging). Conclusion: The plant specie is the first to come on earth. Over the years they have provided a habitat to foster for almost all the animals. During the Ice Ages when the earth faced a mass extinction, even then the plant specie managed to continue its existence on earth and that helped in reincarnation of other species later on. Today, the plant specie faces a risk of extinction. No doubt, it will result in habitat loss for all the specie and create a misbalance in the food pyramid distorting the equilibrium of life on earth. Amazon Basin comprises world’s largest rain forest that nurtures thousand of species and many of them are yet to be discovered. This rich bio diversity has to be sustained at any cost. Extinction is permanent and the cost it imposes on human civilization is irreversible as well. Though natural calamities are not completely under our control, anthropocentric causes can be controlled through careful measures and exercising self-discretion. A mass awareness through public-private partnership is a crucial step towards making the world into a greener place. References: 1. Brazil OKs Amazon logging, move greeted by environmentalists, 2006. Nature News, May 4 2. Fredericksen, T.S., Putz, F.E., Pattie, P., Pariona, W. and Peña-Claros, M. (2003) Sustainable Forestry in Bolivia, Journal of Forestry, March 3. Our Role in Stopping the Illegal Brazilian Mahogany Trade, 2003, Greenpeace, USA, October 15, available: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/our-role-in-stopping-the-illeg 4. Rachel Hays Special to The Christian Science Monitor, 2000. Peru logging ban: Saving trees but boosting poverty, The Christian Science Publishing Society, October 24 5. Sucoff, E. 2003. Environmental Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale 6. The Amazon Rainforest, 2003, Edited Guide Entry, February 14, available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A925913 7. Van Andel, T.H., Zangger, E. and Demitrack, A.1990. Land Use and Soil Erosion in Prehistoric and Historical Greece, Journal of Field Archaeology,Vol. 17, Number. 4, 8. Williams, M. 2003. Deforesting the Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 9. Wilson, E.O., The Future of Life, U.S.A: Vintage, 2002 10. Wunder, S. 2000. The Economics of Deforestation: The Example of Ecuador. London: Macmillan Press Read More