Tropical RainforestMaking a change to save future generations!

A typical four square mile patch of rainforest

contains as many as 1,500 flowering

plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species

of butterflies.

As the rainforest species disappear, so do many

possible cures for life-threatening diseases.

Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources.

Rainforests provide many important

products for people: timber, coffee, cocoa and many medicinal products, including those used in the

treatment of cancer.

70% of the plants identified by the U.S.

National Cancer Institute as useful in

the treatment of cancer are found

only in rainforests.

More than 2,000 tropical forest

plants have been identified by scientists as having anti-cancer

properties.

More than 1 billion people living in extreme poverty

depend on forests for their water, fuel or livelihoods.

The economic value of intact forests is much

greater than the short-term benefits of logging or

clearing land for agriculture.

DeforestationOne of the leading causes of climate change!

Every second, a slice of rainforest the size of a football field is mowed down. That's 86,400 football fields of

rainforest per day, or over 31 million football fields of rainforest each

year.

Rainforests are threatened by unsustainable

agricultural, ranching, mining and logging

practices

Cattle Ranching is the leading cause of deforestation!

By 2030 there will only be 10% of tropical

rainforests remaining with another ten percent in

a degraded condition.

80% will have been lost and with them the

irreversible loss of hundreds of thousands of species.

Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and

insect species every single day due to

rainforest deforestation.

(That equates to 50,000 species a

year)

When trees and plants are destroyed, their stored carbon

dioxide is released into the atmosphere, where it

contributes to climate change.

In fact, deforestation and land use change

contributes approximately 20 to 25 percent of the carbon emissions that cause climate change.

YOU can Make a Difference

Personal Ways to Prevent Rainforest Deforestation

1. Eat Less Beef

United States imports roughly 200 million pounds of beef from Central America every year. Aside from the fuel used in transport, grazing land is needed for all of these animals.

For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

In the United States, more than 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture.

2. Avoid products that contain palm oil and soybean oil.

Oil palm planting has also led to enormous human suffering and the destruction of forest lands that communities rely on. In Indonesia, oil palm plantations are associated with the displacement of forest peoples from their land.

In Brazil, in 1940 there were only 704 hectares of soy fields, by 2003 there were 18 million hectares. The most direct impact of this process has been the

deforestation of approximately 2 million hectares of tropical forest in the case of Indonesia by 1999, and the loss of vast areas of forests in the Centre-West region of Brazil to make way for oil palm or soy plantations.

3. Don't buy products made with tropical hardwoods.

Even with tropical deforestation at an all-time high, tropical hardwood prices continue to climb as world demand for tropical hardwoods continues to grow. A single teak log for example can now bring as much as $20,000. 

Annual world consumption of tropical hardwoods is now more than 250 million cubic meters, or over 100 billion board feet, per year.

Southeast Asia until recently has been the largest source of supply for tropical hardwoods, but that area will largely be depleted within the next five years.

 All of the primary forests in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are gone. Ivory Coast's forests are essentially non-existent. Nigeria's forests have been decimated as well.