Brazil declares new protected area larger than Delaware

Meera Singh

Author: Morgan Erickson-Davis

Published: October 23, 2014

Link: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/1023-gfrn-morgan-brazil-declares-federal-reserve.html

Summary: A few days ago, the Brazilian government created a new rainforest reserve, called Alto Maues, in the Amazon. The reserve is larger than the U.S. state of Delaware. Deforestation and development of roads are banned in this area, which will allow many endangered species in the forest to make a recovery. The main goal of the reserve is to lower greenhouse gas emissions. For most countries, the majority of their greenhouse gas emissions is a result of burning fossil fuels, but for Brazil, the high deforestation rate is the main cause. When trees are cut down, carbon stored in them is released into the atmosphere. Between 2001 and 2012, about 34 million hectares of forest were lost to deforestation. Over the past decade, Brazil has made some successful efforts to reduce this. In fact, the efforts saved about 3.2 billion tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere--the equivalent of stopping the use of cars in the U.S.A for three years. However, there were still high amounts of trees being cut down. For instance, about 360,000 hectares of forest were removed from the Triunfo do Xingo Environmental Protection Area between 2001 and 2012. Hopefully, the deforestation ban in the new Alto Maues reserve will be more successful in reducing Brazil's deforestation and carbon emission rates. 

Connection: This article has a strong connection to chapter 36, part of our first unit of study, which included chemical cycles and conservation. First of all, the banning of development of roads and deforestation connects to conservation. The reduction in habitat loss and habitat fragmentation in Brazil will help the endangered species recover and continue to live in the area. The rainforest is a "hot spot" of biodiversity, so protecting it helps protect biodiversity. Also, the high deforestation rates demonstrate how humans are altering the carbon cycle. By cutting down so many trees, for example in Brazil, we release very large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Since carbon is a greenhouse gas, it traps heat in the earth's atmosphere and warms the climate, altering it faster than Earth's organisms can adapt. Global warming needs to be slowed down as soon as possible, and Brazil's creation of the Alto Maue reserve is a great way to approach this. Conservation, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and humans' effects on these things were detailed in Chapter 36, providing a connection from this article to our units of study.