Deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil, the world's largest rainforest, has increased nearly 30 percent in 1998.

Rondonia is one of the regions where a large deforestation has occurred in the Amazon. Here the deforested areas look like fish bones and they are mainly used as farms.

Of the 55,000 plant species in Brazil, 25,000 are already threatened with extinction. The Amazon contains the highest number of plants that contain medicinal values. A cure for AIDS might have been lost forever when a rare plant became extinct because a Brazilian developer cleared some land for corn. The biological diversity of the plant and animal life of the Amazon is amazing, and unfortunately each day is becoming more threatened by the loss of habitat due to deforestation in this region.

The rainforests in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra are burning because of clearing and destructive logging. Rainforests usually don't burn because they are dark and wet. Once they are severely damaged they dry out and will burn. They government of Indonesia has asked over 100 logging companies if they are burning the rainforests for clearing plantations. The fires of Indonesia are 99% human set.

  Rainforests of Asia and the Americas