Value of Environmental Agencies In current times man has become so consumed with weapons and money that theplanet has been neglected.
With something so typical and now common as choppingdown the rainforest to produce trees for mass abundance of political paper andland to graze more cattle this thoughtless destruction, disturbs all aspects ofthe environment. This is business as usual. The lands being destroyed are themost unique and diverse lands in the world. Chris Park Senior lecturer in theDepartment of Geographer at Lancaster University states, The availablestatistics are impressive and. . .
the rainforest’s claim to fame as the richestecological zone on earth(26). In order to efficiently restore and protect thedamaged land, animals, and people environmental agencies’ must be valued. By destroying the forest, we are creating an open-door policy fordisease. For example, the S.
Amerindians have long adopted to endemic diseaseand have prevented them, in large part, by their adaptation to conditions oflife over the 20,000 years they have inhabited the tropical forest. With thelumber companies invading these towns and villages, their western germs areexposing isolated, once-contained people. Kathlyn Gay, author of Rainforests ofthe World, mentions, Indigenous people in many countries have died because ofcontact with outsiders-usually whites of northern European extraction-who havebrought contagious diseases, ranging from measles to influenza, and sexuallytransmitted disease(20). With the importance of the land resources comes theever significance of the atmosphere.
The atmosphere’s most predictive componentis the ozone layer. The distribution of the forests and multiplying of grazingcattle are causes immense damage to the ozone. John Nichol, head of Worldfest90′ production and marketing, alludes, In Brazil and other countries in Southand Central America the smoke from fires burning the jungle is sometimes sothick that great palls of it drift for miles(140). These smoke clouds areaffecting the weather patterns. Weather patterns are changing too, and theconsensus of informed opinion is that this too is a direct result of destructionof the forest(Nichol 136).
The slashing and burning of the Amazon forest iscausing carbon monoxide build-up, promising severe damage to our securityblanket of the ozone. This damage and the critically harsh and uncharacteristicweather pattern is slowly erasing some of our animals. The animals are the most diverse and ecologically sound species on thisplanet. They are not only being destroyed but exterminated.
Many ecologist,say that such a species’ loss has not occurred since the dinosaurs becameextinct 65 million years ago. Why is this so?The last drastic species lossoccurred when glaciers melted. Although converted waves of extinction havecertainly occurred in paleolithic past, current and future losses will be soexponential that the implications are chilling. Average extinction backgroundrate has a range of 2.
0 and 4. 6 families/species per million years and may riseto 19. 3 during periods of mass extinction. The most complex and immense speciesthat will not be present for much longer are insects. The recentoverburgeoning numbers of crop-destructive insects have been shown to be causedat least in part by a decrease in the country’s population of insect eatingbirds, advises, Arnold Newman the author of Tropical Rainforest(135). Aterrific example is the leaf cutter or parasol ants that are seen in theneotropical forests.
These ants climb trees that are only indigenous torainforest and cut out dime-sized pieces of leaves and flowers with their sharpmandibles. The leaves and flowers of these trees are the main and only food forthese species of ants. And with the elimination of the forest will come theelimination of the leaf cutter ants. All forms of life within the rainforestare highly interdependent, so that even small changes in habitat or species canhave serious knock on effects throughout the ecosystem(Newman 19). Thisdisturbance of the food cycle is wickedly important. In general, the food cycleliterally goes from the ground up,plants being the primary producers.
Theplants are eaten by herbivores and grazers and the carnivores eat bothherbivores and themselves(carnivores) when the forests are destroyed along withthe animals of all sizes huge gaps in the food cycle are vacant. This is a serious concern in recent years over stability and very survival of somerainforests which are threatened with irreversible change if not wholesaleclearance(Park 19). There mast be a way in which we can preserve nature. Acommon and effective approach to protecting nature in many countries has been todesignate particular areas as national parks or nature reserves, and restrictland use changes or damaging activities within the designated areas(Park 132). Many people in the world do not want to see the rainforest disappear; as aresult , reserves are set up. In 1990 there were roughly 560 tropical forestparks and reserves covering a total of 780,000 km squared and accounting forabout 4 per cent of all tropical forest.
When the forest people are taken from their homelandand put somewhereelse they do not know how to change. They are being pushed to the edge ofextinction, and public sympathies are swinging in their direction(Park 105). The modern world is so crazy to think the forest people can make such a drasticchange. The forest people loss their culture because they can not bring theirforests resources into the modern world. Displacement happens from taking awayof land which the forest people use to support themselves.
It is almostimpossible to think that they can change their lifestyle and experiences andstart all over. Families in the United States have a difficult time moving fromstate to state in most cases. Everything in the jungle was fine until money-hungry man wanted to makeeven more money and ruin everyone’s lives. Everyone should just leave thejungle alone to live in peace and harmony.
If all the people of the world worktogether then maybe we can help save the land, animals, and people.
