AmericaLatina

What is deforestation?

It is the clearing of forests on a massive scale. The trees that are cut down typically are not replaced with the natural growth of new trees or the manual replanting of new trees.

Why does this happen?

Forests are cleared out for various reasons. Local economy, agriculture and the need to feed one’s family
are a few of the biggest reasons for deforestation. However, deforestation can occur unintentionally. For example, through the natural occurrence of wildfires and overgrazing which prevent the growth of trees.

How does deforestation affect the environment?

It affects the environment in many negative ways. First of all, seventy percent of the Earth’s animals and plants live in forests. Therefore, without their natural habitat most of these organisms cannot survive
outside of it. Deforestation is connected with climate change. The top of a forest is called a canopy. When part of the canopy is missing, the heat that would normally be stored beneath it escapes leading to extremes in temperature. Also, if part of the canopy is missing, the sun will dry up the normally moist dirt creating a dry desert. Forests hold significant amounts of carbon dioxide and again when the trees are cut down, this gas escapes into the atmosphere causing climate changes.

How can we manage this problem?

Since we cannot simply just stop cutting down trees altogether, there a couple alternatives that would make a difference. First, when trees are cut down they ought to be replaced with equal numbers of new ones. Currently, this ratio very unbalanced. Second, eliminate clear-cutting which is the method of logging that removes all trees from a certain area of a forest.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/

Pantanal Deforestation

Photograph by
Nicole Duplaix

Token trees dot
Brazil’s Pantanal wetland where dense forest used to stand. Considered the
world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal is an ecological paradise that covers
54,000 square miles (140,000 square kilometers) in Brazil, Bolivia, and
Paraguay, and supports thousands of animal species.

Photo source: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rainforest-deforestation/

Why is deforestation an important topic regarding Latin America?

When we talk about deforestation and Latin America it is in reference to tropical rain forests versus the forests of the whole world. In this context, Brazil holds the largest area of continuous rain forest in the world, about one third. Consequently, this rain forest is extremely rich in biodiversity. This is one reason preserving this rain forest is one of the most important environmental issues today. (http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20brazil.htm)
Another reason can be attributed to the aforementioned consequences of carbon dioxide that is released in the atmosphere when deforestation occurs. On a larger scale, 49 percent of Latin America and the Caribbean’s land is covered by forest according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations “State of the World’s Forests” 2011 issue. (http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2000e/i2000e01.pdf, p.17-21) The point to remember is that Latin America holds a significant amount of the world’s forests. Therefore, it becomes a global issue affecting all people when forests are being eliminated because we all suffer the consequences whether we are five miles or five thousand miles away.

As of right now, Ecuador is said to be in the state of chaos.  Last year Quito,also one of the cities with the highest violence rate, was on lockdown for the absurd amount of violent events that took place. During the police protest their President Rafael Correa was hospitalized from being hit by bottles. Along with that event there were many reports on fires loots and your general violence.

From all of this, Ecuador had stated that they would be cutting benefits for the state workers nationwide, this including police officers and troops. During the time, before he was hospitalized by the bottles being thrown at him, of the protest it was said that President Rafael Correa tried to talk with the protestors but instead of listening they “shouted him down.”  It is said that Ecuador police officers have many outstanding responsibilities, one of them being public safety. If it was one of their “outstanding responsibilities” why are they protesting making the violence rate increase and why are the homicide rates increasing? According to b10.com.ec , “The homicide rate in Ecuador has doubled in the last 20 years. In 1990 it was 10.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, in 2009 it was 18.7 and up to date the estimate suggests an increase to 20.”

I have found many articles on recent homicides, wondering where the special forces are and what they country is going to do about this issue. I have read that a women was shot at a stoplight, a merchant was killed right on the street, an assault of an assembly women and how a man was murdered all in the time span of about a week and a half. Now you must be thinking that well we live in America and those type of events unfortunately happen all the time, but Ecuador is ten times smaller than us and are apparently a bit more corrupt. When the incident at Quito accured, Iran had to come in and help because how else would Ecuador stay safe.

This country, along with many other countries, have issues they need to resolve. Their people are angry with the way things, as in economy and such, are being dealt with. With all of this chaos, it is interesting to see how or what other countries are doing to prevent violence. The United Nations is urging Ecuador to stop all of this violence. Ecuador needs to become one nation and solve this issue, otherwise it will go down hill.

Here is a video clip of “Repudiating Violence in Ecuador”:

Repudiating Violence in Ecuador

Deforestation is an issue affecting areas in many parts of the world, including Costa Rica. Approximately 20,000 acres of land are deforested annually and recent studies indicate that only a quarter of the original forest cover in Costa Rica is still standing. Half of the land is under the protection of national parks and biological reserves, whereas the other half is comprised of indigenous and forest reserves, wildlife refuges, and privately owned plots of land. Despite the creation of many national parks and protected areas, Costa Rica still has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates (3,9%/year in 2007). According to Planeta, approximately 11% of Costa Rican land has been set aside for national parks; that is the equivalent of the US declaring all of Texas and Oklahoma as nature preserves.

Pristine Rainforest in Manuel Antonios National Park (Photo Credit: A. Vlack)

Many rainforests in Central and South America have been eradicated to create areas for cattle farming, which supply cheap beef to North America, China and Russia. It is estimated that for each pound of beef produced, 200 square feet of rainforest is destroyed. This subsistence strategy is known as slash and burn farming and is believed to account for approximately half of all rainforest destruction. The problem with clearing rainforests is that the soil quality is poor, and without the vegetation it becomes dry very quickly. The grasses often die after only a few years, leaving the land to resemble a crusty desert. As a result, cattle farmers then have to relocate and destroy more rainforest to create new, productive cattle pastures.

Logging in a Costa Rican Rainforest

Logging is believed to be the second largest cause of deforestation because timber companies often cut down mahogany and teak trees to sell to other countries for furniture production. It has become a problem because current laws are too lenient on land that is not deemed a national territory, and recent amendments to forestry laws makes it even easier to obtain logging permits. The forests are also cut down to create vast mono-crop plantations where bananas, palm oil, pineapple, sugar cane, tea, coffee and other agricultural products are grown. Similarly, the soil is not able to sustain crops for long, and after a few years farmers are forced to cut down more rainforest to create new plantations.

 Flooding in San Juan, Costa Rica as a Result of Deforestation

The effects of deforestation can be devastating. Not only does it rid the land of its natural aesthetic, there are also consequences such as erosion that are damaging to the environment. When an area is cleared, the soil under the surface is essentially stripped of the roots that provided the foliage with structure and support. Without this support system, the force of water and gravity causes the land to move and as a result creates flooding, desertification, river sedimentation, long-term hydroelectric shortages, loss of wildlife diversity, and the depletion of wood resources.

For Latin America there are many upsides, but there are also many struggles that cannot go unrecognized.  One of the hardest struggles in much of Latin America is the issue of Deforestation in the area, specifically of the Amazon Rainforest.  To those unfamiliar with the subject, Deforestation is defined as the cutting down and removal of all or most trees in a forested area and for the Amazon Rainforest, the issue has raised the most concern.   The Deforestation problem has been said to be decreasing over the last 6 years, but according to “Science Daily” the downward trend has stopped this current year (2011).  On top of the progress stopping this year, deforestation in Latin America has already dated back to even the early 1900s, when the French Government began building the Panama Canal, so it may be difficult to catch up.

While removing trees here and there may not sound all that harmful, it truly is abuse to the lands.  It is harmful to plants, animals, humans, renewable sources, the economy, and even the earth itself.  The obvious harms are the stripping of plants from rich soil and animals their living homes and needs, but what one might not know is the role forests play in regulating climate.   According to “British Academics,” Deforestation in Latin America accounts for almost 53% of the emitted carbon dioxide in the atmospheric air.  To put that number into perspective, it is claimed to have the highest rate of emitting carbon in the world from logging.  By 2050, environmental experts say that any diseases emitted from the intense deforestation in Latin America will spread worldwide.  Even predicted are rises in crop diseases and pest, economic activities severely depleted, and draught and famine will be spread throughout tropical areas, like the once rich Amazon Rainforest.  Deforestation has already diminished much of the water sources in Latin America, and the ecosystem is said to continually get hurt.  The risk of harm from Deforestation has risen so high that even a 4.7 million euro project has arisen in South America called “AMAZALERT”.  A program to forecast what may be happening in the Amazon over the next few decades, and hopefully able to give warnings ahead of time to prevent degradation of the land.

The activity of cutting trees down and preparing for timber in use of profit is called logging.  This is often done illegally in South America as a business.  Logging has become one of the current most well-known forms of rainforest degradation and destruction of today.  In the 1990s, after depleting most of their own stocks, Asian logging companies have moved into northeastern South America to perform logging, often illegally.  Business will cut down massive amounts of forests, killing living areas for plants, animals, and important insects, all to make profits from the timber.  This act of deforestation is an ongoing issue today.

With such harms done from Deforestation in Latin America, you’d expect it to be easy to stop, but with a massive amount of logging companies in Latin America and outside countries’ economic interest in timber, this dangerous issue may sadly never be resolved despite all the efforts.

You may not be able to reach foreign governments and stop deforestation all at once, but there are a few little things you can do to aid in preventing deforestation.   Click on the link below for a list of things you can do to help if you are interested.

**Things you can do to help stop deforestation**

        Latin America Music has a way to get everyone’s  attention you can say you like the  sound and beat. Or  a good song comes on so you begin to dance chances are that it has also been to Latin America. Their music is a lot more diverse then Americas you can hear anything from evanescence to some band that I have not heard of.   The one event that brings all of those together is Rock in Rio.

              There are four stages their and it goes for a week with around 100 bands coming there each year as you look around the site you will notice on the top left corner are  the 3 languages that page has to translate to for people to read it. It has Spanish Portuguese and English.  This shows use that it is diverse and that what we have been talking in class is right.  If you look on the chart you will see that some of the groups you may know with others being a group or band that you have not even heard of that just makes the diversity even greater and their culture more knowledgeable then Americas overall. The two biggest music industries in Brazil are Som Livre.   The industry started 1969 by Rede Globo.   It was originally brought up to commercialize the soap opera industry but later it changed to more of a music industry in general.  The feel and look at Rock in Rio is like no other to get you the total feel of it This is Metallica playing at this year’s Rock in Rio.  I suggest starting at 5 minutes because you get to see the stage more and get more of a feel on how it actually is there.  If you don’t want to watch it all at 24 minutes going to 25 gives a big overview of it from above. Som Livre has bought bands such as Lulu Santos her stage name was Luiz Maurício Pragana dos Santos. She is considered one of the greatest singers and guitarists in Brazilian rock. In 1986 she came up with the song “A Cura” in 1986 wish eventually became the most played song in FM radio of the year.  The next company that is big in Brazil is Sony which is also big in the U.S.A.  They have given you artist such as Beyoncé and Foo Fighters. Sony started their company in1929 and has eventually grown to have offices in 42 countries. My friend Erika Prochet said the biggest difference between their music and Americas is that probably the beats our music has a special way to dance and most of the time, the lyric make sense.   If you go on the links and go around the sites you can see many differences between there music and ours not just the culture but there diversity compared to ours is. The main difference was the diversity they would know a lot of the bands in the U.S.A compared to use not knowing any of theirs. This overall blog post was to get the users informed more about music and get a better diversity of it not just what they hear in America. To also get them aware of what   kind of music concerts are out there if you ever visit Brazil you may want to go there and watch it to get more of a feel of what their music is all about.    Their music such a bigger diversity just like if you go there you will not just meet people who speak   I hope you like this blog and I hope it has   drawn you to going out and listening to their music and maybe even catching a concert in Brazil to see how it is different compared to ours. Thank you for reading adios, Adeus.

                Latin America is commonly known for its pure rain forests and all of the different species that inhabit this area. Many scientists consider this region one of the most biodiversity spots in the world, from the Andean Plateaus to the Amazon rainforest and Yasuni Park. Unfortunately, this rich land is being destroyed at an extremely rapid pace in years past and the deforestation issue is continuing to intensify.

                Deforestation is known as taking away and cutting down forests in order to convert this land into another use. This process is often long-term and permanently damaging to the region, and the areas surrounding. The country suffering the most is Ecuador, who has underwent 1.8 percent annual loss of rich forest, which is the largest loss in all of Latin America. To comparatively see its drastic loss, the world as a whole only suffers 0.1 percent. This pressing problem seems to be caused for several reasons, one being cattle ranching and soy bean farming that is seen specifically in Brazil. Since Brazil has transformed into the main source for meat imports at a 75%, the cattle ranching problem is not a surprise. Along with cattle ranching, Brazil is now equal with the United States in leading soybean exporting, which creates a high demand for arable lands that are found once cutting down forests.

                Another reason that people are cutting down forests in Latin America is associated with the drug war dilemma going on. Mainly in Columbia, forests are being destroyed in order to grow drugs such as; cocaine, marijuana and opium. The areas where this is being done is often hidden deep in the remaining forests, which is why there’s a possibility there is more deforestation going on than what is known. Since the drug war is far from being over, this will remain to be an issue that will have to be monitored more efficiently.

                In order to monitor this prompt deforestation, Latin America considered taking several different approaches. One of the approaches being that it is a requirement that 80% of the land in the Amazon be protected and untouchable to anybody. Sadly, recent debates have arisen and this percentage may be reduced because of conflict of interest. Since the dispute occurred, many farmers believed that they would be given more leeway for any deforestation that occurred since the percentage was possibly going to decrease. Actions like this, is directly contributing to the reason why deforestation in Latin America is escalating rapidly and having no stop in sight.

                An area once known for its beautiful rainforest and rich land is slowly being destroyed into land used for cattle ranching, drug use, farming, and oil and mining industries.  This issue must be halted because as the deforestation in Latin America continues to escalate it will soon grow to affect the whole world.

Latin America is portrayed as a region that is struggling to grow. You might have learned about their struggles in the past about their negative growth and increased poverty throughout the region. This allowed International Monetary Fund (IMF) to impose very harsh rules on the region’s economy. What this allowed was for foreign agencies and governments, such as the United States and the European Union, to take control of the most successful businesses and reap their benefits. What this did was make the poverty levels sky rocket. When the economic crisis hit the United States and most of the world, Latin America was hardly affected. Latin America has been growing at a steady rate since 2003. They have managed to have booming exports, rising imports, and large scale poverty reduction while the rest of the world is some sort of recession. The largest thing that Latin America is trying to change is the number of people who are in poverty. Brazil has managed to reduce the number of poor people by 30 million. Venezuela and Argentina have increased their minimum wage, pensions, and increased welfare payments for the ones who need it the most. Since Latin America has been doing so well over the past years compared to the rest of the world people are starting to invest their businesses to the region. According to Alfredo Coutino “Latin American countries have learned from their past mistakes and have corrected the imbalance while bringing inflation under control.” They are not completely unaffected by the bad economies in Europe and the United States, but the new policies that they put in affect make outside impacts less affective.

One of the countries in Latin America that is growing is Colombia. After decades of being known as one of the worst countries to live in has become one of the hottest investment destinations in Latin America. There are so many foreign nationals coming to the country the country is requiring students to study Mandarin and English. It was reported that in the second quarter of 2011 the Colombian economy expanded by 5.2% y/y. Now that Colombia has become a safe place to live, households hare starting to spend their money they have saved for years. Private spending has gone up 80% just in the second quarter of 2011. This is also helping the country by being able to develop their larger cities. The construction in major cities in Colombia has expanded by 8.8% in the second quarter alone. A growing financial sector is also helping the private spending of families. There is some concern that the banking system is being affected by the indirect exposure to the shadow banking system. Another big reason why Colombia is not affect by the economy of other countries is because of their mining. Colombia has a lot of mineral deposits, from precious metals to oil fields. The reason these are being found and used now is because they are mostly located in remote regions of the jungle. During the civil war it wasn’t safe for anyone to go into these remote areas. Billions of dollars are being poured into Colombia for these resources.

For being in such poverty for the longest time, when the recession hit the rest of the world, it was time for Latin America to capitalize. It is about time that they use their own resources to help improve their own countries. For the longest time all their resources were being taken away from other foreign countries. They are now able to get out of the hands of other countries and the IMF. There are only good things that can come out of the wellbeing of Latin America.

The “big five” food exporters are United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the European Union. As of recently, Brazil has become the first tropical agriculture giant to challenge the dominance of the “big five.” Brazil is able to compete because it is the world’s fifth-largest country by geographical area and the largest in terms of arable land. With advancements in scientific research, Brazil’s agribusiness is growing. Even though Brazil is experiencing an economic boom there are setbacks. Brazil’s advancements in research are needed to give it a chance to compete in world markets and provide food for locals.

Four decades ago Brazil’s agribusiness didn’t have professional management, capital markets or new technology. Brazil feared it wouldn’t be able to import enough food and lacked in exports to the rest of the world. As of recently Brazil is experiencing growth in agribusiness. Even though Brazil uses only a fraction of its land, the country produces a highly diverse array of agricultural goods (cotton, soybean, sugarcane, corn, potatoes, etc.). Unlike in Europe and the United States where large amounts of subsidies are granted to help farmers, Brazil has taken a different approach. It started through expanding domestic production through scientific research, not subsidies. With no subsidies, Brazil’s farmers are competing with the world market prices. The research is creating plant varieties to adapt to the region’s soil and climate. Brazil is having a lot of success by encouraging small farms and organic practices.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, there are 20 agribusiness companies in Brazil’s so-called billionaires’ club, where five years ago there were the so-called ‘A,B,C,D’ multinational trading companies—Archer Daniel Midlands (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus. Investors are also aiding in the process by giving money to help research. With Brazil’s abundance of land and water, farms in Brazil are much larger than those in the United States. With new technological advancements on the present farms of Brazil, their crop will increase to the point they are producing as much as any of the “top five.”

Even though Brazil is growing economically it is having setbacks. Brazil has deficiencies in infrastructure, including poor transportation and storage facilities, and high port costs, which setback the agribusiness. Other challenges include the need to import fertilizers, environmental pressures and labor issues. These are costing the country more money. Another set back is the 10.75% interest rate, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. With banks reluctant to service high risk sectors, some corporate farms have sought backing from foreign investment funds. Not only money but there is continual deforestationto the Amazon. On Mongabay.com they show in 1988 there were 8,127 square miles of deforestation. As of 2009 and 2010 the forests were under 3,000 square miles. Even though agriculture has destroyed the Amazon, their new technologies and higher quality will allow them to produce more crops in the land they already have. Growth will come through better use of existing crop and pasture land, not just the opening of new areas. With the new technology, less land will have to be deforested.

Although Brazil is experiencing setbacks, these are minor to the advancements Brazil has already made. Over time Brazil will continue to grow and become one of the “top five.”

By Jesse Mancuso

The declared drug war in Mexicois approaching its fifth year, and every year the violence by drug cartels and traffickers gets worse.  As reported by El Universal, since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and declared the war on drugs, about 23,000 young people, age 15-29, have been recruited into drug cartels.  In 2008 there were 1,638 people from the age 15-29 who died of suspected drug related attacks.  In 2009 there were 2,511 dead, and in 2010 it continued to rise to 3,741 deaths due to violent attacks.  As a result of the enormous increase in deaths, violent homicide has surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of deaths among young people in Mexico.  The most recent drug related attack occurred in August when gunman raided a casino in Monterrey, Mexico’s wealthiest city, and set the place on fire killing 52 people.  It is assumed that the attack was a result of the local war between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas who are seeking control of the city.  President Calderon has stated the attack on the casino was a result of one main factor, “the movement and sale of drugs to the United States.”  The Mexican president continued to say that:

“Part of the tragedy that Mexicans are living has to do with the fact that we are alongside the biggest consumer of drugs in the world, and at the same time, the biggest vendor of weapons in the world, which pays billions of dollars every year to the criminals who supply them with narcotics.

These … dollars end up arming and organizing the criminals, and places them in their service and against the citizens.

This is why it is my duty, also, to make a call to the society, the Congress, and the government of the United States. I ask them to reflect on this tragedy that we Mexicans and many other countries in Latin America are living, as a consequence, in great part, to the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate.”

The issue of violence and the drug cartels is becoming an ever growing problem in Mexico.  It is affecting the Mexican community in many ways.  Thousands have lost their lives and families during the war on drugs.  The war on drugs has also influenced younger people’s views towards security and punishments.  According to a survey by the National Autonomous University of Mexico in August, young people from the age of 15-19 years old were the largest group of the sample population to approve of the use of torture and the death penalty to receive information and punish the cartels.  In June the Global Commission on Drug Policy issued a report urging governments to decriminalize drug consumption and even the legalization of certain drugs, namely marijuana.  The report came about from the current strategies in the war on drugs resulting in more than 38,000 deaths in the past 4 and half years in Mexico and the over $1 billion in aid received from the United States.  However, President Felipe Calderon and the Mexican government have many times stated they to do not agree with the legalization of drugs, but are still open to debate on the issue.

Besides the last two years, now, the annual Mexican migration into America has been increasingly larger. Legal migration or not, the hope of the “American Dream” still lies in the hearts and minds of thousands of Mexicans as they make a treacherous journey into America. As data shows, from the article “A Right to Move-and to Stay Home”, by Joseph Nevins, the number of migrants dropped from over 500,000 in 2004, to just around 100,000 this year. (https://nacla.org/blog/2011/7/13/right-move—and-stay-home)The large drop-off is a direct result of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama efforts to put a stop to the illegal migration, but another underlying and even more substantial factor is the economic boom Mexico is experiencing.  Now, one might wonder what is powering and heightening the Mexican economy?

The American and European economies are facing enormous deficits, while a surprising Mexico is powerfully boosting ahead economically. According to “Latam economies race ahead”, by Simon Romero, the Mexican government claims that they are out outpacing America. Over the first quarter, the Mexican economy has already grown 4.3% and expecting to rise to 5% by the end of the year, while the U.S is projected to only grow .2% in the next year.  Mexico’s growth is driven mainly by manufacturing and assembly line type of employment. As Randall C. Archibold explains in the article “Despite Violence, US Firms Grow in Mexico”, “TV sets are being assembled, car parts boxed up and electronic widgets soldered together in the large manufacturing plants here known as maquiladoras. The result is a boomlet in jobs in some of Mexico’s hardest-hit cities.” Jobs in the manufacturing field grew 8.2%, amounting to over 1.8 million workers. As a result of this burst of industrial business, Mexico decreased their unemployment and they are keeping inflation to a minimum. Manufacturing is fueling the economic growth, which in return has increase the middle class of Mexicans.(https://nacla.org/blog/2011/7/19/mexican-economy-booming)

Mexico has generally been split between the “rich” and the “poor” with an almost non-existent middle class. However, with the recent economic growth, the middle class of Mexico has also enlarged. The increase in the middle class is another factor that is leading to the success of the economy. With a larger middle class, more hard-earned money is circulated throughout Mexico’s own businesses. For instance, the sale of domestic goods, whether it’s buying food from a local restaurant or buying typical suburban style cloths, has risen. The larger middle class is substantial for a steady exchange of goods and services, which keeps money flow within their economy. A more sustained middle class has proven to sustain the Mexican economy, while raising their gross domestic production of goods and services.(http://www.latinamericanpost.com/index.php?mod=seccion&secc=2&conn=6210)

In conclusion, the strides Mexico has made industrially have stimulated their economy encouragingly in the past year. Compared to the usual economic powers, such as the U.S. and Britain, Mexico has had a larger growth rate than both. As a result, the Mexican middle class has also expanded and therefore shortening the large gap between the rich and poor. At the same time, the middle class’s higher incomes infuse more money back into the economy, increasing their national GDP.