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Tropical rainforests are believed to be the oldest and most complex land-based ecosystem on Earth. They are often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet’ due to their role in absorbing carbon dioxide (“CO2”) and pumping oxygen back into our atmosphere – a process known as photosynthesis. They also generate most of the world’s rainfall and form a vital cooling band around the equator that acts as the Earth’s very own thermostat.
However, over the last 24 hours deforestation has released just as much CO2 into the atmosphere as eight million people flying from London to New York. It may come as a surprise but the deforestation of the world’s forests contributes somewhere between 20 – 25% of global CO2 emissions, a figure that is actually higher than both the transport and aviation industries combined. In fact, over the next four years alone the deforestation of the Amazon, Indonesian and Congo Basin rainforests will pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight in the entire history of aviation up to at least 2025.
Data from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (“FAO”) has shown that the current rate of worldwide deforestation stands at a staggering 13 million hectares of forest per year – a rate that is actually increasing. Since the forests in the northern hemisphere remain relatively stable this means that an area of tropical rainforest greater than half the size of Britain is being destroyed every 12 months.
Simply put if we lose the fight against deforestation we might as well wave goodbye to any hope of successfully tackling climate change.
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Tropical rainforests contain over 30 million species of plants and animals – that is half of the Earth's wildlife and at least two-thirds of its plant species! No other land-based ecosystem can boast such an incredible array of biodiversity; for example, in just 100 hectares of Amazon rainforest you can come across up to 1,500 different plant species, which is more than you will find in the whole of the United Kingdom.
In turn rainforests provide the habitat for some of the world’s most endangered species, such as orangutans, mountain gorillas and spectacled bears. As these habitats are destroyed the chances of survival for these species diminishes. More worrying still is that the International Panel on Climate Change have predicted that climate change could see between a fifth and a third of all species on Earth being at risk of extinction by the end of this century and this is actually a conservative estimate!
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Rainforests are known as the world’s pharmacy because of the wealth of natural medicines that have their origins from tropical rainforest plants. In fact, more than 25% of our modern medicine originates from rainforests and so far over 2,000 tropical rainforest plants have been identified by scientists as having anti-cancer properties. So far less than 1% of rainforest plants have actually been tested for their medicinal properties – the remaining 99% could hold the cure to many more diseases and illnesses that might only be discovered if the deforestation of the world’s rainforests are stopped
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Rainforests are bursting with life. Not only is the rainforest home to millions of species of plants and animals but many people also call the rainforest their home. Many indigenous people have been living in rainforests across the world for thousands of years, relying on them for their food, shelter and medicines. Today there are still thousands of indigenous tribes with their own culture and languages still living in the rainforest and some are still completely isolated from the ‘modern’ society.
Sadly, it is modern society that is forcing the indigenous people away from their homes as rainforests are cut down to make way for logging, agriculture and cattle ranches. Indigenous people are also greatly at risk from diseases brought into the areas where they live, which they do not have any resitance to. The combination of having their land taken away and disease is threatening their very survival.
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Many rainforests in Central and South America have been destroyed to make way for huge cattle ranches, which produce cheap beef for the international market. For every ten pounds of beef produced it is estimated that 2,000 square feet of rainforest is destroyed! However, without the rainforest to provide the soil with nutrients and moisture the land is by no means ideal for cattle farming. The grass can only be sustained for a few years before it dies, which then sees the cattle ranchers move on and destroy more rainforest to provide land for their cattle. Sadly, the areas that are left behind look more like a desert than a tropical rainforest – worst still is that it is extremely unlikely that anything will grow again once the ranchers have left.
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It may be surprising to learn that the soil found in rainforests is actually very low in nutrients. This is because the nutrients are stored in the vegetation as opposed to the soil. It is the tree roots that bind the soil together and the canopy that protects the soil from heavy rainfall.
If a tree falls to the forest floor naturally then the nutrients are recycled back into the ecosytem. However, deforestation removes the nutrients completely from the rainforest and further more the soil is no longer protected from heavy rains by the tree roots and the forest canopy. Without this protection heavy rainfall can result in (i) soil being washed away making it all but impossible for new vegetation to grow; and (ii) flash floods in lowland rivers, which can leave upland rivers dry.
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Rainforests also cool the climate on a more local level because their canopy helps to trap moisture and allow it to slowy evaporate. This process means that the vegetation acts as a natural air-conditioning unit, which lowers the temperature in the surrounding area.When the tropical rainforests are cut down and burnt over large areas hotter and dryer conditions can set in.
Did you know that one-fifth of the world’s fresh water is found in the Amazon basin alone? Tropical rainforests contain huge quantities of fresh water and are vital to the hydrological cycle (rain and water systems) of the local area and beyond. Without rainforests continually recycling the vast quantities of water, feeding the rivers and vegetation, droughts would become far more frequent with devastating effects on those who rely on the rainforests for their livelihoods.
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Nearly half of the carbon present in vegetation around the world is found in tropical rainforests. They act as a giant carbon sink by absorbing CO2 from the air, storing the carbon and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere. Therefore, tropical rainforests act as the Earth’s thermostat by regulating temperatures and weather patterns.
The problems arise when the vegetation is burned to clear land for alternative use, such as cattle ranching, agriculture and logging because this process releases up to 25% of global CO2 emissions, and is therefore a major contributor to climate change.
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