Summary:
Corruption in Peru has led to extreme amounts of illegal logging. The World Bank estimates 80% of Peru's exports in the logging industry are illegally harvested. This is because local authorities are often bribed into creating false paperwork by the loggers, who then sell the wood. In the case of one military officer, the corruption was so bad that he stopped making the mandatory checks of loads of timber for paperwork, because even if he halted the load, the military officials would create false paperwork. The deforestation of Peru could prove to be very harmful to local species as well as climate change. Nearly half of Peru is covered in dense forest, and the preservation of this forest is considered to be extremely important in the fight against global warming. Also, there are many species of plants and animals only found in this region, and the deforestation will take away habitat space, and could endanger many of the species.
Relevance:
The deforestation of Peru relates to our unit about Ecosystems. Even more specifically, it relates to what we learned about the different ways humans can harm an ecosystem, because deforestation is one of the biggest negative impacts humans can make on an area. Deforestation is the clearing of forests, and is done for many different reasons. Some of these reasons include collecting timber, as is the case in Peru, or the clearing of land for other uses. Deforestation can greatly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide taken in by plants for photosynthesis, causing an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which increases temperature. Deforestation also reduces the amount of habitat area for local species.
Citation:
Authors: William Neuman and Andrea Zarate
Date of Publication: October 18, 2013
What types of plants and animals are found in these regions?
ReplyDeleteWhy is the preservation of this specific forest in Peru so important in the fight against global warming?
ReplyDeleteOut of all the biomes on Earth, tropical rainforests pull the largest amount of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, Since greenhouse gases are among the leading causes of global warming, preservation of rainforests is key to lowering amounts of greenhouse gases. The tropical forest part of Peru is considered crucial in the fight against global warming because it is part of the Amazon Rainforest, the largest rainforest in the world.
DeleteParan: Peru is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, and about half of the country is part of the Amazon rain forest. In Peru, there are over 17,000 species of flowering plants, 462 species of mammals, over 1,800 bird species, 1,000 species of ferns, and 2,500 species of birds.
ReplyDelete