Deforestation is one of the many problems the Earth is facing. In most cases trees and plants are essential in the lives of us human beings. The most damaged forest is the Brazilian Amazon. Ranchers, loggers and miners are the cause of the many kilometers of deforestation. Organizations have been created to alleviate the problem. In many cases this has helped reduce deforestation rates. For many years, deforestation has been a feature of the Amazon landscape since long before the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s (Fearnside). This problem didn't happen in the blink of an eye. Much of the forest has been destroyed by human activities. According to Fearnside, no forest in the region can be considered “virgin”. Forests in Brazil take up a huge amount of space, and despite this, humans manage to cut down trees and create large amounts of vacant, unused land. Loggers are the ones who have caused most of the destruction done to forests. The trees are usually cut for the lumber trade, which only twenty species out of seven hundred are involved in. Additionally, felling trees makes forests more resistant to fire and reduces the health of forests when upper trees are removed. One of the main culprits of deforestation in the Amazon are ranchers. Much land is cleared and used to grow crops and later used for other industries. The government created a law that would give people control of the land they cleared. Only if the freed space was used effectively. This, among many reasons, was why many kilometers of forest were cut down. “Many large landowners have their immense estates in the Amazon region covering more than sixty million acres” (Critten...... middle of paper ......ct. Many kilometers are cleared without any reason) The people might think that using the land where deforestation occurred could help, in other cases they are wrong. As Crittenden mentioned, many of those lands could be contaminated by the work of miners. np, nd, Web. January 30, 2014. “Deterring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement.” Climatepolicyinitiative.org, 8 May 2014. The Encyclopedia of Earth. np, March 30, 2007. Web. February 14, 2014. Rapoza, Keneth “Deforestation Slows in the Brazilian Amazon.” Forbes.com np, November 27, 2012. Web Sustainable World 2013 Worldwatch Institute, Web 2014.