Yours Sincerely,
Letter to the Brazilian Government
Dear Minister,
I am writing to you to inform you of the great destruction of the
rainforests in Brazil, and to explain to you why this is a problem and what can be done about it.The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate. It is being destroyed at about 33.8 million acres each year (that’s about the size of Ireland.) That’s 2.8 millions acres per month, 93,000 acres per day, 3,800 acres per hour or 64 acres per minute. Are you aware that Brazil lost 91.4 million acres of tropical forest between 1980-1990?
The TRF provides a unique habitat for a wide variety of plants and animals species. These species complete the food chain. These plants could provide cures to diseases such as cancer and already these plants already supply Western countries with an estimated ¾ of their medicines.
The TRF is also important because it keeps the Global Climate stable. It is estimated that trees in the TRF produce one-third on the world’s oxygen( which we need to stay alive.) The Carbon dioxide taken in by trees during photosynthesis reduces the amount of Carbon dioxide in they air and this reduces global warming. The TRF is also important because the trees absorb the heat and keep world climate constant.The TRF provides many advantages in local areas because it provides a home to indigenous people and it also supports their whole way of living. The TRF also keeps the indigenous people separated from Westerners.
The rainforest is being cleared by many people for many reasons. One of the causes is that developing countries want to pay back debt to MEDC’s and clearing the TRF is the quickest way of doing it.
Another cause of the TRFs destruction are Cattle Ranchers because they want to make beef burgers for the USA, and the land is cheap to buy/rent (E.g. McDonalds have done this in the past have.)
Another reason why the TRF is being chopped down is to make H.E.P because Brazils is increasingly demanding more energy to support its growing and developing population.
Mining stone, oil, coal and precious metals (e.g. diamonds) is another reason why the TRF is being chopped down. Teal and Mahogany are just two of the many hardwoods found in the TRF. These types of timbre are always a cause of the TRF deforestation. Paper is another reason for TRF deforestation. With the Brazilian government trying to develop the country much of the TRF is being destroyed by a the building of road and highways – just like the highway being built this very moment called ‘Transamazon Highway‘. Another reason why the TRF is being deforested is to create plantations of coffee, nuts, cocoa and bananas. TRF destruction is partly to blame on medicines. A huge cause of destruction is re-settlement. Brazil has many big cities with thousands of homeless people, the government often resettles them in the TRF. Slash and burn (shifting cultivation) is another cause of TRF destruction because soil soon become infertile and so crops are permanently being moved.The effects of chopping down the TRF are very bad for certain groups of people and animals One group affected locally are the indigenous people because they whole way of life has to change and they often have to move. This is bad, because without them the keys to medicines and such a way of living would be lost. A news report I heard the other day it said that many indigenous languages are being lost each year due to deforestation and development by MEDC’s in the area.
Indigenous people in the past have lived separated from the western world by a blanket of trees. If these trees are chopped down by Westerners then these indigenous people will soon die of things like the common cold.
Another group affected by deforestation are people with cancer and other inheritable diseases because scientists believe that the wide variety of plants and animal species, may hold the key to a cancer cure. If the TRF is destroyed many medicines may never be discovered. Examples of medicines found in TRF are aspirin, the contraceptive pill, and the Madagascar Peiriwinkle (which is a cure for Hodgkins disease.) Without these species in the food chain, we would also face extinction.
The TRF is also important to everybody because it keeps the Global Climate stable. It is estimated that trees in the TRF produce one-third on the world’s oxygen, without these trees, the levels of Carbon dioxide and Oxygen would by threaten human existence on earth. The Carbon dioxide taken in by trees during photosynthesis reduces the amount of Carbon dioxide in they air and this reduces global warming. Another reason why the TRF is important is because it prevents albedo (the ground heating up and disturbing all the worlds climate.)
When deforestation occurs the soil soon becomes unfertile, because there are no leaves dropping and creating humus. The nutrients are also quickly leached from the soil. Without the roots holding down the soil the soil washes away into river making the water in the river undrinkable. Landslides often happen were the trees have been cleared (like the one in El Salvador after the earthquake.)
In summary, the rainforest is important to us because it is one of the only places in the world that has not been spoilt by human existence, it provides medicines, keep the world climate constant and provide a home for indigenous people.
However, your government can do something about this. Here are some solutions that might slow down the rate of TRF destruction. The first solution is agroforestry (mixture of crops and trees in the TRF), this would be good because it would provide protection from soil erosion and would still provide money and jobs. It would also be better than plantations because if there was a pest, which suddenly destroyed a certain crops, the crop owner could still make money from the other plants. Although I can see there may be problems with this because it would costs lots of money and you would need to educate local people.
Another solution would be to ask MEDC’s to cancel their debt with you although this is not very likely to happen.
Another solution would be to replant trees (afforestation) this would be good as it would keep the global climate stable. However this idea also has its limitations, which are that it is expensive, some of the habitat will still be lost and it will take hundreds of years until the trees will be like they were before.
Tourism is another reason not to destroy the TRF. If you want to pay your debt back to MEDC’s there is plenty of money to be made from Eco-tourism. Although eco-tourism still means developments have to be made (such as roads, hotels and airports still have to be built) it is still better than making money back from slash and burn.
You could allow development in certain areas only, although that would still mean some TRF would be destroyed.
You could educate the indigenous and local people about agroforestry, what the destruction of the TRF means to them and other people. This would be good because then the indigenous people might not be walked all over, but on the other hand it would cost lots of money and the people might not believe or chose to accept MEDC countries ideas.
Stopping development completely could be an option, however it not practical as it would not meet world demand and be sustainable.
You could make people harvest instead of destroying the TRF because it would mean soils wouldn’t be eroded or leached of nutrients, however it may not be sustainable and may not meet world demand.
I hope that you are committed to protecting the TRF in Brazil as a sustainable resource (a source of materials that will last forever,) and you will look at my solutions seriously. No one of these solutions will provide the answer to less TRF destruction, but it will help and if all my ideas are used then hopefully the TRF will live to see another century.
Yours Sincerely,
