Destruction of the Brazilian Rainforest - Should the U.S. Intervene? (Term Paper Sample)

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Destruction of the Brazilian Rainforest - Should the U.S. Intervene?
As the rest of the world talks about how to address food shortage and the catastrophic effects of climate change, the Amazon, the largest and the most biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world is slowly degrading ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Wallace", "given" : "Scott", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "National Geographic Magazine", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014" ] ] }, "title" : "Farming the Amazon", "type" : "article-magazine" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=b0ca3150-a7eb-4a8e-bde2-9260ffdba161" ] }, { "id" : "ITEM-2", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "McLendon", "given" : "Russell", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Huffpost Green", "id" : "ITEM-2", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2012", "8", "6" ] ] }, "title" : "Amazon Deforestation: NASA Images Show The Great Rainforest Disappearing", "type" : "article-newspaper" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=049a62cb-70d2-4117-bd28-e388b49a056c" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Wallace; McLendon)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Wallace; McLendon). As of 2012, NASA’s Earth Observatory reports that more than 200,000 miles of rainforest have been lost since 1980 ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "McLendon", "given" : "Russell", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Huffpost Green", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2012", "8", "6" ] ] }, "title" : "Amazon Deforestation: NASA Images Show The Great Rainforest Disappearing", "type" : "article-newspaper" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=049a62cb-70d2-4117-bd28-e388b49a056c" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(McLendon)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(McLendon) and while the rate of deforestation has slowed in recent years, there is no sign of stopping. How will continued destruction of the Brazilian rainforest affect global climate? What will happen if deforestation of the Amazon does not stop?
Covering 2.3 million square miles and spanning nine countries, the Amazon is bigger than the entire Western Europe and hosts a vast array of plants and animal species ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/impacts-of-deforestation-on-th/", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014", "5", "1" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Greenpeace", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Greenpeace USA", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2003" ] ] }, "title" : "Impacts of Deforestation on the Amazon", "type" : "webpage" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=3236da00-82b2-42b4-9ddf-bfbb9b6c31f5" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Greenpeace)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Greenpeace). Reports show that in just one hectare of the Amazon rainforest, over 200 species of trees can be found; and each tree supports 72 species of ants. The Amazon River, 4,000 miles long, hosts 30 times more fish species than all European rivers. But scientists claim – 60% of insect species living in the Amazon are still unidentified and around 20,000 of plant species have not yet been discovered ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/impacts-of-deforestation-on-th/", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2014", "5", "1" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Greenpeace", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Greenpeace USA", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2003" ] ] }, "title" : "Impacts of Deforestation on the Amazon", "type" : "webpage" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=3236da00-82b2-42b4-9ddf-bfbb9b6c31f5" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Greenpeace)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Greenpeace). This biodiversity is bound to be lost if the deforestation of the Amazon continues. How does this affect global communities?
For one, many species of plants and animals are endemic in the Amazon – they cannot be found anywhere else. Our inability to preserve this biodiversity is proof of humanity’s disrespect for the gift of evolution – the millions of years and unimaginable energy required to create such wonderful expressions of life. Second, scientific research shows that the future of agriculture depends on this biodiversity.
"Farmers and agricultural scientists need [genetic diversity] it in order to adapt plants to changing conditions or expand production in new, previously unfarmed areas. The hidden genetic diversity of plants holds the key to improved yields, and crops that not only produce more to eat, but more nutritious food as well" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2004" ] ] }, "title" : "The future of agriculture depends on biodiversity", "type" : "report" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=29e179ba-e87a-4348-bffb-3e82069cc244" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
As the population increases and demand for food increases, more and more countries are adopting mono-cropping of high yielding plants such as rice, maize and wheat. The problem with this is that as food producers abandon diversity, varieties and breeds, along with their specialized traits die out. In many occurrences, the beneficial insects of one plant variety turn into pests as their natural food sources are no longer available.
Aside from its impact on food production, continued degradation of the Amazon rainforest can also lead to shortage in fresh water supply in neighboring countries. As forests are cleared, soil capacity to hold water drops, which in turn causes flooding in low-lying areas. Water runoff carries with it soil which are then dumped in rivers which then leads to shallow basins which again, leads to flooding. Moreover, the Amazon Basin is the largest fresh water reservoir in the world, with one-fifth of all running water flowing through the Amazon; losing forest cover could mean that there are lesser natural filters, hence leading to degraded water quality ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Innes", "given" : "Robert K.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1996" ] ] }, "title" : "Effects of Deforestation", "type" : "report" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=c3b83940-fe95-417c-a5b9-14e6d296faa1" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Innes)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Innes).
Climate science also shows that a huge amount of water is recycled in the Amazon; the loss of the rainforest could lead to regional climate change ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00095-6", "ISSN" : "00344257", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Durieux", "given" : "L", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Remote Sensing of Environment", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issue" : "1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2003", "6", "30" ] ] }, "page" : "132-140", "title" : "The impact of deforestation on cloud cover over the Amazon arc of deforestation", "type" : "article-journal", "volume" : "86" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=c07af083-9309-4ba2-bd55-f291553800c1" ] }, { "id" : "ITEM-2", "itemData" : { "DOI" : "10.1175/2009JCLI2757.1", "ISSN" : "0894-8755", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Nobre", "given" : "Paulo", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Malagutti", "given" : "Marta", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Urbano", "given" : "Domingos F.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Almeida", "given" : "Roberto A. F.", "non-dropping-particle" : "de", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Giarolla", "given" : "Emanuel", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Journal of Climate", "id" : "ITEM-2", "issue" : "21", "issued" : { "d...