The villagers walk the charred ruins of their village, looking for any personal possessions that can be salvaged after the fire. Looking out from the remains, they see the trucks already winding their way up the newly made dirt road. Soon, the landscape around their village will be irrevocably changed as well. The loggers will strip the forest of all trees, and then move on. They leave the landscape barren, and allow erosion to destroy it utterly. Sadly, this scene is common in many Latin and South American countries containing rainforests. In these regions, the rainforests are being cut down at an alarming rate, with no thought being given to the rights of the indigenous peoples whose way of life is inseparably connected with the rainforest itself. There are several viable solutions to this problem, the governments of these rainforested countries making wiser decisions and create new laws and programs to deal with the problem among these solutions. While the most advantageous solution would be for the foreign countries to recognizing that the blame lies as much with them as with those of the locales containing the rainforests Many countries containing rainforests feel the need to b

ecome as industrialized as possible in a short period of time. To accomplish this, they commonly build massive dams, flooding thousands of acres of rainforest, as well as displacing the many jobless poor attempting to live off of the land (Weisman 1). These poor, along with others simply needing to get away from overcrowded lands, move onto the indigenous people's land and clearcut portions of forest and farm these new fields. These poor often come into direct conflict with the indigenous tribes already living there, who oftentimes had no contact with outside civilization prior to their land being invaded and cut away. These conflicts are often violent, even fatal for both sides involved (Weisman 1). The first solution to this invasion of the tribes' land would be for the governments in which clearcutting is happening to make wiser decisions. Often, farmland would be readily available were it not for unwise decisions on the part of the government. The flooded land is usually quite fertile and easily farmed. Also, land is often used for purposes that in no way benefit the people of the country. In Columbia, the savanna surrounding Bogota, some of the most fertile land in South America, is not used to produce food for the locals. It is used for growing flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, and carnations that are sold cheaply in the United States (Weisman 2). If these lands could be designated to be used for farming, many of the people who are responsible for the deforestation would have no need to move to the forest in the first place. Another example of unwise governmental decisions took place in Mexico. The government here actually encouraged farmers to move to the forested Los Tuxtlas region. They were encouraged to deforest the land in order to plant crops. Their goal was to alleviate overcrowding and boost the agricultural economy. These farmers, used to farming in a different climate, often clearcut more land than was necessary and exhausted the nutritive value of the soil as well (Tangley 1). The advantage to the governments making wiser decisions is that it can be accomplished within the countries themselves and done cheaply. The disadvantage is that the legislators would have to admit their errors and they may be unwilling to do this because they may look foolish to their voters. Another disadvantage would be that the poor people that have moved onto the tri

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1606
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)