DESTRUCTION OF THE TROPICAL RAINFORESTS:
The Tropical Rainforests cover 9 million square miles or 7% of the Earth’s surface. They are located in the monsoon areas between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
These forests are being destroyed at a rate of 2% per year - an area the size of England and Wales. At the present rate they will be totally destroyed by the year 2025 except for remnants in Zaire and Amazonia. The timber trade accounts for around 25% of the destruction, yet it only sells, on average, 2 - 3% of the timber cut. The expansion of cattle ranching, the major cause of forest destruction, in Latin America, means the loss of 2.5 million hectares of forest a year, mainly to supply the fast food industries of western Europe, North America, and Japan with cheap beef.
The forests contain half of all the known species of the world’s animals and insects. Only 1% of rainforest plants have been investigated for their economic potential. The forests already provide us with bananas, rubber, sugar, pineapple and many other fruits. The drug curare, used in cardiac surgery, and in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease is derived from a South American rainforest plant. The United States National Cancer Institute has identified more then 2000 tropical rainforest plants with the potential to fight cancer.
Although the soil of the forest supports the largest variety of life on the planet, it is usually of very poor quality. Its fertility comes from the action of microorganisms and insects which quickly reduce fallen leaves and the droppings of animals into a rich compost but this fertility cannot survive in the absence of the forest.
In South America, the opening of service roads into the forests, has been followed by an influx of landless peoples. Although their crops tend to do very well in the first few seasons the quality of the soil drops quickly unless increasing amounts of fertilizers are used.
In 1950, there were 40 million square kilometres of untouched forest areas in the world; this declined to 26 million square kilometres by 1978. It is now 22 million.
Japan, the worlds biggest marked for tropical hardwood, has increased its demand twenty-fold between 1950 and now. The United States, the second largest buyer, imports around $1 billion worth a year, while western Europe accounts for 40% of the world trade.
The destruction of these great forest would mean losing up to half of the Earth’s lifeforms. Potentially there exists many valuable crops and medicines. The rainforests act like vast lungs converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. Tree roots bind the thin soil stopping erosion and flooding while the canopy reflects heat from the surface of the globe. Lose the rainforest and we may lose the planet.
So what can you do? Boycott tropical timber and reduce paper and wood consumption. Ask for temperate substitutes. Boycott fast food industries and reduce beef consumption or at least source where you are getting it from. Reduce oil consumption. Hold businesses accountable like Boise and Citibank (read more on Rainforest Action Network website in links page). Invest in rainforest communities by protecting areas of rainforest (again read more in Rainforest Action Network). Get involved with groups like Friends of the Earth and Rainforest Action Network.

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