Examining Threats to Biodiversity and Rainforest Conservation

This essay examines the threats facing biodiversity in rainforests worldwide. It identifies excessive poaching, illegal logging, and clearing of land for agricultural purposes as primary drivers of biodiversity loss. Excessive poaching, driven by profit, endangers numerous species, disrupting the rainforest ecosystem. Illegal logging for valuable trees like Mahogany destroys habitats and contributes to deforestation, while the clearing of land for agriculture, particularly for oil palm and soya production, further exacerbates the problem. The essay emphasizes the need for public education on conservation, stricter enforcement against illegal activities, and the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices to protect rainforest ecosystems and preserve biodiversity. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar essays and study tools to further their understanding of environmental science and conservation efforts.

Running head: BIODIVERSITY TO RAIN FOREST 1
Threats Facing Biodiversity to Rainforest
Name
Institution

BIODIVERSITY TO RAIN FOREST 2
Threats Facing Biodiversity to Rainforest
Biodiversity is very important because it ensures natural sustainability for all lives on
earth. Very many people depend on forests as a source of livelihood thus the loss of biodiversity
will directly affect the lives of everyone all over the world. Additionally, biodiversity is very
influential in realizing sustainable development goals. Rainforests all over the planet have been
faced with some threats that could lead to their extinction (Koh & Sodhi, 2010). It should be
noted that of all environmental calamities, extinction is the most tragic and irreversible one.
Below we will discuss some of the threats that face the biodiversity of rainforests worldwide.
Excessive Poaching
Excessive poaching done for the purpose of profit has put most animals at the risk of
extinction. Many poachers hunt animals for food or to sell as raw materials for some products.
For example, species like the Amazon River turtle and the Amazon Manatee are on the brink of
extinction due to poaching (Peres, Gardner, Barlow, Zuanon, Michalski, Lees & Feeley, 2010).
Reports indicate that at the Brazilian Amazon alone, the harvest of wildlife claims the lives of
close to 23.5 million birds, mammals, and reptiles (Peres et al., 2010). Additionally, in Africa
apes and other animals are killed for bushmeat that is sold by the roadside.
Excessive poaching has caused damage to the ecosystem of the rainforest by eliminating
species that are key to the functioning of the system. Losing one single species could mean the
extinction of several other species. It is reported that the Sumatran elephants could become
extinct in the next fifty years due to the increasing rate at which they are poached for ivory.
Animals are sometimes very critical in the transportation of seeds and their extinction could

BIODIVERSITY TO RAIN FOREST 3
adversely affect the entire forest. Additionally, the extinction of some animals may lead to an
ecological imbalance that may negatively impact on trees.
The public should be educated on conservation and continued awareness regarding
excessive poaching (Peres et al., 2010). The government should also enforce rules against such
practices to deter the poachers from engaging in such activities.
Illegal Logging
Most loggers cut down tropical rainforests to gain access to more valuable trees like
Mahogany that is sold for timber or used to make furniture. Other trees are also cut down to
make other products like paper. Trees are important in the ecosystem of the rainforests because
they hold the soil together to prevent the soil from washing into rivers (Zakaria, Rajpar, Ozdemir
& Rosli 2016). Approximately, 600,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest have been
destroyed since 1970. Loggers make fortunes from these hardwoods but the money received is
short-lived due to the fact that there may only be around two to three commercially viable trees
in a large forest thus leading to their extinction (Zakaria et al., 2016). It is also important to note
that when felling a single tree the size of a Mahogany, other several small trees are crushed as
the Mahogany falls down. This leads to the destruction of the natural habitats of most animals.
One factor that has encouraged illegal logging is building roads through rainforests.
Illegal logging can be solved through the education of the residents that forests play a
vital role in the climatic conditions of several regions. Funding for the government can also be
increased for the protection of the forests and planting of new trees to promote biodiversity.
Clearing of Land for Agricultural Purposes

BIODIVERSITY TO RAIN FOREST 4
All over the world rainforests are being cleared to create room for agricultural purposes.
One of the agricultural activities that have taken center stage in recent years is the growth of the
oil palm tree (Wilcove & Koh, 2010). The production of palm oil is a very big business in
Malaysia to the point that it has been received the title of “World’s Fastest Rainforest Destroyer”
according to the Guinness Book of Records. Livestock can also be responsible for the
destruction of rainforests because they are fed on a plant known as Soya (Zakaria et al., 2016).
Intensive farming of animals has led to the destruction of rainforests to create space for planting
the Soya plant thus threatening biodiversity.
The best solution to this problem is by introducing crops and livestock that will not
require large plantations which may quickly exhaust the available land and thus protect the
delicate ecosystem and preserve the biodiversity of the rainforests.

BIODIVERSITY TO RAIN FOREST 5
References
Koh, L. P., & Sodhi, N. S. (2010). Conserving Southeast Asia’s imperiled biodiversity:
scientific, management, and policy challenges. Biodiversity and Conservation, 19(4),
913-917.
Peres, C. A., Gardner, T. A., Barlow, J., Zuanon, J., Michalski, F., Lees, A. C., ... & Feeley, K. J.
(2010). Biodiversity conservation in human-modified Amazonian forest
landscapes. Biological Conservation, 143(10), 2314-2327.
Wilcove, D. S., & Koh, L. P. (2010). Addressing the threats to biodiversity from oil-palm
agriculture. Biodiversity and conservation, 19(4), 999-1007.
Zakaria, M., Rajpar, M. N., Ozdemir, I., & Rosli, Z. (2016). Fauna Diversity in Tropical
Rainforest: Threats from Land-Use Change. In Tropical Forests-The Challenges of
Maintaining Ecosystem Services while Managing the Landscape. InTech.