P lants and food

Food is something that we humans cannot live without and much of the food that we consume in our daily life originated from the rainforest. Just look at your daily meals: bananas, yams, avocadoes, pineapples, peppers, peanuts, oranges, papayas, lemons, pepper, coconuts, sugarcanes, cassava and cacao are all products of the rainforest. The chocolate, popular worldwide, is from the cacao seed, which is native to the tropical rainforest. In addition, coffee beans, cashews, nutmegs, cinnamons, chicle (which is used in chewing gum), vanilla and Brazil nuts that are all much sort after all around the world, are all native to the rainforest.

Although the foods that we have tasted in our lives are nothing but a very small fraction of the potential foods that the rainforest offer, they have a profound influence on our diet. The winged bean (Psophocarus tetragonolobus) for example has been recognized for centuries to the forest tribes of New Guinea, yet only recently, has the rest of the world recognized that this plant is the nutritional equivalent of the soybean. The winged bean is now being cultivated in more than 50 countries worldwide.

An astounding number of (bananas, citrus), vegetables (peppers, okra), nuts  (cashews, peanuts), drinks (coffee, tea, cola), oils (palm, coconut), flavorings  (cocoa, vanilla, sugar, spices), and other foods (beans, grains, fish) originated in and around the rainforest. If we are not careful though, our appetites for these products could destroy the source from which they came; inappropriate farming methods are a major cause of rainforest destruction and pollution worldwide. We can continue to enjoy the rainforest food basket if we support Earth-friendly farming – a balanced agricultural approach that may draw on both local farming traditions and cutting-edge science.

Plants native to the rainforest are also used to beautify the cities and homes of people all over the world. Just look at your garden, many of the plants, vegetables and fruits in your home came from the rainforest. Common house plants, such as African violets, bromeliads, periwinkle and the Christmas cactus, originated from the rainforest.

Although rainforests are generally not cleared for their potential source of food and plants, they are still cleared to provide farming area to grow a certain tropical plant or food that is only suitable in that specific area. In addition, as more and more cities and countries urbanize, populations increase rapidly and the need for food and land increases. Governments around the world have no choice to turn to the rainforest for land to build farms, roads, cities.  Therefore, deforestation occurs on a especially huge scale in developing countries. 

Refer to Abuses section for more.

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