Treasures of the Tropical Rainforest

The Importance of Tropical Rainforests

Rainforests provide food and medicine for people. People have used the plants of the tropical rain forests for food and medicine for hundreds of years. Cocoa, vanilla, rubber and bamboo are products of rain forest plants.

When deforestation occurs, it creates changes in our air. Carbon dioxide is poured into the earth's air by factories, homes, and cars. Plants reverse this process by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. But as the earth's forests are cut down, more carbondixide will build up in the air. One of the results could be global warming.

Increased carbon dioxide in the air contributes to 54% of global warming, a third of which is directly as a result of burning tropical rainforests. Rainforest trees need to absorb carbon dioxide from the air for food which is made during a process called photosynthesis. They act as carbon dioxide storehouses, which is helpful to our planet. But as rainforests are destroyed, the amount of trace gas increases, and the earth heats up. Already the earth's temperature has risen by 1°F last century. Oceans will expand as polar ice caps melt, causing coastal flooding all over the world.

Rainfores plants anchor soil so that it doesn't erode, or wash away into rivers.

Deforestation contributes to plant and animal extinction. See Protection Watch for rainforest animals that need our protection.

Huge tracts of rainforest are disappearing every year. When rainforests are cut down, the balance of nature is disturbed and it affects all of us.