Pages 5-9
Temperate rainforests are highly valued ecosystems throughout Central and South America, Africa, and Pacific Northwest. They support a complex and interconnected web of life that includes a tremendous diversity of life, including humans. If rainforests were to be totally destructed many aspects of our lives would change that, at the moment, we don�t even appreciate.
One very threatening cause of deforestation is the chance that a cure to cancer may very likely be found in the rainforest. Because rainforests carry so many species of plants and animals that have not yet been discovered, it is very likely that there are several important cures to harmful diseases and viruses that can be discovered in the rainforest. Approximately 7,000 medical compounds prescribed by Western doctors are derived from plants in the rainforest (http://www.ran.org/info_center/factsheets/05f.html)
All the major rainforests in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Haiti have been
Already destroyed. The Ivory Coast rainforests have almost been logged completely. The
Philippines have lost 55% of its forest between 1960 and 1985. Thailand lost 45% of its
forest between 1961 and 1985 (http://www.ran.org/info_center/about_rainforests.html).
Although tropical rain forests cover only a small land area, rainforests are home to
about half of the 5 to 10 million plant and animal species on the globe. Rainforests also
support 90,000 of the 250,000 identified plant species. Scientists suspect that there are at
least 30,000 as yet undiscovered plants, most of which are rainforest species.
(http://www.ran.org/info_center/about_rainforests.html).
A reasonable solution to the destruction of the rainforest is not easily created. To someone who does not live close to, or has not visited a tropical forest, it may seem quite simple as what to do; simply stop destroying the trees! But in real life, this is not so simple.
First and foremost, countries that consist of rainforests are usually developing countries that struggle in their economy. Countries such as India and the Philippines use the rainforests as a source of income by selling mahogany wood, exotic animals, and such. They need that source of income to help stabilize the economy. What they may not realize is how fast the rainforests are being destroyed and how valuable they are, not only
to their country, but to the entire world.
I believe that if people across the world were more informed about how much the world depends on the rainforests, this would drastically reduce the amounts of destruction per year. If people appreciated the tropical rain forests, they would not want to rid themselves of something that was so precious.
Another way to stop rainforest destruction is to make it illegal to cut down or harm the rainforests in any way. Right now, it is legal to take down rainforests in some countries. More and more people are trying to develop more rainforest national parks, but there are only a few hundred acres of those. If logging were illegal, millions of species would be saved, habitats would be preserved, and the world would be economically safe.
As for the future outcome of the tropical rain forests, I think there are many different results that may take place. The rainforests may be entirely wiped out, or countries will eventually realize how valuable rainforests are to the environment of the world, and preserve them.
I believe that there is a great chance that every tropical forest may be wiped out. Scientists predict that rainforests will be completely destroyed by the year 2030. I don�t believe that this is correct; at the rate that we are destroying the rainforests that date may be true, but as rainforests begin to get fewer and fewer, I think that people will destroy them less and less. I think that tropical forests will be destroyed by the date 2060 if they will be destroyed completely.
Another outcome that is a possibility is that rainforests will be preserved in national parks. I�m sure that this is an outcome that is the most beneficial and environmentally friendly; it�s something that most people who appreciate the rainforests want the outcome to be. As for me, this is an outcome that I would desire. The main fault in this future outcome is that it is very expensive to name a part of a tropical forest as a national park. Already, people have saved some rainforest from the threat of being destroyed, but there are millions of acres to go still. It will be a long time until there is a well-sized portion of the rainforest saved from destruction.
~ Landau, Elaine. Tropical Rain Forests.
Vol. 1. New York: Franklin Watts, 1990
Pgs. 11-57
~ Findley, Rowe. �Will We Save Our Own?�
National Geographic, Sept. 1990: pgs 106-137.
~ Camic, Caroline. Rainforest Destruction.
1999. Think Quest. 25 Feb. 2005.
http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Environmental_Problems/rain_forest_destruction.html
~ The Rainforest. Dir. Rhonda Fabian.
Videocassette. Schessinger Vide Prod., 1993
~ �Rainforest�. World Book Q.R.16. 16 vols.
Chicago: World Book Inc. 2003
~ Mandala, Blue. Rates of Rainforest Loss.
2005. Rainforest Action Network. 21 March 2005.
http://www.ran.org/info_center/factsheets/04b.html
~ Earth Awareness. Earth Awareness Teacher Notes � Rain Forests.
2001. Earth Balloon. 21 March 2005.
http://www.earthballoon.com/rain.htm