Biodiversity

Biodiversity

Deforestation has demonstrated highly negative impact on the state of forests in many areas of the world . Leading to sharp imbalances in ecosystems , deforestation impacts local communities it causes people to lose their conventional occupations and displaces animals in their natural habitats . The Brazilian area near the Amazon has been a telltale example of rampant deforestation threatening a unique natural area

The rate and impact of deforestation in Brazil is even more lamentable because the area is home to a great number of species that represent invaluable fauna . The Amazon

basin is home to about 300 ,000 ,000 hectares of rainforest , the largest area in the world , containing about 300 tree species and the source of 50 to 90 of all species on Earth (Camill n .d . Because of the speedy elimination of forests due to logging commercial agriculture , harmful farming patterns such as slash-and-burn farming , grazing , firewood collection , and other human activities , the annual loss of forest areas in the Amazon rainforests approaches 1-3 million hectares per year , and estimates point that the area may be losing about 11 to 16 species every day (Camill , n .d

What negatively impacts the plant biodiversity is the pattern of logging that leads to deforestation . Amazon rainforests , for all their ecological importance , are characterized by the relatively low commercial value as out of the 300 tree species , only 30 to 50 are commercially attractive (Camill , n .d . This forces loggers to cut trees only selectively targeting primarily valuable woods such as mahogany or teak however , because of the absence of expensive forest management techniques the result is damage to a great many neighboring trees that can leave up to 27 trees injured or destroyed , by some assessments (Camill , n .d

In addition to negatively impacting biodiversity , deforestation is also taking its toll on the people who live in these areas . The demolition of forests that is reducing environments for traditional cultures threatens their very existence . By different estimates South American rainforests will be gone in a time period ranging from 20 to 75 years , and by that time indigenous populations in these areas may become extinct in the same way as the local fauna . Their extinction can be precipitated by the increase in malaria incidence that is stimulated by deforestation : it is a particular problem in deforested and degraded areas , though not in forested zones where there are few stagnant ground pools for mosquito breeding (Butler , 1994-2005 . The indigenous populations who have not developed considerable resistance to malaria and have no medications that could have helped them to fight the disease are faced with serious danger . Thus , in Brazil and Venezuela about 20 of the Yanomani aborigines have already died of malaria

Deforestation in tropical rainforests can serve as a source of problems for regions of the globe remote from the Amazon basin . Thus , the rich biodiversity of the area serves as a source for the global pharmaceutical industry that uses genetic information encoded in plants an animals . At this point , the potential value of the genetic resources in tropical forest for pharmaceutical discoveries has recently been valued at around 21 per hectare (Camill , n .d . For humanity as a whole and the pharmaceutical industry in particular , this could be a tremendous loss

More importantly , deforestation in the Amazon basin can be ruinous to earth , contributing to global warming and ozone level depletion . This in turn , will cause sea levels to rise , as the damage caused by sea level rise from global warming is equivalent to 20 per ton of carbon emitted in fossil fuels or from deforestation (Camill , n .d . The rise of the sea level can cause serious damage to the survival of island cultures that will be deprived of their habitats . Aquatic biodiversity will also be threatened by the rise in sea levels caused by global warming that in its turn is caused by the rampant deforestation

Aquatic biodiversity is no less important to the world than biodiversity of land ecosystems . Seas and oceans are the natural habitat to millions of species this is where life was born and where it remains extremely diverse . Aquatic biodiversity is threatened in the first place by overexploitation such as overfishing , industrial and agricultural pollution , and habitat loss through damming in freshwater areas . The extinction of valuable fish and other species as well as pollution of the neighboring areas destroy the habitat for people as well as for animals , and cultures that depend on the sea for their survival and fishing as the main source of livelihood will be endangered

To conserve the biodiversity of the aquatic areas , the FAO Fisheries Department has started a host of initiatives aimed at preservation of species and environment conservation . This work is governed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 ) and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995 . The latter document , in particular , seeks to promote greater in fisheries and aquaculture and to prevent further resource and environmental degradation (FAO UN , n .d . Nations that choose to comply with the code have to introduce more stringent regulation affecting all spheres of environmentally sensitive activities in aquatic areas

The preservation of biodiversity , both on land and sea , is a challenge for the future generations . It is highly important for us to keep our natural resources that ensure the survival of humanity . Traditional cultures are especially sensitive to the destruction of their habitats as they lack access to facilities and medical care available to other people . Therefore , the preservation of natural habitats is crucial to the survival of humanity

References

Butler , B (1994-2005 . Loss of Species for Forest Regeneration Retrieved April 30 , 2006 , from http /rainforests .mongabay .com /0904 .htm

Camill ,

(1999 , December 15 . The Deforestation of the Amazon : A Case Study in Understanding Ecosystems and Their Value . Retrieved April 30 2006 , from http /ublib .buffalo .edu /libraries /projects /cases /amazon .html

Food and Agriculture Organisation United Nations (n .d . Aquatic biodiversity . Retrieved April 30 , 2006 , from http /www .fao .org /biodiversity /Aquatic_eco_en .asp

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BIODIVERSITY

April 30 , 2006 ...