HELP PROTECT THE
RAINFORESTS
Each year, 27 million acres of tropical
rainforests are destroyed. That's an area the size of Ohio, and translates to
74,000 acres per day ... 3,000 acres per hour ... 50 acres per minute.
BACKGROUND.
Some people consider the destruction of the world's rainforests the most
frightening of all recent eco logical developments, because it's something they
can meas ure. The tropical rainforests, located in a narrow region near the
equator in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia, are disap pearing so
fast that by the year 2000, 80% of them may be gone.
A
tropical rainforest is technically defined as a forest in the tropics which
receives 4 to 8 meters of rain per year. Beyond that, it is nature's laboratory
for all kinds of plant, animal, and insect life. The world's tropical
rainforests are critical links in the ecological chain of life that makes up
the planees biosphere.
DID YOU KNOW
Although rain forests make up only 2% of the
earth's surface, over half the world's wild plant, animal and insect species
live there. In a typical four‑mile‑square patch of tropical rainforest you would
find. over 750 species of trees, over 1500 different kinds of flowering plants,
125 different mammals, 400 kinds of birds, 100 reptiles, 60 amphibians, and
countless insects‑including 150 types of
butterflies. And only 1% of these species has ever been studied!
80% of all Amazonian deforestation has taken
place since 1980.
One in four pharmaceuticals comes from a plant
in a tropical rainforest. About 70% of plants identified by the National Cancer
Institute as being useful in cancer treatment are found only in rainforests;
1,400 rainforest plants are believed to offer cures for cancer.
One third of the world's remaining rainforests
are in Amazonia.
Latin
America and Southeast Asia have already lost 40% of their tropical rainforests.
Deforestation
contributes between 10 and 30% of worldwide C02 emissions. In 1987, rainforest
fires (one method Of clearing) 2 emissions. In 1987, rainforest fires (one method
of clearing) pumped about 518 million tons of carbon into the air, roughly 1/10
the total world fossil fuel combustion for that year.
WHAT
HAPPENS TO RAINFORESTS
The
world's rainforests are being depleted as a result of several developments:
agriculture and population resettlement; beef cattle ranching; major power
projects like dams, hydroelectric plants, and roads that go with them; and
logging.
The soil in rainforests is not rich; only about
a two‑inch layer contains any
nutrients. Most of a rainforest's nutrients are stored in the vegetation. When
a rainforest is converted to, say, cattle grazing, the soil is grazed out
within two years. The cattle operation must move on, but it leaves behind a
desert.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
This
is more than a political cause; itŐs a fight to save a precious piece of the
world. Who knows what may be discovered in the rainforests‑an unknown plant that provides a cure for
cancer? A new crop that can feed starving children? Unfortunately, the only real
influence you may have is on the people who provide financial support to
countries with rainforests. So we suggest you write letters expressing your
concern. The Rainforest Action Network (listed low) will supply names and addresses. Write, also, to your
elected representatives about the issue.
Support organizations involved in rainforest
conservation. Indians in the Amazon are trying to foster their own sustainable
rainforest‑based economy; their
Center needs your support. The Rainforest Action Network has information on the
Center.
Consider alternatives to tropical hardwoods in
furniture, lumber, and plywood. To stop importing tropical hardwoods, the U.S. would
have to reduce its consumption of timber by only 2%. Write the Rainforest
Action Network for a list of woods you can substituted for tropical hardwoods.