Trees of Life: Saving Tropical Forests and Their Biological Wealth

The World Resources Institute has a 2nd guide to the environment to inform people about the condition of tropical forests and old growth forests in the US and what we can do to save them. The Earth loses 51 million acres of tropical forests each year. 57% of all tropical forests are in Latin America and 30% are in Brazil. Each hour 4 plant or animal species become extinct which tend to be from the tropics. Not only trees and animals die however traditions and livelihoods do too. Forest dwellers lose out to cattle ranching logging hydroelectric projects large-scale farms mining and colonization programs. During the 1980s 1000 such people including rubber tappers had been murdered as a result of disputes over forest resources and land. At the present deforestation rate 25% of the planets species will become extinct in 65-70 years. The real causes of deforestation are not the people who destroy the forest but population growth poverty inappropriate policies of governments and international agencies and improper decisions made by commercial interests or settlers to log mine or drill for oil and to transform forests to farms and ranches. Burning forests and the felled and decomposing trees release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the air exacerbating the greenhouse effect which leads to global warming. This will only speed up the rate of species extinction. In developed countries air pollution makes forests more vulnerable to insects and disease. The situation is not hopeless however. Developing countries must overhaul their policies on agriculture population forestry and land tenure. Developed countries must control pollution and refurbish their policies on debt in developing countries international trade and foreign aid. Individuals should put pressure on their countries to follow sustainable policies and inform friends families and colleagues about the need to save forests and animals from extinction.