EXTRACTING ENERGY RESOURCES FROM THE TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

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The Amazon rainforests are being exploited for many resources and uses including agriculture, exotic animal and plant trade, mining, timber, and energy materials (natural gas and oil) extraction. All these activities are related to deforestation and specie s loss. In order for any of these activities to be utilised wisely, conservation ideologies must be adopted and implemented. There are conservation projects in place across the world to protect the rainforests, but it often seems that industry may be a step ahead or behind, depending on your perspective. They are a step ahead where the activities have already done a lot of damage to an area, and a step behind in implementing sustainable practices. Some industries such as agriculture and timber can be sustainable and renewable, if conducted in an environmentally friendly way. Mining and energy resource extraction, too, can be sustainable over a number of years. However, by their very nature they are not renewable resources. ENERGY RESOURCES Fossil fuels, natural gas and oil, are a result of hundreds of millions of years of accumulated decaying organic materials (plants and animals) that have been subject to biological and chemical reactions. These natural processes have converted life to energy sources, which can be used to power nearly anything. This process is in line with Albert Einsteins theory that energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed, they just change form. The global population is growing very fast and nearly every human activity in the industrialised world requires energy in one form or

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another to function. Nearly every ecosystem on Earth has been explored to find and extract energy resources. The tropical rainforests have not escaped the exploration and extraction processes. TROPICAL COUNTRIES WITH RAINFOREST OIL DRILLING Oil extraction is occurring in tropical rainforests in at least 19 countries all over the world, including: Angola Bolivia Brazil Brunei Cameroon Colombia Ecuador Equatorial Guinea Gabon Indonesia Malaysia Mexico Nigeria Papua New Guinea Peru Republic of Congo Thailand Venezuela Vietnam Source: Mongabay

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These countries grant oil-drilling rights to many foreign companies in exchange for profit sharing and local jobs. Many of these countries are impoverished and need to use their natural resources to help the economy. As a result, the governments are allowing access to their natural resources to support their economy and people. However, Ecuador had a different solution. ECUADOR SUSPENDS OIL EXTRACTION In 2010, the Ecuadorian government agreed to suspend oil extraction activities in Yasuni National Park, a one million hectare rainforest. Yasuni Park is considered to be one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. In exchange for $3.6B from various international government sources, the Ecuadorian government will not extract oil from the rainforest for ten years. This concept is similar in scope to selling carbon credits. However, this is a term-limit contract, not a long-term or permanent agreement. Perhaps, suspensions and term-limit offsets may become popular and acceptable practices in the future to promote conservation and reduce tropical rainforest deforestation.