Treasures of the Tropical Rainforest

Save The Rainforests!

Did you know that over 78,000 square miles of the Tropical Rain Forest vanishes each year? 78,000 square miles is the same size as Nebraska and is almost three times bigger than the Province in New Brunswick. If we allow this terrible situation to continue, in 2007, all of the rain forests will be gone at this rate. As the character, Tigger, in A. A. Milne's book, Winnie the Pooh, would say,''That would be just horri-bi-ble.''

There are many issues that destroy the Tropical Rain Forests. One severe issue is logging. Logging is when people cut down trees to build houses, furniture,packaging,and paper. Logging has destroyed 80 percent of Thailand, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. In Africa and Asia, logging is the main cause of destruction of the Tropical Rain Forests.

Over 1,000 native tribes live in the Tropical Rain Forests. The native people do not hurt the Tropical Rain Forests. Some of them follow traditions that are very old. They have the knowledge to know which plants are good for medicine and food. Also, the natives know how to raise crops with out hurting the soil. Logging, ranchers, farmers, and many other issues have endangered the native cultures. We certainly can learn alot from the native people.

 Another cause of destruction in the Tropical Rain Forests is farming. In South America and Indonesia there are hundreds of thousands of people that are poor and build farms in the Tropical Rain Forests. The Tropical Rain Forests soil is not rich enough for farming. The soil loses its nutrients after a few years. Now the farmers have to leave their homes and build new ones. Sadly enough, the old fields are too large and there are too many of them to grow back.

Plants keep the air clean, in the world. Plants use carbon dioxide that we breath out, water, and sunlight to produce food. Oxygen that we breath in, is used in this process. Fire that burns down the Tropical Rain Forests, creates carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide pollutes the air. If there are fewer trees in this world, there is less oxygen for people to breath.

Nine out of ten non-human primates live in the Tropical Rain Forests. Many of these fascinating creatures are becoming endangered each day. 80 percent of insects in the world are crawling around the Tropical Rain Forests. Also, 40 percent of the world's birds of prey live there. Some primates are at the edge of extinction and with only a few hundred surviving. Another result of destroying the Tropical Rain Forests is that many animals loose their homes. Some countries have Tropical Rain Forests preserves. These preserves protect the wildlife.

Many conservation teams are trying to help save the world's Tropical Forests. The conservation teams are planting new trees to replace the trees that have been destroyed. Some other people known as the rain forest people are making their own protests, against logging, farming in the Tropical Rain Forests which causes deforestation, fire, and other issues. A web site you can visit is worldwildlife.org the phone number is 1-800-CALL-WWF. We could use your help to save the Tropical Rain Forests!