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The Destruction of the Rainforest:
An Annotative Bibliography
Miranda Hancock
Academic affiliation: Oklahoma State University
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Achard, Frederic, et al. "Determination of Deforestation Rates of the World's Humid Tropical Forests." Science 297.5583 (2002): 999-1002. This article discusses (TREES), a recently completed research program that involves the global imaging capabilities of satellites. These satellites provide information on the status of the world's humid tropical forests. The Food and Agriculture Organization is in charge of the (TREES) research project. The research from (TREES) also tries to explain how the loss of these forests affect climate. This article has useful visual aid. These visual aids show a map of places in the world that were used to gather information, the amount of deforestation in those areas, and hot spots by continents. These aids range from self-explanatory to very technical.

Bristol, Tim. "Alaska's Rainforest under Renewed Attack." Forum For Applied Research And Public Policy 23 (1998): 99-103. Tongass National Forest is in danger again. Congress is the forests worst and foremost enemy. The forest covers nearly seventeen million acres, which makes comparable in size to the state of West Virginia, and the Tongass covers nearly eighty percent of the Alaskan panhandle. This forest also holds the world's largest population of bald eagles, which are very close to becoming extinct. Outside of this forest, are other rainforests that are privately owned. In nineteen eighty, all of the privately owned forests have been cleared out for logging purposes. This article is helpful, and tells how crucial this fragile ecosystem is to the people of Alaska and to the animals of the region.

Bunyard, Peter. "Eradicating the Amazon Rainforest will Wreak Havoc on Climate." The Ecologist 29.2 (1999): 81-84. The Amazon Rainforest plays a number of key, often neglected roles - including that of a giant 'heat pump' that sends energy from the Tropics into the colder high latitudes- that produces the climate in which we can live. At the current rate of destruction, much of the rainforest will be gone in a few decades. This article explains how crucial the rainforest is to precipitation rates and what will happen to those rates if the rainforest disappears. This article is good because it brings the effects of deforestation to home. This article shows the people that do not think that deforestation will affect them, that it will, maybe sooner than they think.

Fearnside, Philip. "A Prescription for Slowing Deforestation in Amazonian." Environment 31.4 (1989): 16-20, 39-41. Tells what people motives are for deforestation, such as land speculation, and pasture as improvement etc. Another motive for deforestation is some government agencies think that it is okay. Incentives for deforestation include income tax exemptions, arrangements to forgive half of the taxes owned on profits from undertaking elsewhere in Brazil, provided the money is invested in Amazonian Development, and loans granted at rates lower than the Brazilian inflation rate. The authorities also pass laws on were dams are to be built, therefore causing places for cattlemen to bring there herds to drink. Pasteurization takes place on both sides of these water ways because these waterways are an easy way for farmers to irrigate their crops. The article is useful because it is the only one that included an EIP, or Environmental Impact Report. This article could become confusing to people that are not use to environmental terms and statistics.

Geist, Helmut J., and Eric F. Lambin. "Regional Differences in Tropical Deforestation." Environment 45.6 (2003): 22-36. Fires are a key factor in deforestation. These fires include natural fires and fires used to expand pasteurization for cattle. The article also discusses environmental and land uses of different regions of the world, such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Talks about what triggers and drives people to take part in deforestation. Tells what accelerates or slows deforestation down. Polices are being developed, but they are still very weak and are not watched very close. Weak law enforcement in some areas are leading to land runs, the first party to clear it claims it. Effective policies to improve governance must take into account the accounts of such pathways and the costs, in human terms altering it. This article tells what measures are being done to prevent these fires and punishments fire starters are receiving.

Glastra, Rob, ed. Cut and Run: Illegal Logging and Timber Trade in the Tropics. Ottawa: International Development Research Center, 1999. This book talks about the ongoing mismanagement of the land in the rainforest. Blames timber companies for most of the problems of deforestation. Gives good reasoning to back up this accusation. This book also talks about the impacts of deforestation and how widespread that they are. Talks about what animals are being extinct by this process of deforestation. Discusses what is being done to try to save these species. Mentions what government agencies are doing to try to make it harder for logging companies to do work in the tropical forests. This is a good book for useful statistics and to find out what government polices and procedures toward deforestation exist.

Lambin, Eric F. and Helmut J. Giest. "Proximate Causes and Underlying Driving Forces of Deforestation." BioScience 52.2 (2002): 143-50. Tropical rainforest deforestation is one of the most prominent reasons for global environmental change today. This article analyzes the proximate causes and underlying driving forces of deforestation. These analyses are derived from local- scale case studies that were conducted over a long period of time. The data that was collected was then compared to findings of prior studies, which then shows that prior studies have given to much emphasis to population growth and shifting cultivation. This article displays two figures and four tables about the different aspects of the proximate causes of deforestation. These visual aids are useful, but very technical to someone with an untrained sense of all aspects of deforestation.

Laurance, William F., Mark A. Cochrane, Scott Bergen, Philip M. Fearnside. "The Future of the Brazilian Rainforest." Science 291.5503 (2001): 438-39. This article tells about the deforestation rates of the Brazilian Amazon, which is just one example of the rainforests that are being demolished by farms, logging, mining, etc. Informs consumers how much of rainforest products that they actually use. The article also tells what measures that governments are taking to keep deforestation from happening, and how much money will be needed to nurture the rainforests of the world back to health. Shows how the cost to clearing out part of the rainforest is way more than the cost of building a highway. It also examines the alternatives to destructive development. This article has useful statistics, but is technical for those who are not familiar with deforestation terms.

Stewart, Douglas Ian. After The Trees: Living on the Transamazon Highway. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994. Discusses why colonists take part in deforestation and how dangerous that logging in the rainforest actually is. Discusses how clearing, erosion, and poor soil quality plays a major role in the deforestation of the tropical forest regions. More than eighty percent of the soil in the rainforest is infertile, which causes farmers to clear more land for agriculture purposes. Where the infertile soil exists is also were the biggest rainforest terror lies, the Transamazon Highway. This highway is to provide access to the nutrient rich soils that farmer's desire. Offers ideas on Swedish Techniques of soil replenishing. Tells the different soil classifications, and shows evidence that twenty five percent of the soil in the rainforest is infertile. Good book with useful real life accounts from the people that live their lives in the rainforests everyday.

What are the Underlying Causes of Deforestation. Dec. 1998. World Rainforest Movement. 10 Oct. 2004 <http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/indirect.html>. The majority of cases involving deforestation are caused by mining and oil exploitation, acid rain, and cattle raising. One of the most unheard but prominent deforestation problems is "poverty" or small-scale farmers. Ignorance is the number one reason for most of this deforestation. Most of the overproduction that occurs by these farmers is not for the poverty stricken people of this region, but for Northern countries that have very high consumption rates. Weapons are a major player in deforestation. Every dollar spent on weapons is a dollar to the wrong side of the balance of payments. For the military the hard to access forest poses a big problem, then this problem is taken to government officials and rules may be changed, or flexed for these military outfits. Useful web sites because it is from Uruguay were they not only witness deforestation everyday, but it may determine their livelihood.


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