The Amazon is a rainforest that covers a crazy 6.7 million km² of land which is 40% of South America. The Amazon is so large that it covers 9 countries; Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana! The Amazon Rainforest is a home to approximately 10 million species of animals, plants and insects.
Deforestation has become a great issue with the Amazon Rainforest since 1978 and 750,000 km² have been destroyed. Although studies has found that the deforestation has slowed down since 2004, due to even harsher laws and heritage listed land.
This report’s purpose is to inform the readers about what deforestation is and where is it happening within the Amazon Rainforest, how and why has deforestation become an issue in this region, the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and lastly, what is being done/what could be done in order to sustainably manage these impacts.
What is …show more content…
One and a half acres of forest is cut down every second. It is estimated that within 100 years there will be no rainforests. Since 70% of the world’s flora and fauna live in forests, these species are rapidly going extinct because of such a high deforestation rate of their habitats. Over 121 natural remedies can be found in the Amazon Rainforest which is being lost, making negative repercussions for the research on medicinal products. An impact deforestation has, is soil erosion. Trees have large roots that need to be supported by the soil. So if you have no trees due to deforestation, the soil can be picked up by the wind and vegetation difficulties can occur. Last but not least, the water cycle. Trees are crucial to the water cycle because the rain that falls, is absorbed and makes water vapour that is then released into the atmosphere. More than half the water in the ecosystem is held within plants, in the Amazon