Rainforest Coursework

The Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil, South America. In the middle of the Equator and the Tropic Of Capricorn.

I used this photo to show the delicacy of the food web. Plant and animal ecosystem would be affected if you took out one of the species of the food web. The Amazon rainforest consists of four layers or communities. Each layer has unique ecosystems, plants, and animals adapted to that system. Many of the species in the rainforest are vulnerable to extinction because they depend on other species in certain ways. Most of the trees need certain animals to dispose of their fruit. For example: there are hundreds of different kinds of fig trees that depend on different species of animals and insects to pollinate them. The destruction of one of these species could wipe out the other. Also Native peoples of the Amazon rainforest have used different plants for centuries as cures and potions for their health and survival.

There are 3 types of industries that corrupt our rainforest. They are Deforestation, Mining and Farming.
There are loads of different ways to clear the land for farming. One of them is ‘Slash and burn’ is the traditional method used by the Amerindians of the rainforest. . Poor farmers in many parts of the world rely on clearing rainforest to feed their families. This way is the most sustainable of the three types; it nevertheless causes considerable areas to be cleared. Without access to better agricultural lands, these people use slash-and-burn to clear patches of forest for short-term use. Typically, they farm the cleared land for a couple of years before the soil are exhausted of nutrients, and they must move on to clear a new patch of forest.
The second one is ‘Subsistence farming’ has increased as a result of the government providing land to some of the Brazil’s 25 million landless people. They also clear the land next to the highways and settlers were brought in from places that were even poorer. The last one is ‘Commercial Cattle Ranching’ is run by large transnational companies which sell beef mainly to fast-food chains.
The third one is ‘Commercial cattle ranching’ is run by some large transnational companies which sell beef mainly to fast-food chains in developed countries. Cattle ranching is now the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon, and nearly 80 per cent of deforested areas in Brazil are now used for pasture. The cattle industry has ballooned since the 1970s, giving Brazil the largest commercial cattle herd in the world. Since 2003, the country has also topped the world's beef export charts and the government plans to double its share of the market by 2018.

These industries make certain areas more developed because they earn money cattle ranching and sell the beef to fast food-chains. They earn money for logging wood, because they find timber while logging sometimes.
The Brazilian Government are for cutting the rainforest down because they need more land and money to invest in facilities. The Brazilian Government hold these views because they need more land because the shanty towns are getting overcrowded and are running low on facilities such as electricity and clean water. I agree because I don’t people should have to grow up in shanty towns and have a poor quality of life. But on the other hand I don’t agree because the rainforest holds half the world’s animal and plant population.
FUNAI are against cutting the rainforest down because they want to protect the land of the Native people. FUNAI holds these views because they believe that there are other non-threatening ways that don’t leave a negative impact on the rainforest and its fragile ecosystem. I agree with FUNAI because they are not destroying the ecosystem. They are letting the rainforest grow naturally.
The World Medical Organisation finds important drugs for every 125 species that are investigated. So it’s important that they do not cut the rainforest down. They hold these views because they won’t know if a new drug could have been found if they destroy a part of the forest.