Illegal Deforestation Versus
Sustainable Farming
In a day where population and
businesses are increasing, these questions often arise. Are we destroying our natural resources? Are we cutting down too many trees? Can our world really sustain us if we
continue our non eco- friendly ways?
On one side we have the Committee
for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) which is an organization full of professors,
businessmen and scientists that have a balanced perspective on issues like the
environment. They believe the world has
sustained us for thousands of years and will continue to do so. On the other side we have scientists like
those at Yale school of Forestry and Environmental Studies who say “the earth
is on track to run out of trees in 300 years,” and that we need to put much
effort in restoring our nature’s health.
Let’s look at some different angles
about this issue. Farmers can get more land that was once occupied
by the rain forests. This is benefitting these countries’ economies. For
example, Brazil is the largest producer and exporter of beef. Historically,
Brazilians have not eaten very much meat, but they have been influenced by
immigrant populations. Now they are
consuming more meat. The herd size has
been increasing every year and pastures are opened up from the felling of trees
in the Amazon Rain Forest. Beef
exportation was a way for the people to make money. Farmers cleared some forest land and the
government has realized it’s time to cut back on all the cutting.
In the article “Did Ranchers and
Slaughterhouses Respond to Zero Deforestation Agreement in the Brazilian
Amazon?” there are some sad facts but also good news. Para State in Brazil is responsible for 40%
of Amazonian deforestation. The
government made a zero deforestation agreement with the slaughter houses and
meat packing companies to never buy meat from a deforested area. The beef ranchers registered their land in
an environmental registry, and now meat packing companies avoid buying beef
from deforested properties. “In 2009,
both the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Pará state (Ministério Público
Federal MPF-Pará) and NGOs pressured the beef and leather retailers and
meatpacking companies, which own and operate slaughterhouses, to reduce
deforestation associated with cattle production. The MPF-Pará sued ranchers who
cleared forest illegally and the slaughterhouses that bought from them.”
(Baretto and Silvio) The government has
helped deforestation rates to slow down.
Private farmers only make up a
small percentage the illegal foresting. Another study done in Para Brazil, shows that
it’s hard to stop illegal loggers. The
Green Peace organization did a report about the Amazon. There investigation showed that huge amounts
of trees are getting cut down illegally.
Government officials and prosecutors were interviewed about the log
exportation. The Brazilian government
isn’t strong enough to enforce regulations and that there aren’t always
government agencies in the areas where deforestation is happening. They explained that it is very difficult to
track illegal loggers. They explored
157000 hectares from 2011 to 2012. In
Para 78% of the forest had suffered from logging. (logging, greenpeace)
The people who live by the rain forest seem to
care about the land. Some people are
upset with illegal loggers who are taking away their trees. Farmers
can use the land if they care about the plants and animals and reproduce the
vegetation and beauty instead of leaving it destroyed. Those
that have respect for future generations as well as believe in a Creator don’t
want to use up everything He has given us.
Deforestation leads to less
oxygen and more green house gasses. Cutting
down trees carelessly is not a liberty our world can afford.
A lot of tropical countries have
deforested their land for uses like palm oil, paper, and tobacco. For example
Indonesia is losing its rain forests at a higher rate than Brazil is. Can we blame them? America has been cutting down their trees to
build cities. Brazil is a developing
country and should be able to use the trees and land, says David Rothbard and Craig Rucker from CFACT, in the article
“Facts Lost in Deep Dark Jungle of the Rainforest Issue,”
Alternatively, the Amazon has
special trees, plants, and animals that can’t grow anywhere else besides in
that rain forest. It would take a lot of
work to plant another rainforest and inhabit it with other animals. Also, there aren’t just private farmers
cutting down trees. There are loggers
destroying lots of trees with money chief in mind -not the environment or even farming. It is a fight to protect the forests explains
Amy Moas in an article “Caught Up in the Battle Against Congo’s Irresponsible
Loggers”. (Amy Moas)
Rain forests also provide land for palm
oil. Palm oil is more sustainable than
canola oil because
“their fruit, which contains 50 percent oil, has much higher yields than other vegetable oils. Farmers can produce five to eight times more palm oil for a given area of land than its vegetable oil competition says, Calen May Tobin. Small farmers can also harvest fruit a couple years instead of cutting a whole tree down and using the fruit once. Farmers in Indonesia, Malaysia, North America and South America as well as other countries harvest huge amounts of oil from their palm oil plantations.
“their fruit, which contains 50 percent oil, has much higher yields than other vegetable oils. Farmers can produce five to eight times more palm oil for a given area of land than its vegetable oil competition says, Calen May Tobin. Small farmers can also harvest fruit a couple years instead of cutting a whole tree down and using the fruit once. Farmers in Indonesia, Malaysia, North America and South America as well as other countries harvest huge amounts of oil from their palm oil plantations.
This also gives farmers more jobs
and benefits their economy. Palm oil business can be certified to ensure that
it’s eco-friendly and not destroying ecosystems. If palm oil was banned the need for way more
land would increase in order to produce other oils. Palm oil is also healthier than other
vegetable oils. “Highly saturated tropical oils do not
contribute to heart disease but have nourished healthy populations for
millennia.” (Said Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon)
A lot of the world’s forests have
been destroyed, sometimes for the benefit of the people. There are efforts being made to fix the
destruction and become more sustainable.
India, China, America and other countries are working on reforestation. Our forests are and will continue to make a comeback.
Developing countries near rainforests
have hard decisions to make as they consider the negative and positive effects
they are creating as they clear the land of beautiful forests.
Works Cited
Dennehy,
Kevin, “Seeing the Forest and the Trees, All 3 Trillion of Them.” yale, 2 Sep. 2015, http://news.yale.edu/2015/09/02/seeing-forest-and-trees-all-3-trillion-them.
“Did Ranchers and
Slaughterhouses Respond to Zero Deforestation Agreement in the Brazilian
Amazon?” wiley, 12 May 2015, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12175/full.
Enig, Mary PhD, and Fallon, Sally) “The Truth About Saturated
Fat.” Mercola, Aug. 2002, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/24/saturated-fat3.aspx.
Logging: “The Amazon’s Silent Crisis.” greenpeace, 19 Sep. 2003 http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Global/usa/planet3/PDFs/SilentCrisisTimberReport.pdf?x14568.
Moas, Amy, “Caught Up in the Battle
Against Congo’s Irresponsible Loggers.” greenpeace,
13 Nov. 2014, http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/congos-irresponsible-loggers/.
Rothbard, David and
Rucker, Craig, “Claims That the Rain Forest Are Being Destroyed Are
Exaggerated.” Rain Forests, edited by
Stuart A Kallen, Green Haven, 2006, pp. 18-23
“Tobin, Calen, “Is It Possible to Produce Palm Oil in a
Sustainable Way?” ucsusa, Feb. 2014, http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/ask/2014/sustainable-palm-oil.html#.WBdQqiT-SzE.
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