Having focussed on the River Amazon for the last couple of weeks, we spotted areas of the forest that had been chopped down and discussed what was happening.
We learnt that this is called deforestation and there are pros and cons to it. After learning about why people chop trees down and how they benefit as well as exploring what damage it does to the local and global environment, we formed teams and debated.
Should deforestation be allowed to happen?
Yes – Local people earn money from selling wood that is chopped down and they need that money to pay for food and shelter.
No – Cutting down trees cuts down animals’ habitats and might lead to them dying as they have nowhere to live.
Yes – Trees can be cut down sustainably so that only a couple of trees in one area is destroyed and older, rotten trees can be targetted.
No – But trees that are cut down damage many trees around them.
Yes – Any trees that are cut down can be replaced by newly planted trees so they’ll grow back.
No – Maybe so. However, it takes years for these trees to grow back and they’re never the same as they were.
It was difficult to decide which was right or wrong as we could always argue back with another point!