3.1 Damnation, Deforestation, and the Impact of Expansion

Criteria

The World's Most Endangered Forests

The most critically endangered rain forests in the world are compiled in the chart below. In a class discussion post please choose ONE of these endanger regions and compile a brief summary on the discussion page that contains answers to all of the following questions:

  • What country or countries is the rainforest in?
  • How or why has the rainforest been threatened by development?
  • What types of development are in place?
  • What are some of the SPECIFIC species of plant and animals are threatened (2-3) and how will that cause future problems?
  • How are the local people dealing with the changes?
  • What are some of the steps that are being taken to slow down or end the deforestation?
  • Please also include a map in the post so we can identify the location.

Essential Question(s)

  • How do the declining acres of forest on the planet provide a clear example of global consumption and a distinct danger for the future?
  • How do the reduced levels of the world's rivers pose a risk to fish populations as well as the general environment?
  • What are some of the most endangered forests on the planet and what are the consequences of their demise?
  • What are the most endangered rivers in the world and what will be the consequences of their reductions or elimination?

Slash and Burn Agriculture-Watch Balancing Costa Rica's Farming With Preservation with Nature on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Forest Canopy Studies and Barbie- How to do Science and Involve Girls

Green Belt Movement and Wangari Maathai

The World's Most Endangered Forests

The most critically endangered rain forests in the world are compiled in the chart below. In a class discussion post please choose ONE of these endanger regions and compile a brief summary on the discussion page that contains answers to all of the following questions:

  • What country or countries is the rainforest in?
  • How or why has the rainforest been threatened by development?
  • What types of development are in place?
  • What are some of the SPECIFIC species of plant and animals are threatened (2-3) and how will that cause future problems?
  • How are the local people dealing with the changes?
  • What are some of the steps that are being taken to slow down or end the deforestation?
  • Please also include a map in the post so we can identify the location.

Table source:[128]

Fish Canons and Restoration of River Valleys

From World Wildlife Federation

The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River, on the border of the U.S. and Mexico, often fails to reach the Gulf of Mexico. Its strength sapped by dams and irrigation works diverting water to farmers’ fields and city water supplies.

The Indus, the Nile, the Murray-Darling, the Colorado... these are once mighty rivers that now struggle to touch their oceans and seas.

In fact, water extraction is only one of the daunting challenges that a river faces as it makes its way to its terminus.

    • Dams and channelization destroy habitats, cut rivers off from their floodplains, and alter the natural ebb and flow on which a river’s plants and animals depend.
    • Invasive species crowd a river's banks, driving out their native fishes, and choking their courses.
    • Pollution fouls their waters, sometimes turning life-giving rivers into serious threats to human health.
    • And climate change threatens to alter all the rules that rivers have lived by for thousands of years.

Fact: river basins are threatened and that threatens us

Rivers basins are the way nature gathers and delivers water for human use.

River basins provide electricity generation, transport, recreation and tourism, and valuable but often unaccounted flood and drought regulation, sediment and nutrient retention, and habitat for diverse fauna and flora.

Life that lives in and around these river basins is an important source of food, income, and livelihood. It is little surprise that studies have estimated the economic value of river basins in the billions of dollars.

We need to recognise the threats river basins face in order to encourage dialogue, provoke debate, and urge governments and other stakeholders to take action before it is too late.

The top 10 rivers at risk

To do this, WWF has selected the top 10 major rivers that, in our view, either

    1. already suffer most grievously under the weight of these threats, or
    2. are bracing for the heaviest impacts.

WWF assessed the 6 most important threats based on their known impact on roughly 225 river basins.

These are:

    • dams and infrastructure,
    • excessive water extraction,
    • climate change,
    • invasive species,
    • over-fishing, and
    • pollution.

Focusing our analysis on watersheds with high ecological importance and those affecting large human populations, with a view to continental representation, the 10 most endangered rivers emerge as the:

10 Most Endangered Rivers In The World

Tropical Deforestation Powerpoint I (PPT 2.35 MB)