Deforestation Should Be Stoppe

Did you know that almost every house in the world has some type of wood in it? And almost 1/3 of that wood comes from the rainforest.⁴ One acre of rainforest is chopped down every second. Deforestation of the rainforests should be stopped because the rainforest is home to hundreds of native tribes and half of the worlds plant and animal species live in the world’s luscious rainforests, rainforests provide medicine that could stop deadly diseases and the thousands of trees and plants of the rainforest filter the harmful CO² and produce clean oxygen that all humans need to survive. But thankfully there are many ways that the governments of the countries that contain rainforests and we can help.

            Firstly, half of the world’s plant and animal species are found in the rainforest¹. Scientists estimate that close to five million species can be found in the rainforest today but we are losing an estimated 150 species per day and fifty thousand species per year¹. The rainforest are also home to hundreds of native tribes⁴. Five centuries ago there was an estimated ten million people living in the rainforest but today there are only 200,000 people left¹. That is about one fiftieth. The tribes have medicine men who know loads of medical information and cures so if they die it would be like burning down a library.

\Secondly, the rainforests of the world contain many medical plants and fruits that can help prevent cancer, AIDS and many other deadly diseases⁴. Today even though 25% of western medicines come from the rainforest scientists estimate that we have only found one percent of the rainforest plants with medical abilities¹. That means that due to deforestation many lives are being lost. Combined AIDS and Cancer are responsible for an estimated one million and a half yearly deaths⁴. Even now we still don’t have any real cure for either of them⁴.

Thirdly, the Amazon provides twenty percent of the world’s oxygen¹. To survive people need to have oxygen, but too much CO2 can kill us. The rainforests trees filter that CO2 to provide us with clean air to help us survive.  But when people chop down the rainforest their actions limit the CO2 production and cause global warming. Global warming, also known as the green house effect is currently slowly destroys the ozone layer. This can cause the melting of the poles and increase the sea level consequently decreasing the amount of visible land. The destruction of the ozone layer lets more sunlight through allowing us to be burnt more easily too⁴.

 

             Finally here are some ways you and the governments can help. Some of the reasons why rainforests are being cut down are for the growing of crops such as soya beans, tea and palm oil³. The rainforest can also be cut down for cattle⁴. All farmers use similar methods to get rid of trees, most of them simply burn them to the ground². People also cut the wood down for fire but the biggest problem is the big companies that have developed ways to clear an area the size of a football pitch in seconds².

Some things the government can do about this are educate the people into getting better jobs². For example they could work as tour guides in the rainforest. Most European countries are now making large companies pay for the amount of CO2 they produce⁷. The idea of this is that companies would be less inclined to produce CO2 because they will need to pay for it. Some things you can do are check where your wood comes from, donate money to organizations and an amazing idea called carbon footprint². This is when you record how much CO2 you produce when you, for example, fly a plane². After you have measured that you can do something called carbon offsetting, which is when you do something to balance the CO2 that you have made. For example plant a tree². There are also loads of environmental agencies against climate change and deforestation. Just to name a few there is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Earth System Governance Project⁶. Some environmental companies are cutting off areas with endangered species so that logging companies can’t cut them down and the species can thrive.

So as you can see the rainforest is one of the world’s most valuable resources and has to be looked after because if we don’t take action now and stop deforestation in forty years the rainforests will have disappeared from the face of the Earth⁴ along with all of the thousands of years of collected medical knowledge from the tribes, the other 99% of the plant species that may have cures for many of our deadliest diseases. And global warming will continue and eventually and probably end the human race.

Bibliography

1.           "Rainforest Facts." Wealth of the Rainforest - Pharmacy to the World from Raintree Nutrition, Inc. Rain Tree. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm>.

2.          Louise Norris, Firsthand 1992-1995. Environmental Coordination Officer, InterAid, Marsabit and Environmental Education Team Leader, Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation Programme, Kakamega.

3.           "Tropical Forests Guide." OneWorld - Where the Good Guys Gang up. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/forests?gclid=CM_U56PU16wCFQEMfAodmFeEhw>.

4.           My experience in the 4^th grade class rainforest café.

5.      Photograph.Web <http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/ArroundTheWorldDeforestationMap.jpg>.

6.           "List of Environmental Organizations." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_environmental_organizations>.

7.     Dad’s work