LOSS OF RAINFORESTS

Loss of Rainforests

Loss of Rainforests

Tropical rainforests are part of the Earth's oldest and most extensive terrestrial ecosystems. They are the predominant natural vegetation in countries that are situated near the equator, where the weather is often hot and humid and rainfalls are high all year round.

The ample sunlight together with the consistent warm, wet weather give plant life a conducive environment to thrive. A tropical rainforest can be characterized by its evergreen layered or stratified vegetation structure, high biodiversity with a high and usually closed canopy 30-50m above ground level and it has no “seasonality” - no period of slower growth due to changes in climate.

Hundreds of years ago, tropical rainforests covered 20 percent of the Earth's land surface. Now the forests have diminished to a mere 6 percent. Rapid deforestation is causing us to endanger this nature splendor and its many inhabitants. Nearly 500 million people depend on the forests for their livelihood and there is a growing concern about the accelerated rate of destruction of the remaining rainforests.

The immediate causes of rainforest destruction are clear. The main causes of total clearance are agriculture and in drier areas, fuelwood collection. The main cause of forest degradation is logging. Mining, industrial development and large dams also have a serious impact. Tourism is becoming a larger threat to the forests. Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750-2000 mm (68-78 inches). The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.

40 to 75% of all species on the world's habitats are indigenous to the rainforests.[1] It has been estimated that many millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there.[2] Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turn over, often misunderstood as oxygen production, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and storing it as carbon through biosequestration.

The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs, and small trees called a jungle. There are two types of rainforest, tropical rainforest and temperate rainforest.

The immediate causes of rainforest destruction are clear. The main causes of total clearance are agriculture and in drier areas, fuelwood collection. The main cause of forest degradation is logging. Mining, industrial development and large dams also have a serious impact. Tourism is becoming a larger threat to the forests.

Commercial logging companies cut down mature trees that have been selected for their timber. The timber trade defends itself by saying that this method of 'selective' logging ensures that the forest regrows naturally and in time, is once again ready for ...