Destruction of the Rain Forest in Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in South America, the 5th largest in the world by land area and population. Over ½ the country is covered by rain forest. This jungle environment is home to over 40,000 different kinds of plants and thousands of animals. Trees in the forest can be up to 150 feet tall. The Amazon River and other large rivers carry water from the rain forests across Braziland into the Atlantic ocean.
The rain forests of Brazil are valuable, humans have found plants that produce medicine; Brazil nuts, cocoa, and rubber are products people use as well. The trees can be sold for timber. The forest also creates oxygen; plants breath carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. 20% of the worlds oxygen is produced in the rain forests of the Amazon Region.
Brazil is home to native populations that depend on the forest. Many of these rain forest people have had little to no contact with the outside world. They live as their ancestors did and depend on the rain forest for food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual life.
This environment is threatened by Human activity. Many Brazilians live in poor conditions; one way to get money for their families is to clear large areas of the forest and haul away the trees. This process is known as deforestation. The cleared land can be used to start cattle ranches or farms to grow crops like soybeans, this illegal clearing increases when the value of crops and cattle go up. In the last 10 years nearly 200,000 square miles of rain forest have been lost due to deforestation. People, plants, and animals of this region are threatened with extinction.
The government has created laws to control the amount of forest that is cut down. However, little money is spent enforcing those laws. Environmental groups around the world are working with Brazil to save the rain forest. They hope to find ways of using the rain forest’s resources without depleting it.
Brazil is the largest country in South America, the 5th largest in the world by land area and population. Over ½ the country is covered by rain forest. This jungle environment is home to over 40,000 different kinds of plants and thousands of animals. Trees in the forest can be up to 150 feet tall. The Amazon River and other large rivers carry water from the rain forests across Braziland into the Atlantic ocean.
The rain forests of Brazil are valuable, humans have found plants that produce medicine; Brazil nuts, cocoa, and rubber are products people use as well. The trees can be sold for timber. The forest also creates oxygen; plants breath carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. 20% of the worlds oxygen is produced in the rain forests of the Amazon Region.
Brazil is home to native populations that depend on the forest. Many of these rain forest people have had little to no contact with the outside world. They live as their ancestors did and depend on the rain forest for food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual life.
This environment is threatened by Human activity. Many Brazilians live in poor conditions; one way to get money for their families is to clear large areas of the forest and haul away the trees. This process is known as deforestation. The cleared land can be used to start cattle ranches or farms to grow crops like soybeans, this illegal clearing increases when the value of crops and cattle go up. In the last 10 years nearly 200,000 square miles of rain forest have been lost due to deforestation. People, plants, and animals of this region are threatened with extinction.
The government has created laws to control the amount of forest that is cut down. However, little money is spent enforcing those laws. Environmental groups around the world are working with Brazil to save the rain forest. They hope to find ways of using the rain forest’s resources without depleting it.
Ticket Out The Door: Write your answer to the following questions on the provided sheet.
1. What is a problem associated with deforestation in Brazil?
2. The world gets 20% of what natural resource from the rainforest in Brazil?
1. What is a problem associated with deforestation in Brazil?
2. The world gets 20% of what natural resource from the rainforest in Brazil?