WHAT CAN BE DONE?

There are many actions that can be done to maintain the balance between the Amazon rainforest and the people inhabiting the region. In order to preserve the rainforest and replenish the lost biodiversity, environmentalists and governments should invest in reforestation. Replanting trees in areas damaged by deforestation will restore the natural habitats. After stopping the deforestation process, they can begin to regrow the damaged habitats and protect them from further harm. Techniques like implanting microchips in trees to track growth rates and act as protective sensors have already been implemented with great results. Along with implementing reforestation, governments should support laws that protect areas in the rainforest by limiting use of natural resources. Governments should do everything they can to establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife, which in return would save a millions of species that are at risk of extinction. Secondly, famers can practice different agricultural techniques that are more beneficial to the environment. For example, through crop rotation farmers prevent the over use of their soil, allowing it to yield healthier, differentiated crops throughout the seasons. This method reduces the soil's fertility. Additionally, efforts to reduce our carbon footprint will reduce the harmful impacts of global warming. Economies of the region should shift their focus from cattle grazing, a practice known for its harmful affects on the environment, to something less ecologically impacting the carbon footprint will be significantly smaller. Also, we should take part in little things that will lessen our carbon footprints like living in an apartment, riding our bikes or using public transportation, and recycling. Lastly, educating people about the effects people have on the environment can provide a more eco-conscious society. In conclusion, the responsibility to oversee these efforts must be shared by the political entities and people throughout the region so that the ecosystem will stay healthy and intact. 

FUTURE: it can be bright!

              If other countries in South America adopt similar laws and provisions that Brazil currently has, the rainforest will have a brighter future. It is essential that governments and citizens lose the idea that the rainforest should be used solely for economic gain. If deforestation continues, more habitats will be destroyed thus pressuring the survival of plants and animals. A lot of animals are already under stress of extinction; unless we start saving their habitats, they will soon go extinct. Also, with less trees performing photosynthesis, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase and thus contribute to the greenhouse effect. We will also lose plants that provide us with medications. Therefore, we would be setting ourselves back by extinguishing vital resources found in the Amazon.1

              Climate change due to global warming has already impacted the rainforest and will only have greater impacts if climates continue to rise. According to computer models, if current rates of global warming continue, a great portion of the Amazon will change from rainforest to savanna, especially in the southern parts of the region. This shift would have monumental ecological and economic impacts. This dramatic change would affect the rainfall that currently supports different regions that produce 70% of South America’s gross domestic product. Consequently, the area will suffer economic loss as well as loss of natural resources.1

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12062-amazon-rainforest-future.html

 Butler, Rhett A. "The Amazon: The World's Largest Rainforest." The Amazon Rainforest. N.p., 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/>.

PROTECTION: Brazil's progress

About 44% of the Brazilian Amazon is protected, however ISA reports that those protected areas are still affected by encroachment and bad management.¹ As of December 2010, 2,197,485 square kilometers are protected in the Amazon with national parks accounting for 50.6% and indigenous territories 49.4%.¹ Even though a great amount of the amazon is protected, the ISA report found that there have been significant human impacts in those areas, such as forests clearing within those borders.¹ They attributed the degradation of protected areas to “faulted poor management.”¹ The number of staff in some areas is very low thus situations like this can occur. 50% of the protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon don’t have an approved management plan and 45% doesn’t have a management council.¹ Illegal mining and logging are still threats to protected areas.¹ Over 1,300 titles for mining have been approved in protected areas and over 10,000 are still waiting approval.¹

However, Brazil has been experiencing a decline in deforestation as annual clearing has reduced by 75% since 2004.¹ This is in part due to the law that passed in 2009 comiting the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 36%.² The reduction is expected to be a result of limiting Brazil’s deforestation rate which until recent years was the world’s highest.² Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said that Brazil’s 80% deforestation reduction target for the Amazon would be met by 2016.² Conversely, BNDES, Brazil’s national development bank, plans new Amazon infrastructure projects such as dams and roads with an allocated tens of billions of dollars a year.² This could increase pressure on the Amazon rainforest. Furthermore, farmers and ranchers in the area are advocating for more relaxed environmental protection laws. They would like a revision of the forest code, which requires individuals to keep 80% of forest on their land.²

In the graph below, you can see a very steep decline in deforestation so far was between 2004-2006. Rates continue to lessen except in the year 2008. I would expect a chart from 2009-2016 to shower a steep decline as well due to all of the laws and regulations passed in Brazil. 
In the pie graph below, an agricultural slowdown and new protected areas are accountable for 82% of the causes for sharp decline in deforestation rates. With the new laws set in place in Brazil, use of the rainforest will be greatly limited and more protected areas are put in place which makes me further believe in a high decline in deforestation from 2009-on.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0601-amazon_arpa.html

1) "Protected Areas Cover 44% of the Brazilian Amazon." Mongabay.com. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0420-protected_amazon.html>.

2) Butler, Rhett A. "Brazil's Amazon Deforestation Rate Falls to Lowest on Record."Mongabay.com. N.p., 01 Dec. 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1201-brazil_deforestation_2010.html>.