The Major Threats of Tropical Forests (Essay Sample)

The major threats of tropical forests
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The major threats of tropical forests
Abstract
Outline of the problem
Rainforests occur in areas of the tropics which usually have an annual rainfall of 100 to 200 cm or more a year, and where this rainfall occurs through most of the year. Most rainforests have some seasonal changes and in some cases this is quite marked, but they do not have long dry seasons and long wet seasons like tropical savannas and grasslands (Allaby and Garratt, 2006). There are three major regions of tropical rain forest. The largest, accounting for about 50% of the entire world's rainforests, is found in South and Central America. These forests are also the most diverse in terms of the number of species they hold. About 20% of rainforests are found in equatorial Africa. The remaining 30% are found in Southeastern Asia over a large area stretching from India and Sri Lanka through many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia. The majority of animal species found in these forests is the insects living in the forest canopy. Because the canopy is a difficult place to reach, these communities are very poorly studied and we still know very little about rainforest communities anywhere in the world. Rainforests are also among the most threatened of all the world's habitats. Tropical rain forests are, along with coral reefs, the most diverse communities of animals in the world. They also play a major role in regulating regional and global climates, are the source of most of the world's greatest river systems, and have great potential for sustainable development (Chazdon and Whitmore, 2002). However, destruction of tropical forests is a continuing problem, making a major contribution to the loss of global biodiversity, and also has major implications for sustainable land use, economic development and human welfare in tropical countries.
This research aims at reducing the adverse effects of natural calamities to the tropical forests. It will also try to minimize the deforestation activities by humankind. Deforestation is one of the major causes of global warming, which is leading to the climatic changes witnessed today in he world at large (Spray and Moran, 2006). The atmosphere is currently overloaded with carbon dioxide, which in turn traps heat and steadily raises the earth’s temperatures. This carbon dioxide comes from burning of fossil fuels and the loss of forests through deforestation. Global warming is one of the major causes of the droughts witnessed in recent years. The ever increasing human population has subjected the tropical forests to risks of extinction. The demand for food, timber, paper, fuel, land for settlement and agriculture has of late led to extinction of worlds indigenous trees. These trees act as windbreakers and as a result attract rainfall.
Statement of the problem
Tropical forests are at high threats, mainly natural threats and those of mankind. Natural threats include natural fires, drought and tropical storms. Natural fires result from volcanic activities. The volcanic eruptions cause lava flows which sometimes burn large tracts of forests. These fires burn ground vegetation, shrubs, saplings, and small trees and sometimes the larger canopy species. The fire, adversely clears the forest base and feebler trees. Drought affects the forests by weakening them to a state where it becomes susceptible to fire outbreaks and diseases. Storms cause extensive damages to the forests through the falling of trees (Laurance, 2006). When the huge trees fall, dozens of the neighboring trees attached by "lianas" are also brought down with it.
Human activities are the greatest cause of destruction of the tropical forests. Most of the deforestation activities of humankind are as a result of economic forces. Human activities leading to deforestation are the expanding pulp, paper and oil palm industries, logging, mining, cattle ranching, pollution, hunting and poaching, firewood collection and clearing of land for settlement and agriculture. These human activities trigger droughts which also affect the forests severely(Laurance, 2006).
Possible solutions to the problem include carrying out campaigns to educate people about the negative effects resulting from deforestation. This campaign would seek to promote reforestation and afforestation. People living near the rain forests should be encouraged to harvest its bounty nuts, fruits and medicines rather than clearing it. Another solution is encouraging people to use gas energy for fuel to reduce tree cutting and air pollution. These among other possible solutions would curb the problem, reducing influence of global warming.
Graphical Illustrations
Fire Outbreaks clearing forests.
Logging
Poaching activities
Cattle Ranching
Abbreviations
RIL (Reduced Impact Logging)
Introduction
Tropical forests are threatened by both natural and human activities today. Natural activities include natural fires, drought and tropical storms. Natural fires may result from volcanic activities. Volcanic eruptions cause lava flows which burn large areas of forests. These fires burn ground vegetation, shrubs, saplings, and small trees and sometimes the larger canopy species. The fire, adversely clears the forest base and feebler trees. Lightening is also known to cause fires which may clear some vegetations in the tropical forests. Drought affects the forests by weakening them to a state where it becomes susceptible to fire outbreaks and diseases.
Fire in a tropical forest
It causes the canopy plants weaken mainly by reducing humidity and rainfall. When the droughts are long, the leaf litter desiccates out, hence killing decomposing bacterias and also reducing the efficiency of nutrient recycling within the ecosystem. Storms cause extensive damages to the forests through the falling of trees. When the huge trees fall, dozens of the neighboring trees attached by "lianas" are also brought down with it. Large storms like hurricanes cause substantial damages to the tropical rain forest a recovery may take any years (Laurance,2006).
Human activities are the greatest cause of destruction to the tropical forests. Most of the deforestation activities of humankind are as a result of economic forces. Human activities leading to deforestation are the expanding pulp, paper and oil palm industries, logging, mining, cattle ranching, pollution, hunting and poaching, firewood collection and clearing of land for settlement and agriculture. Wood industries promote development of short lived booms that encourage settlement. These industries attract enormous numbers of poor people seeking a better life, who clear the surrounding land for agriculture and livestock (Corlett and Primack, 2011). The forest resource is rapidly depleted and exhausted. The developers then abandon the degraded environment and move to other areas where the same repeated
Like any other environmental assets, the tropical rain forests are endangered by their openness to human destruction. The underlying cause of deforestation is the population growth, which highly rely on forest lands for sustenance and increasing the demand for the products made from the resources of the forests.
Evidence and Analysis
More than half of the rain forest in the world have lost to human demand for wood and agricultural land. Tropical forests covered over fourteen percent of the land on the earth, but currently only covers about six percent. If deforestation continues, these precious habitats will disappear in the next few years to come (Hester and Harrison, 2007).
Deforestation accounts for twenty percent of the human induced greenhouse emissions gas each and every year, compromising biodiversity and livelihood and affecting the climate. Tropical forests have an important role in sequestering and storing carbon, thus they reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (Turner, 1996).
A government climatology institution proposes that, by the end twenty first century, the Arctic might turn into ice-free during summertime indicating of a faster rate of deterioration.
This study surveyed international revised sciences over the preceding three years. The findings will be fed into the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Change assessment of the year 2013.
New considerate science suggests the global impact will be almost the same, but in some circumstances, like the danger of methane discharge from wetlands and permafrost melting, we now reckon that the risks are more (Allaby and Garratt, 2006)..
There is a restrained probability of the Atlantic conveyor ocean current, which warms northern Europe decelerating, driving temperatures down in the area (Corlett and Primack, 2011). This will cause augmented loss of Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets, suggesting that once that ice goes, it might not be able to be recovered. The ice-sheet breakdown is unlikely to be disastrous, with losses happening at diverse speeds.
The prodigious Bornean fires of 1982-83, devastated over 9 million acres of forest in Kalimantan in Indonesia. Research has recently established that more than half of the Amazon rainforest is in jeopardy of burning during thrilling droughts. Research by scientists has revealed that climate change may worsen the state of droughts in the Amazon. In the year 2005, accretion of warm sea-waters in the tropical Atlantic geared a record hurricane season at the same time reducing moisture to the Amazon. These conditions are likely to worsen as the global temperatures keep on rising (Macdonald and Willis, 2013). A research conducted in the year 2005 recommend that sea temperatures in the tropical Atlantic is likely to prevail as the currents normally carrying warm water from the equatorial regions to Arctic continue to weaken (Laurance, 2006). Acco...