Should the UN take control of the Amazon rainforest to stop the deforestation?

Question

Since the Amazon rainforest has been described as the lungs of the world, and is undoubtedly vitally important to all of us, is it time for the United Nations to take control of it to stop all that deforestation that is going on, to grow soya or graze cattle, and start a major programme of reforestation, before it is too late?

jimbob: ok, so not the UN. But then who? The Brazil government isn't stopping it is it?

Answer 1

Someone else should but please, not the U.N. They don't know what they're doing.

Answer 2

the amazon rainforest is the worlds largest ecosytem as i'm sure you know, and provides over half of the worlds water and oxygen. at the moment we are cutting it down....which is stupid.

have a look at the table on this page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Rainforest

and it is quite worrying that at the current rate, in two decades the Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by 40%. although the 2005-2006 year had a 41% drop in deforestation, this was the lowest figure since 1991.
Fires related to Amazonian deforestation have made Brazil one of the top greenhouse gas producers. Brazil produces about 300 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide a year; 200 million of these come from logging and burning in the Amazon.
Environmentalists have stated there is not only a biological incentive to protecting the rainforest, but also an economic one. One hectare in the Peruvian Amazon has been calculated to have a value of $6820 if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainably harvested); or $148 if used as cattle pasture.

In 2005 and 2006 parts of the Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in 100 years, and there are indications that 2007 was a third successive year of drought. A 23 July 2006 article in the UK newspaper The Independent reported Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought.Scientists at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savanna or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate.

According to the WWF, the combination of climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.






whatever we do needs to be done soon

Answer 3

Now, that's hysterical. I know your trying to come up with a solution, thinking of using the UN is a losing proposition. It is the most world wide corrupt organization in existence. Do some reading. In Dar-fur they were selling food shipped to the refugees to the rebels because the rebels had money !!! They've been accuse d of rape. I could go on and on.

The way to stop the deforestation in the Amazon is up to the Brazilian government.

You didn't learn in school how the USA has deforested America for natural resources since 1800? Strip mining in PA, IL, WV, etc. No different.

Answer 4

I think they should. The fact that a football pitch size of rainforest is being wiped out every second is awful, and a plant or animal species is also becoming extinct every second because of deforestation is truly dreadful. The rainforest contains many useful medicines that can save lives, and are vital to us.
Did you know that we (humans) have only tested 1% of the plants in the rainforest, meaning the cure for AIDS and cancer are probably out there somewhere!
If the UN don't take control soon, the rainforest will be destroyed completely with in the next 200years. Fact!

I may be 13 but I do care!
xxx

Answer 5

UN in charge of a sovereign countries resoureces? Are you crazy!

The UN has no justification to claim anything, why on earth would you want such a corrupt organization running anything! The only thing worse than a governement running (US or otherwise is to put the UN in charge!) Look how poorly the "Oil for Food Program" in Iraq, simply a joke!

The only people who could even claim that this is a good idea is naive 7th graders or communists!

Answer 6

Yes they should and not just the UN but the US and the European Union and any other country because the all we have left now is 20 % of the forest we originally started with and trees help with lowering CO2 levels which reduces the green house effect the logging companys should replant 2 trees for every 1 tree they cut down

Answer 7

I'm glad you pointed out the sources of deforestation- SOY AND CATTLE. NOT loggers.

I think the Brazilian government is the only one that can do anything. But its hard to stop slash and burn agriculture in the middle of nowhere.

Answer 8

I know, but abuse of rainforest is endemic in our society, have your checked your skin care products for palm oil, are you vegetarian?

The reality of this world is globalisation, market forces and supply and demand, that's the level we have to work on.

Answer 9

Maybe ,but the UN is probably as useless as the Brazilian government.

Answer 10

I feel we need to STOP deforestation in the first place then start replacing the lost trees.

Otherwise the loggers just have more trees to choose from!

Answer 11

I agree, but not just the Amazon - all the other forests as well.

These forests (and not the oil in the middle east) are truly worth fighting for.