Stop the Amazon Deforestation Abstract

Our environment is slowly being destroyed and it is not just affecting animals and plants, it is gradually affecting us humans as well. Every year, about twenty thousand hectares of the Amazon rainforest are lost to cattle ranching, logging, farming and other temporary purposes. Scientist predict that our rainforest could be depleted in as little as forty years. Oxygen levels are going down and carbon dioxide concentration in our atmosphere is quickly rising. Trees shouldn’t should not be cut down in such large quantities; they should be protected to keep the world safe for generations to come.

Governments argue that cutting down trees from the forests generate jobs and provide economic security, however it just does the opposite. With the new technology available, cutting vast areas of forest can be done by one person with heavy machinery and it does not provide economic security in the long run because a rainforest is not easily renewable. Cattle ranching has risen to be one of the top grossing activities for Brazil in this decade and has proven to overtake competition around the world. Brazil priority is to be an exporting power and not the conservation of their environment. Although we cant blame them to want to economically stronger, there is a certain limit for everything and the deforestation has to be stopped.

The Amazon rainforest is home to many different species of animals and some only seen in this specific forest. Some of these species have become extinct because of the continuous destruction of their home. With all the technology and machinery we bring into the forests, mother nature doesn’t stand a chance at survival. Why are we cutting it down? Why do we need rainforest?

The forests are essential to the earth’s ecosystem, not just because of the oxygen they give out, but for all the purposes they serve. Many of the plants found in the Amazon rainforest have the potential to serve us medicinally because 70% of them contain cancer fighting agents and are awaiting research. There are currently 121 medical prescription drugs that are derived from different plants in the Amazon. These prescriptions were obtained from only 2% of the plants that have been studied in the Amazon rainforest leaving 98% of the plant species untested. There is incredible potential in finding a cure for AIDS, HIV or other leading causes of death in the world. Protecting this forest would be beneficial to our future and those of future generations, we might be the last generation capable of making a change.