TAN YAN LYN

Deforestation

Sustainability Of Natural Resources

Deforestation
Life cannot be sustained without environmental destruction! However, the exploitation of natural resources from the forests, especially the Amazon forest, should be regulated and minimized to ensure the sustainability of natural resources!

Done by Tan Yan Lyn (31) 211

Deforestation story:
One day, Mr. Barbuda, the CEO of a soya bean company visited the forest to see how his plantation in the forest was doing. On that same day, Mr. Marge, a logger for a local company, was logging in the forest. Mr. Apu, the tribal leader of the Awa tribe was also in the forest. As Mr. Barbuda and Mr. Marge ventured further into the forest, Mr. Apu caught sight of them. He recognized them as the people who were deforesting, in his forest

and endangering his tribe, and walked up to confront them.

SECTION 1

Mr. Barbuda was shocked by Mr. Apus sudden confrontation and asked:
Who are you and what do you want?

Mr. Apu replied angrily:

I am the Tribal Chief Apu. I am here to ask you not to deforest anymore. The forest is our home and the trees provide us with food, shelter and medicine. Without the rainforest, our way of life will be lost forever. The wildlife and animals, which are our main source of food, are dying due to deforestation, leaving my tribal mates hungry and starving. You take away the trees which I depend on, kill so many of my people, and destroyed such a large part of my habitat! Where are we supposed to live if you cut down all the trees?

Figure one

1. Tribal Chief of Indigenous tribe Awa, one of the most threatened tribes in Brazil, who has much knowledge about the importance of rainforests because of his friend who is an environmentalist

Because of you loggers, my tribe is near extinction! Already 550 of my people died and 282 of them were murdered in 2010, and yet you continue to destroy and take away our habitat and our trees, which are our source of livelihood! This is a serious sin against nature! I cannot allow you to take away my livelihood or cut down any more trees and endanger my tribe.

After hearing what Mr. Apu had said, Mr Marge said:

I am Mr. Marge, working as a logger under Loggers International Company. It is my job to cut down trees. If I stop cutting down trees, I will lose my job and not have enough money to feed my family. Furthermore, logging provides timber, which is used for many of our needs like constructing houses, making furniture, making paper, and building infrastructure. Besides, logging provides people who are unemployed with jobs. It provides around 66000 direct jobs and 137000 indirect jobs. Hence, logging increases the employment rate in Brazil. Hence we can see that logging and deforestation is essential to sustain our way of life, as it benets us in an economically as well as socially. In short, logging generates revenue, reduces unemployment, and provides essential materials.

SECTION 2

Mr Barbuda said:
I am Mr. Barbuda, owner of Beanie International Soya Bean Plantation. Deforestation is practical, not only does the wood cut down provide essential materials; it also creates land to grow cash crops like the soya bean. There is an increase in demand of soya beans over the past few years, as millions of customers buy soya beans from us everyday, so we need to deforest to make more land to build more plantations to meet this demand. Hence, for subsistence and to meet daily needs, we have to convert land used unproductively to be used as agricultural land instead. Also, logging promotes economical growth and generates revenue, as loggers earn around US$33000 a year. Hence, the economic benet of deforestation largely surpasses its ecological damage.

SECTION 3

Mr. Apu was upset that the world cared about money more than the environment, hence he said:

Do you think you can keep deforesting to get more land? Soon, you will have cut down all the forests, and there will be no more trees left. In the long run, resources from the forests will still be depleted, and it will affect the ecology and your economy! Dont you know the importance of a sustainable use of the forest?

SAID MR. MARGE INDIGNANTLY:

Then, should we not deforest at all? What about the people whose jobs depend on deforestation like me? We wont stop deforesting, our way of life cannot be sustained without environmental destruction!

SAID MR. APU ANGRILY:

Then would you rather watch the worlds greatest rainforest disappear? Just because of your greed for money and conveniences? We do not ask for much, we only ask for your co-operation to respect our culture and minimize deforestation! Also, do you know that many settlers from your community join our tribe because of poverty, transmitting many diseases and polluting our rivers and forests? Cattle ranchers are also destroying and invading the Eastern fringe of our land!

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Many of our species have been lost due to deforestation!

I help to produce oxygen through photosynthesis and take in carbon dioxide in the air, reducing carbon in the air and the effects of global warming. I also help reduce soil erosion. Why do you cut me down?

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SECTION 4

Said Mr. Barbuda after hearing both of their perspectives

Yes, both of you are right. Although there is gain to made nancially and socially from deforestation, there are also disadvantages, especially for the physical environment, in deforestation. Hence, we should strike a balance between economic development and environmental destruction. To do this, the exploitation of natural resources to sustain life must be regulated and controlled to ensure to sustainability of natural resources. Although we can still deforest, we should minimize the number of trees cut down. Hence, to achieve this balance, rstly, we can start by reducing our purchasing of luxury items such as leather, so as to discourage deforestation for cattle farming. Also, to solve the problem of disease transmission and pollution of the land set aside for tribes, we should maintain tribal protected areas and set aside forested land for tribes such as so the way of life of the tribal people will be undisturbed.

THE END

And hence, these three men, the logger, the tribal chief, and the CEO, reached an agreement - to make sustainable use of the forest, and strike a balance between economical and social benets and environmental destruction.

Bibliography
Pictures: 1. http://www.greenbiz.com /blog/2012/11/29/do-weneed-s-word-yes-many-rea sons 2. http://danrouthphotograp hy.blogspot.sg/2012/02/lo gger-cont.html 3. http://allianceforajustsocie ty.org/issues/health-care/ health-reform-petition/ 4. http://www.freelancer.co. uk/marketplace/product/ Employment-Word-Cloud. html 5. http://theanimanics.wikia. com/wiki/Thaddeus_Plotz 6. http://thesustainabilitree.b logspot.sg/2013_07_01_arc hive.html Statistics and Sources: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Deforestation 2. http://environment.nation algeographic.com/environ ment/global-warming/def orestation-overview/ 3. http://www.livescience.co m/27692-deforestation.htm l 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Aw%C3%A1-Guaj%C3 %A1_people 5. http://www.globalpost.co m/dispatch/brazil/101019 /logging-amazon-rainfores t

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