The article focuses on deforestation as one of the human activities that lead to the destruction of the environment (Banning-Lover 1). Many countries with increased populations face the problem. Most of the governments are also giving conflicting information about conserving and destroying the environment. Most nations have aimed at minimizing deforestation and encourage. Most of the countries receive funds that aim at limiting deforestation. However, the governments also subsidize and fund most of the projects that lead to environmental degradation through deforestation. There are inadequate conservation measures for the forests. Thus, there is need to find a solution to show that forestation does not lead to less economic growth and limitation of resources.
According to the article, the focus of people in meeting their needs is the primary reason for destroying the environment. Every region seems to have their specific need from the forests that they can only obtain from cutting the trees. The societies in Africa carry out deforestation as a way of getting fuel for daily use. The nations in Africa lack the advanced infrastructure to use other sources of fuel for domestic purposes extensively. Other regions such as Brazil carry out deforestation primarily as a way of getting land for agriculture. It leads to destructs of natural habitats for many wild animals that live in these forests. Besides, deforestation in Brazil affects the local communities that rely on the forests as a source of their food. Nonetheless, all these activities that leads to deforestations aim at satisfying the need of people. The increasing population offers increased challenge as people scramble for these limited resources.
We can do it today.
The article also proposes the use of local communities as one of the ways to conserve the forests. It is one of the best ways to conserve the forests while ensuring there is high productivity from the regions. The local communities depend on these forests for their survival. For this reason, they make efforts towards the conservation of the forests. There are other ways to conserve these forests such as constantly educating people about the need for having them to get public support. Besides, the authorities should show that conservation of the forests does not mean that the region will not have economic development. Applying these conservation methods will ensure that people maintain an environment where they do not endanger other species while they are meeting their need.
Despite all these possibilities of conserving forests, Amazon is still experiencing massive deforestation. The deforestation goes on due lack of proper strategies that prevent tree cutting (Syse and Mueller 134). Deforestation also continues due to demands of people for the resources available in the forests and the areas. Farmers need the land to produce more food that would feed the growing population. Manufacturers need the products from the forests to sustain their business. Thus, people carrying out deforestation aim at meet their needs and that of others in the society.
The article supports the neo-Malthusian view. The growing population will demand more of the limited resources until their exhaustion that leads to the destruction of the environment (Issar 13). The rise of the population will cause more people to carry out deforestation as they look for resources until there are no more forests. The people like those cutting trees on Amazon act with the need of using the available resources as a way to survive. Over time, the rise of their number will lead to the clearing of more forestlands as a means of getting more resources. They will then manage to clear the forests and resources that they were obtaining from the areas.
The article supports the possibility of reviving the forests and other components of the environment if people take precaution in using them. In the past, deforestation of Amazon came to a halt that leads to survival of the indigenous species of the period. It further led to reforestation of some land. However, if people continue to exploit these resources without taking precaution, they might reach a point where the environment cannot recover. Some of the animal and plant species that live and grow in these forests will die due to human exploitation. Unchecked usage of these resources will lead to their exhaustion causing significant problems in the surroundings and to people. The change of environment due to deforestation will also have an adverse impact on agriculture. It will cause a reduction of rainfall lowering the quantity of food available. Therefore, agriculture will affect the environment and the other way round.
- Banning-Lover, Rachel. “How To Stop Deforestation: ‘Indigenous People Are The Best Park Rangers'”. The Guardian, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/apr/04/how-to-stop-deforestation-indigenous-people-are-the-best-park-rangers.
- Issar, Arie. Progressive Development. New York: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2010. Internet resource.
- Syse, Lykke and Mueller, Martin. Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2014. Print.