Deforestation (Analysis Post)

The world seems to be neglecting and ignoring the importance of the earth’s rainforests to the continuity of mankind. With the increasing population in this industrialized country, people tend to only value the rainforests for their wood products such as furniture, window sills, sea defenses, door frames, flooring, garden furniture, and toys . The fact is, however, that rainforests produce a significant amount of oxygen to the entire world, and without them, the world cannot survive. Supplying oxygen is probably the most important contribution of rainforests, but they also provide a wealth of resources such as basic food supplies, clothing, shelter, fuel, spices, industrial raw materials, and medicine . Rainforests used to cover fourteen percent of the world, and now they only cover 2 percent. If deforestation continues at this rate, experts estimate, the last remaining rainforests could be destroyed in less than forty years .
One and a half acres of rainforests are being cut down every second solely due to the value of their timber as perceived by ignorant governments, logging companies, and land owners . Not only is deforestation slowly affecting the entire human race, it is currently hurting both wildlife and indigenous tribes. Even with what little rainforests are left, they still contain a wealth of species and plant diversity. For instance, more than half of the world's estimated ten million species of plant, animals, and insects live in the rainforests. One hectare can contain 750 types of trees and 1500 other plant species. However, due to deforestation, nearly half of the world's species of plants, animals and microorganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century. At the rate of losing 50,000 species a year, according to experts, this speculation seems highly possible. Also, there were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago; today there are less than 200,000 . In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. Besides the fact that it is morally wrong to destroy the homes of these people, they can also be a help in understanding medicinal uses of plants because they solely rely on natural remedies, thus they are more knowledgeable about them. However, each time a medicine man dies, it as if a library burns down, and the tribe and the world loses thousands of years of irreplaceable knowledge about medicinal plants .
According to experts, the cure for AIDs and cancer will most likely be found in the rainforests. More than 25 percent of the active ingredients in today's cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified more than 3,000 plants that are active against cancer cells, and 70 percent of these plants are found only in the rainforest . For example, two drugs obtained from a rainforest plant known as the Madagascar periwinkle have increased the chances of survival for children with leukemia from 20 percent to 80 percent . Ultimately, this means that eight out of ten children are being saved rather than eight out of ten children are dying from leukemia. It's a good thing tdhis valuable plant was discovered before deforestation led to its extinction; think about all of the possible cures we have already lost. Also, along with the thousands of species of rainforest plants that have not been analyzed come many more thousands of unknown plant chemicals, many of which have evolved to protect the plants from diseases. These plant chemicals may well help in the ongoing struggle with pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi that are mutating against mainstream drugs and becoming resistant to them . These pathogens cause serious diseases, including hepatitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and HIV, all of which are becoming more difficult to treat. Besides the possibilities of cures for big diseases such as cancer and AIDs, we still rely on rainforest plants for curing our ailments. Almost 90 percent of people in developing countries still depend upon traditional medicine, based on different species of plants and animals, for their primary health care . In the United States, about 25 percent of prescriptions are filled with drugs whose active ingredients are extracted or derived from plants, and currently 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plants . So what's more important to you- nice upholstery made out of teak and mahogany, or finding cures for terminal diseases?
Massive deforestation brings with it many negative consequences to the environment. These consequences entail water and air pollution, soil erosion, but the main problem is the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming. Most people only relate global warming to carbon emissions from humans and the burning of coal, gas and fossil fuels, but in fact, 25%-30% of the greenhouse gases released every year, is caused by deforestation . Trees are 50% carbon, and whenever they are chopped down or burned, the CO2 they store releases back into the air. We are currently cutting down 34 million acres of forests down per year; that's a lot of carbon released into the atmosphere every year . For example, in 1987 an area of the Amazon rainforest the size of Britain was burned, adding 500 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. Even though too much damage has already been done to the rainforest to be completely redeemed, the only solution is to stop destroying the rainforests, and to start replanting trees (afforestation) in the victimized areas to soak up carbon dioxide.
The main reason for deforestation of the rainforests is logging for its tropical hardwoods, like teak, mahogany, rosewood, and other timber for building materials, furniture, charcoal, and other wood products . This is big business which equates to big profits. The demand for these woods are so high, that the countries who once exported these tropical hardwoods, are now importing because they have already exhausted their supply in their native rainforests. Also, trees are cleared so there can be roads for which the timber can be transported, so logging for timber does double damage to the rainforests .
Some other lesser known causes of deforestation is the fuel and paper industry, large-scale cattle grazing, and subsistence farming. An example of using wood for fuel, is a steel plant in Brazil for making Japanese cars needs millions of tons of wood each year to produce charcoal that can be used in the manufacture of steel . As for the paper industry, currently, 200 million tons of wood are required just to make paper. Also, as the demand for cheap meat increases, forests are cleared to provide grazing land for animals. Most of Central America and Latin America's tropical and temperate forests have already been lost to this reason, yet cattle operations are still continuing . Lastly, native peoples of the rainforests are cutting down trees for cultivating crops to sustain their life. Even though the soil of the rainforests actually lack nutrients and is infertile, farmers are unaware of this, and they keep cutting down more trees after they realize the first area did not work.