Persuasive Essay Sample: Deforestation Should Be Stopped

“Unbelievably, over 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is over 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres are lost every year! The latest statistics in the Brazilian Amazon show a 34 percent increase in deforestation since 1992” (Last name/ title). Seeing how much really takes place a day shows that deforestation has to stop. Also considering that the amazon has shown an increase in deforestation shows that we need to act to prevent this. Deforestation can be very harmful to the animals and plants that are home to the forest and it can also affect people on a global scale. Laws concerning deforestation of the Amazon rainforest need to be put in place and enforced to prevent its many negative effects.

Deforestation can have major negative effects on climate change and our environment. ”Deforestation reduces the critical water cycling services provided by trees. In Brazil, some of the water vapour that emanates from forests will be transported by wind to its Central-South region, where most of the country's agriculture is located [...] When rainfall reduction is added to the natural variability that characterizes rainfall in the region, the resulting droughts may lead to major environmental impacts” Considering how much the lack of water can affect industries as well as wildlife, this is one of the many reasons why we need laws that limit deforestation of the amazon. If droughts occur in the region that the amazon is in, it will cause a major disruption in the ecosystem surrounding it affecting plants, animals, and people. With the supply of water from the amazon gone, life surrounding the forest will diminish. The lack of water that is a result of deforestation will not be addiquet for plants and animals to survive. With how many different animals live in the forest, without drinking water or water to grow the plants could be detrimental to the species in the forest including endangered ones. ”Scientists are concerned that the Amazon is perilously close to a tipping-point creating conditions so hot and dry that local species could not regenerate. If 20-25 percent of the tree cover is deforested, the basin’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide would collapse.” With the amazon rainforest being full of trees and plants that produce oxygen, the reduced capacity to absorb carbon dioxide could be very harmful. Also while the conditions of the forest and surrounding areas being so hot and dry, this could cause species to recede. The climate of the area changing is dangerous local to the area and is another reason to put laws in place to prevent this from continuing.  Having increased Co2 and a decrease in oxygen is harmful to animals as well as people. Having a lack of availability to hold carbon dioxide will result in having more of it in the air causing pollution and bad air quality. Co2 can also be harmful to people as it can cause severe health risks, a common one being Co2 poisoning. The amazon rainforest has many impacts on the environment as well as different species, and when it is deforested, it can cut off all of its benefits completely and even create some hardships.

 Laws need to be put in place towards the agricultural industry to decrease their negative impact. “Since the 1960s, the Amazon has lost about 20% of its forest cover to deforestation and fires. While fires and deforestation often go hand in hand, that has not always been the case, Enquist says. As climate change brings more frequent and more severe drought conditions to the region, and fire is often used to clear large areas of rainforest for the agricultural industry, deforestation has spillover effects by increasing the chances of wildfires.” A big motivator for deforestation is industry that uses the forest for land. deforesting the forest is not needed for these companies. Considering how big the percentage of the forest that has been lost, it is very important that we put in place some type of limit or law to prevent it, especially when it is inferred that the statistics will go up in the next couple years if we do not put an end to it. Placing laws that are directed towards the agriculture industry and enforcing them can prevent a lot of the deforestation taking place. A law that states that one cannot clear land from the Amazon for purposes of farming could be a way to possibly prevent the issues that the industry causes on the forest. ”Just over the border, in the Bolivian Amazon, 2.5 million acres have burned, largely to clear land for new cattle and soy animal feed plantations, in just a few weeks.” This clearly shows another example of how the burning of the amazon is one of its biggest impacts of deforestation. Companies in the agriculture industry are burning the amazon to create more land for farming. This however can be easily avoided by enacting laws that prevent this industry from deforestation. Laws need to be set in place to limit these companies from using the rainforest for land when it is not necessary. Countless other companies are deforesting the Amazon and there needs to be a stop put to it. Major soy traders have continued to drive deforestation in the Bolivian Amazon Basin, the Brazilian Cerrado, and the Gran Chaco of Argentina and Paraguay, creating a major incentive for the rapid deforestation in Bolivia in the last several weeks. Soy trading is just another example of the companies and businesses that are in relation to agriculture that are continuing the deforestation of the amazon. Again this can easily be stopped by placing laws and enforcing them on major agricultural businesses that are influencing and causing deforestation. Seeing how much of an impact this industry has on the deforestation of the rainforest, it is clear that placing laws and regulations as to the burning of the forest would be the obvious choice to fixing this problem.

Burning is one of the leading causes of deforestation in the Amazon and it needs to be prevented. “They found that since 2001, between 40,000 and 73,400 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been impacted by fires, affecting 95% of all Amazonian species and as many as 85% of species that are listed as threatened in this region.”

 The main type of deforestation happening in the Amazon is burning. Just focusing on this issue, greater enforcement of fire officials being present could greatly reduce this amount. Not only farmers like stated previously are starting them, fires are often started accidentally because the environment is so dry and they are easily started. Seeing how giant the percentage of animals that are affected by fires proves that laws need to be initiated to prevent this. It is important to protect the species of this environment, with some of them being endangered, especially when this dilemma is an easy fix. “burning will add enormous amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which will further strengthen global warming and produce more severe climate changes.” Following the effects on the animals, the burning will also affect global warming and climate change.  Considering how this could be  prevented with regulations, the globe should not be affected by the burning of the forest. Again, global warming is a huge negative effect that affects different species, ecosystems, and forms of life across the globe. This is a big motivator that we need to make laws to prevent the detrimental effects of global warming the burning of the amazon can be prevented with laws and better enforcement instead of affecting 95% of the species that live there and threatening the planet with rises in global warming. 

Previous laws that have been instituted to protect the amazon continue to be unenforced and do not help prevent the negative effects and more severe actions need to be made.  “This includes imposing heavy fines on companies with dirty supply chains, divestment strategies targeting key violators, publicized product boycotts and environmental campaigns shaming those involved in illicit activities. But all this requires better evidence, including more investment in the scientific detection of illegal deforestation and sustained enforcement of existing laws related to environmental crimes.” Old laws that have been put in place to protect the amazon are not being enforced strictly and continue to leave the amazon unprotected. There needs to be new laws and more strictly enforced laws to prevent deforestation in the amazon. Creating more strict laws will create an incentive for people not to deforest or burn the forest, preventing many of the negative effects that are clearly seen and felt today in the Amazon rainforest. With laws on the environment being better enforced, many of the negative effects from these crimes will cease, creating a more stable and less endangering environment to the many species that the amazon is home to. 

The deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is dangerous to plants, animals, and people which is why laws are necessary to prevent it. It can cause global warming, and can cause species to decline. There are countless agricultural linked companies that are the main source of deforestation. With all the negative effects of deforestation stated, there clearly are many reasons for laws.