Destruction of our Rainforests
Here in our country,
the last remaining rainforest
in Hawaii,
is now threatened with extinction.
The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand
have lost almost half of their forests
just in the last twenty five years.
Fires and Logging are the main reasons
Since the end of WWII
unregulated cutting, burning and bulldozing
has annihilated mosts of the rainforests.
Sri Lanka, Haiti, India and Bangladesh have gotten the worst.
This is a satelite shot of
Port Renfrew, British Colombia's rainforests.
The dark green areas are mature forests untouched.
The pink areas are the logged areas just in nineteen-eighty four.
The bright blue areas are the logged areas between eighty four and nineteen ninety one.
The lighter green areas are the regrowth, not much, huh?
Although rainforests take vast amounts of time
to regenerate, young forests are more effective at
removing carbon from the air than older forests.
Older forests absorb carbon less efficiently, but have
more total carbon stored within them.
"The rainforests of the world are disappearing at a
rate of eighty acres per minute, day and night major
climatic and other environmental changes will occur if
this continues." (Costa Rica Rainforests Outward Bound
School).
The destruction of the rainforests cause
carbon dioxide to be released, which in turn allows the
greenhouse effect to occur. The greenhouse effect
raises the temperatures all around the world, and can
cause ice caps to melt. When ice caps melt, the sea
level rises, causing major flooding around the world.
"Tropical rainforests once covered more than fourteen percent
of the Earth�s land area, they now amount to less than
six percent." (Tropical Rainforest Coalition).
One and one-half acres of rainforest
are lost every second with tragic consequences
for both developing and industrial countries.
Our Rainforests are being destroyed because the value
of rainforest land is percieved as only the value of
its timber by short-sighted governments, multi-national
logging companies, and land owners.
Nearly half of the world's species of plants, animals and
microoganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over
the next quarter century due to Rainforest deforestation.
