Environmental Issues
Value and Importance:
Ecologically, rainforests provide for many things we take for granted. One example would be the Amazon Basin, the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet. Also, there are vast amounts of species residing in the tropical rainforest. Over 30,000 species of plants have discovered, while another 20,000 are said to be undiscovered. These various plants and animals provide food and nutrients, and have, for thousands of years, been used as medical plants to improve health conditions. Today, over 7,000 medical compounds prescribed by doctors all over the world are derived from plants that grow in the rainforest. However, the most important ecological advantage we obtain through rainforests come from the trees and the oxygen they provide. more than 20% of the oxygen we breathe is produced from the Amazon rainforest, and all together, tropical rainforests produce more than 40% of the worlds oxygen.
Economically, we have been cutting down the trees of the rainforests for years. They provide the timber needed throughout the world, while providing a place to live. The materials we get out of the rainforest are sold and used as 80%of the world’s diet. Without these species, the world’s starvation rate would be much higher.
Human Impacts:
While economically we use the rainforest’s natural resources for our own good, it is exactly how we are destroying it. Timber, minerals, and settlement have caused for about 93,000 square miles of destruction per year, increasing all the time. Other ways humans are impacted these rainforests would be from oil extraction, logging, mining, fires, was, commercial agriculture, pollution, hunting, and many more, thus displacing a large variety of plants and animals that cannot survive anywhere else. It is also severely depleting these resources with little consideration for any long-term consequences. Continued destruction can and will cause the loss of some of the most beautiful and unique species on our earth, which may be irreversible within our time.
Solutions:
The real major solution to losing the rainforest would be to stop degrading it. Experts believe that by leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting its many fruits and nutrient rich plants, that it could have more economic value than if it were used as grazing land or for timber. Also, if managed properly, the tropical rainforest could provide for the world’s need for natural resources on a perpetual basis. Some solutions would be to purchase sustainable rainforest products that can create a positive change, while also creating a market to support the native people’s economy. Lastly, simple things we can do would be to use less water and more reusable products rather than timber.
Ecologically, rainforests provide for many things we take for granted. One example would be the Amazon Basin, the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet. Also, there are vast amounts of species residing in the tropical rainforest. Over 30,000 species of plants have discovered, while another 20,000 are said to be undiscovered. These various plants and animals provide food and nutrients, and have, for thousands of years, been used as medical plants to improve health conditions. Today, over 7,000 medical compounds prescribed by doctors all over the world are derived from plants that grow in the rainforest. However, the most important ecological advantage we obtain through rainforests come from the trees and the oxygen they provide. more than 20% of the oxygen we breathe is produced from the Amazon rainforest, and all together, tropical rainforests produce more than 40% of the worlds oxygen.
Economically, we have been cutting down the trees of the rainforests for years. They provide the timber needed throughout the world, while providing a place to live. The materials we get out of the rainforest are sold and used as 80%of the world’s diet. Without these species, the world’s starvation rate would be much higher.
Human Impacts:
While economically we use the rainforest’s natural resources for our own good, it is exactly how we are destroying it. Timber, minerals, and settlement have caused for about 93,000 square miles of destruction per year, increasing all the time. Other ways humans are impacted these rainforests would be from oil extraction, logging, mining, fires, was, commercial agriculture, pollution, hunting, and many more, thus displacing a large variety of plants and animals that cannot survive anywhere else. It is also severely depleting these resources with little consideration for any long-term consequences. Continued destruction can and will cause the loss of some of the most beautiful and unique species on our earth, which may be irreversible within our time.
Solutions:
The real major solution to losing the rainforest would be to stop degrading it. Experts believe that by leaving the rainforests intact and harvesting its many fruits and nutrient rich plants, that it could have more economic value than if it were used as grazing land or for timber. Also, if managed properly, the tropical rainforest could provide for the world’s need for natural resources on a perpetual basis. Some solutions would be to purchase sustainable rainforest products that can create a positive change, while also creating a market to support the native people’s economy. Lastly, simple things we can do would be to use less water and more reusable products rather than timber.