Human Impact on Ecosystems
Human activity can impose far-reaching effects on an
ecosystem and one example of this is deforestation.
Land clearing - Brazil
Deforestation occurs when the world's forests are chopped down, burned, or
destroyed. This is done to clear land for to meet growing human needs such as
grazing animals and growing crops but also for commercial logging purposes
where the wood is sold as timber or pulp. This worldwide problem occurs most
often in tropical forests that are situated in relatively poor countries such
as Brazil that hosts the Amazon rainforest. For more information see our
factfile on Tropical Rainforests.
As earth’s human population grows, the more fuel, water, food and we need. But
in many cases, it’s ecosystems that suffer from our growing needs. Therefore we
should do everything we can to avoid causing further damage to the environment
through sustainable development. Sustainable development is all about a greener
planet in both developed and developing countries by effective protection of
the environment, recognising the needs of everyone and being more energy
friendly.
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