Intro By: Danielle
People have used plants of the rainforests for centuries as herbal
medicines. They have also used them for food and others uses.
Most people use them for medicinal uses though. That is why you
are here, to learn about plants of the rainforest. 70-80% of the
world’s people depend on the plants of the rainforests for
all uses. Everything from roots to leaves to bark and berries
is used when scientists find a cure whether it be, Malaria or
just a normal ailment like a headache! When scanning the World
Wide Web I found an interesting story. It’s about two explorers
who found a cure for AIDS and found it was destroyed later. |
The gum tree
Retold by: Danielle
Once in the far off rainforests of Malaysia two explorers were
trying to find cures for diseases that haven’t have a cure
found for yet. Another reason they had came to this rainforest
was to find the legendary gum tree which was said to hold many
cures. Finally when they had found it after hours of wet weather
they took samples of every part of it and went to their lab in
Brazil and studied the many parts and after a few months found
that the bark could cure AIDS! Instantly they flew off to Malaysia
to gather the bark only to find it had been cut down. Till this
day they have NEVER found another tree like it! They still are
trying to find more but it’s utterly impossible. So it looks
like we will never find a cure for AIDS.
And over time scientists have been finding bigger and better cures
for ailments across the world! So therefore, plants of the rainforest
have many good uses, yet people are still destroying them. People
from all over believe that the rainforest will be destroyed within
40 years!
Now I would like to show you a few facts about the rainforests.
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| FACTS
1. Rainforests once covered 14% of the world but now cover a mere
6%!
2. One and a half acres of the rainforest are destroyed each
second!
3. Experts estimate we lose 137 plants, animal and insect species
a day. Which adds up to about 50,000 species a year!
4. Even though the rainforests cover only 6% of the world they
hold half of the world’s species!
5. 1 out of every 4 ingredients in our medicines is from the
rainforest. |