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Rainforest Destruction in Latin America

Rainforest Destruction in Latin America plays a major role in the health of the global environment. Forests and wooded land cover 64% of Latin America's land base. However, much is being done resulting in negative effects on the rainforests of Latin America. Non-sustainable logging practices, fuel wood extraction, pollution, and encouraged colonization of forested land contribute to the issue. The effects of rainforest destruction can also be seen in the loss of local cultures which depend on the forests, along with increased global temperatures, decreased rainfall, loss of biodiversity, and an increase in poverty.

In many third world countries, including some Latin American nations, the laws enforced encourage the conversion of forest land to colonized land. As in the case of Brazil, government policies have in the past contributed to the depletion of rainforests in Latin America in the hopes of expanding the agriculture production of a given nation. As well, slash and burn techniques employed when rural families are encouraged to colonize forested areas play a major role in the depletion of rainforests. In 1980, an estimated 1/10th of the world's 2 billion hectares of tropical forests had been altered to other land uses.

Causes

The destruction of the Latin American rainforests is caused by four primary factors: Conversion of land to agricultural purposes (60%), Commercial logging (20%), Cattle Ranching (10%), and road building, mining, and other human activities (10%). Others, such as Hydroelectric Dams, also pose a major threat to the rainforests, flooding large portions of forest land and having adverse affects on the local wildlife, indigenous peoples, and the atmosphere. There are over 1000 hydroelectric dams throughout Latin America.

Wood products

There are multiple wood products produced from Latin American rainforests. Among these, the rainforest produces fuelwood, rubber, and several processed products such as plywood, veneer sheets, and wood-based panels. The level of sustainability of harvesting these wood products is variant. The tapping of rubber has been done sustainably primarily due to the fact that the workers are aware their job security is dependant on the proper functioning of the rainforest ecosystem. Strip logging techniques employed by Amuesha Indians in Peru are also an example of sustainable logging practices. Commercial logging, however, has generally not been sustainable. Much illegal logging takes place, especially in Peru and Brazil, where several endangered species and some of Latin America's old-growth mahogany trees are situated. The US imports 80% of the mahogany logged, almost entirely illegally, in Peru. In August 2005, the Brazilian government believed that 63% of the wood produced from the Amazon was logged illegally. The Brazilian government has instigate some measures to prevent illegal logging. However, the Brazilian government's decision to monitor logging through an online logging database rather than paper licences, which were easily forged, has received criticism due to the accessibility of the data.

Agricultural Use

Approximately 60% of the earth's rainforest depletion is due to agricultural exploitation. Between 1700 and 1980, Latin America saw a 1929% increase in conversion of land to crop uses. Between 1977 and 1992, there was a decrease of 8% in forest land. As well, Guatemala suffered a loss of 1/3rd of its woodland coverage, going from 5010 to 3590 million hectares, between 1973-1992. Some Indigenous Peoples, for example in Guatemala and Brazil, had developed sustainable farming practices. These, however, became unsustainable when industrial mono-cropping and other practices were introduced. The potential for agricultural practices to destroy more Latin American rainforests is clear when one considers that in Brazil, some 81% of the land is currently being controlled by 4.5% of the nations landowners.

The thinness and nutrient-poor nature of rainforest soils leads to degradation in heavy rainfall or extensive agricultural use. Where soils have been worn out, oftentimes an intensification of treatment has been employed. For example, the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides, and earlier plowing techniques have resulted in a definitive step away from sustainable agricultural practices.

Soy production is also a major produce of Latin America. Initially brought in to reduce the destructiveness of beef production, soy production has also proven to be destructive to the ecosystem. The soy produced in Brazil is exported primarily to the European Union and Asia.

Loss of biodiversity

Loss of Biodiversity is also a global concern in terms of the destruction of rainforests. Tropical Rainforests are home to an estimated 5-50 million different species or an estimated 50% of all of earth's species. There is, however, varying estimates as to the global number of species, ranging from 2 to 100 million. Whatever the estimate, several locations in Latin America, including the Atlantic coast of Brazil and western Ecuador are included in the 36 global biodiversity hot spots.

Global extinction rates also vary. One such estimate suggests a loss of 10-38% of the global number of species between 1990 and 2020, of which more than 50% are tropical species. The Co-evolution of rainforest wildlife means there exists an intimate relationship between the survival of one species and that of numerous other species.

However, government established protected areas of forest land often overlook the needs of the local indigenous peoples. This in turn leads to illegal poaching and other issues of wildlife preservation such as the monitoring of species populations within the given habitat.

Conservation

There are numerous positions on why Latin American rainforests should be conserved. One of these is the discovery of pharmaceutical uses from wild plants in the rainforests. Unfortunately, extraction of these plant species have often not been done sustainably, for example the Pilocarpus species of tree in northeastern Brazil. In order to conserve the rainforests of Latin America for the use of future generation, much needs to be done. Remedies to tropical forest depletion must include socio-economic, political, and ecological dimensions. Certain human activities are beginning to be questions by governments and global citizens. For example, hydroelectric projects are facing increasing opposition in Latin America. Although the government approved the construction of the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon with the hopes of economic expansion, the project was briefly halted and continues to face opposition from indigenous peoples and environmentalists. Opposition to other Hydroelectric projects has also occurred in Guatemala and Mexico . In terms of agricultural issues, more sustainable agricultural practices, such as diversifying crops and the need for agriculture to adhere to ecological principles, must be implemented.

Forest Reserves also create potential for the sustainable survival of rainforests in Latin America. Rainforest reserves must be of large enough size to house various micro-habitat differences in order to accommodate the strict habitat requirements of varying tropical species. As well, populations of too small a size can lead to the loss of genetic diversity within a reserve.

As well, the Tropical Forestry Action Plan was established in 1985 by four international organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in order to raise political awareness of the destruction of the Tropical Forests and its global effects. Many critics, however, believe that the TFAP has not done enough to raise public awareness and that it has failed to bring about policy reform. A major re haul of the program was suggested in the early 1990's.