Rainforest Deforestation undefined Environmental and Cultural Implications of Rainforest Deforestation inSoutheast Asia Facts about RainforestsPlants and MedecinesAnimals Negative effects of deforestationSoil DepletionGreenhouse EffectBusiness turns to AsiaThe Positive SideHealth ProblemsWho's to BlameIndigenous PeopleProtecting Their LandsOn the Tide of ChangeEnvironmental ActionDomestic Environmental Action GroupsInternational Environmental Action GroupsEnvironmental LegislatureBeginning of LoggingTechnology vs. EnvironmentConclusionLinks to Related Sites Please note, this website was posted with 1997 statistics Rainforests are one of the world’s resources which produce many of the items we take for granted in our lives, such as food and medecines. Facts About Rainforests: Rainforests cover 2% of the earth’s surface and 7% of its land mass. Plants and medecines: Rainforests support 90,000 of the 250,000 identified plant species. Animals: Negative effects of deforestation: Soil Depletion Greenhouse Effect T.R.
Amazon Deforestation: Earth's Heart and Lungs Dismembered This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Splintered, charred wood litters the outskirts of an expansive ranch that lies on recently cleared land in the Brazilian Amazon. On the newly planted pasture, cattle leisurely graze, occasionally lifting their heads to gaze past heaps of dead trees towards an island of dense vegetation that has thus far been spared. But it too may soon be cut down. Such scenes are becoming increasingly common as large swaths of the Brazilian Amazon are being bulldozed and burned to accommodate expanding cattle ranches. Deforestation, which is dismembering the Earth’s functional heart and lungs, is largely resulting from cattle ranching driven by economic incentives and demand for Brazilian beef, according to the Center for International Forestry Research. Deforestation is accelerating Brazil has historically had the distinction of serving as the world's leader of deforestation. The cattle economy
Amazon rainforest deforestation - The main causes | Ecological Problems Forests, particularly rainforests play extremely important role in our planet. The largest rainforest on our planet is Amazon rainforest that covers area of five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) which is more than half of remaining rainforests on our planet. Once long time ago rainforests covered 14% of the earth's land surface while now they cover just 6%. Many experts agree that if current trends of deforestation are about to continue in years to come we could lose all of our rainforests by the end of this century. First of all climate change impact would be much stronger because forests and rainforests absorb large quantities of CO2 (carbon dioxide). Forests also have tremendous impact on climate itself by regulating temperature, they produce several important nutritients like nitrogen and phosphor. Tropical rainforests are home to many unique plants. Why is Amazon rainforests being so heavily destroyed?
Deforestation, Poaching and the Wildlife Trade in Indonesia The rainforests of Indonesia once covered 84% of the countries 17,508 islands (CIA World Factbook Statistic), providing a safe haven for thousands of different species. At the turn of the 20th century, 170 million hectares of dense primary rainforest covered the archipelago but in present day, there are less than 98 million hectares remaining. Rivaling Brazil in terms of biodiversity, Indonesia is home to 1,531 species of bird, 515 species of mammal, 270 species of amphibian, 35 species of primate and 38,000 species of plant. 31.1 % of all species in Indonesia are endemic with 9.9% of the total number of species threatened by poaching, logging and agricultural development. The sheer scale of diversity makes Indonesia’s rainforests one of the most important ecosystems in our world today. Logging, conducted both legally and illegally, is accounting for a huge decrease in forest cover, particularly primary forest, across the archipelago.
Deforestation Escalates in Brazilian Amazon Satellite imagery released earlier this week provided further evidence that deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region accelerated dramatically this year. Between August 2007 and July 2008, 8,147 square kilometers of the Brazilian Amazon were cleared, according to the country's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). This is an area more than twice the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The expanse of deforested land is about 69 percent greater than last year, when 4,820 square kilometers were removed. Last year's deforestation numbers, however, were the lowest since recording began in the 1970s. As world leaders debate a new international agreement on climate change, preservation of the vast Amazon forest, which stores large amounts of carbon, has been identified as a necessary step to avoid accelerated warming. Illegal deforestation reached its peak this year between August 2007 and April, when satellite images observed about 84 percent of the year's deforestation.
Deforestation campaigning led to my deportation from Indonesia | Andy Tait | Environment Last week, I was in Indonesia. I'd travelled there to work with colleagues in Jakarta and Sumatra on our continuing campaign to end the devastation of the country's magnificent rainforests. But after an extremely intense few days, I left the country prematurely on Wednesday evening. I had been due to stay longer and had a business visa to allow me to do so, but we were receiving advice that if I stayed it was likely to bring more risk to my colleagues working there. I feel very sad about leaving, not least because the last parting gesture from a group of officials at the airport was to place a large red deportation stamp in my passport. So, why was I deported? Our work against APP has focused upon asking it to follow GAR's lead on sustainability, something that it is resisting ever more strongly. And then things became a little surreal. These are areas the company claims are degraded and therefore suitable for clearing and replacing with plantations.
The bloody cost of Amazon deforestation | Benjamin Dangl José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva had predicted his own murder six months before he was killed and received frequent death threats. Early in the morning on 24 May, in the northern Brazilian Amazon, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva got on a motorcycle near the nature reserve they had worked on for over two decades. As the couple rode past the jungle they had dedicated their lives to protecting, gunmen hiding near a bridge opened fire, killing them both. Brazilian law enforcement officials said that the killing appeared to be the work of hired gunmen, due to the fact that an ear was cut off each of the victims. The murder took place the same day the Brazilian congress passed a change to the forestry code that would allow agribusinesses and ranchers to clear even more land in the Amazon jungle. Ribeiro knew he was in danger of being killed for his struggle against loggers, ranchers and large-scale farmers who were deforesting the Amazon.
All About the Indonesian and Congo Basin Rainforest Facts About Rainforests of the Congo Basin The Congo Basin is home to the second largest rainforest on Earth, stretching across 500 million acres and six countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo.) Due to the large amount of carbon dioxide that it takes up and converts to oxygen, the Congo Basin is called the second lung of the Earth (the first lung being the Amazon rainforest). The rainforests of the Congo Basin are comprised of a diverse mixture of different ecosystems and habitats, including highland and lowland forests, rivers and swamps. The biodiversity of the Congo Basin rainforests is extensive, with an estimated 400 species of mammals, 700 species of fish, 1,000 species of birds and over 10,000 species of plants. Bonobos- belonging to the same genus as chimpanzees, bonobos are the primate species most closely related to humans.