1.Where Are The Worlds Rainforests Located? Tropical rainforests are located around the equator. The weather is bright and sunny for about the same time every year, the reason for this being is because they’re located between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, were sun consistently shines. On a yearly basis approximately 160-400 inches (4,064mm-10,160mm) of rainfall is recorded on average for each rainforest, surprisingly these sunny and wet conditions are quite stable. The top 5 countries with the biggest rainforests are: (In order of largest smallest)
Brazil-1,800,000 square miles Democratic Republic Of The Congo-683,400 square miles Indonesia-490,349 square miles Peru-289,576 square miles Columbua-258,688 square miles
2.What Uses Do Rainforests Have For People? Rainforests have several practical and beneficial uses for people, civilisations and many other necessities that give us the world before us today, including things such as: Medicinal Application- In the rainforest there is an abundance of beneficial herbs and plants that have had a major impact on the prevention and extermination of fatal diseases. The following are some located in the South American rainforests, Lopacho, Lerba Mate, Guarana, Passion Flower, Suma, Cats Claw, Muira Puama, Stevia, Boldo, Cinchona, Jamorandi, Papaya, Cocoa, Ipecac Ipecacuanha and Common Nasturtium. Food- Sustainability when farming in rainforests is an ever growing problem we face today, the reason we are in this situation is because a great percentage of our day to day foods are grown mainly in rainforests and with the deforestation of rainforests the food we have made a vital part of our diet will be eradicated.
These foods are bananas, citrus (orange, lemon, and lime), cassava, avocado, and cashews, Brazil nuts, coffee, tea, pam, coconut, cocoa, vanilla, sugar spices and an enormous quantity of other foods. The world is excessively sacrificing 86,600 trees in the Amazon forest alone to satisfy this greed of food. Accommodation- Wood is a very valuable material, it is used for the majority of building construction, as well as many other things, although wood is wasted and is being used unnecessarily, we waste millions of tons per year and that means trees in the rainforests are being wasted. Tropical rainforests yield rich and beautiful wood, such as mahogany, balsa, teak and many more, the uses of this wood is almost endless.
Oxygen Cycle- Photosynthesis is used by plants to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, rainforests have these invaluable plants that supply us humans with the gift of life. If rainforests are getting cut down the vital source we need for life will be gone, then we will also be gone. So deforestation is in a sense “mass murder” of plants and every other living being such as ourselves. Plants absorb carbon and they release the oxygen, although when the plant dies the carbon is then released into the atmosphere. If the plant is eaten the predator that has consumed it will have the carbon within and this cycle continues until death of the predator. This cycle regulates the carbon levels, although the burning of fossil fuels makes this previously balanced scale extremely unbalanced and this can only be fixed by these all important plants that must be protected at all costs.
3.What conflicts arise over the use of forests? Who is involved in the conflict?
Hunters- Hunters pose a daunting risk on the extinction of thousands of different species of animals. So the native wildlife that may be wiped out can affect the entire food chain, causing unnatural occurrences that has the capability to in one way or another destroy the habitat or alter it for the worst. If restrictions and rules aren’t made the replenishment of animal species will continuously drop.
Loggers- Due to the several uses of rainforests and the produce we receive from them, an ever-growing conflict or debate is arising about how much exactly should be taken, and how much can be sustained. As a result of this modernisation the world is on, the demand of products is too high whereas the supply is to low, so where do they look for the supplies? Around the world 6,000 acres worth of land is destroyed per day and that is certainly not the only thing that’s destroyed, entire species of animals are getting wiped out as a result of deforestation. The earth’s ecosystem is at risk because of logging, not only that but the water cycle is being disrupted and all these consequences of us not being sustainable will cause unnatural changes to the climate around us (e.g. global warming).
We can still use the rainforest and cut down trees, we shouldn’t “clear cut” although we must be wise in our choices and the correct way to carry out your endeavours. Cutting down trees so the roots are still in while leaving a reasonable percentage of the tree to grow is essential, and taking the right amount of fruit and other produce must be limited once again so the fruit or other products have time to grow once again. Problems such as these can be avoided if the government can make reserves and protected areas that cannot be logged. Developers- Businessmen and others who want to expand or make farm fields deforestation. These businessmen are generally not interested in surrounding or in harming the environment, that’s why with complete disregard of every ones best interests, they attempt to expand their companies for extra profit.
On the other hand conservationist protest and make stands to protect the environment so it’s clean and sustainable for future generations to come. Farmers- For people such as farmers who make their income of the land, it is essential they have the correct amount of land. Not only that but soil must be rich and fertile for good and healthy crops, and rainforests can provide the wanted requirements. As bad as cutting trees down can be its still beneficial for the atmosphere to have produce instead of buildings that developers would want situated where an array of trees used to stand.
These previously seen people all depend on land for their livelihood, and as wrong as we feel it is we are consumers of the products they provide us with so we ca not be trying to oppose them if we are enjoying the products we receive from their business. Although there are people who sacrifice the produce of the modernising world, and devote their life to the conservation of rainforests. These people take the advancements in technology and advertise and make websites and business for the protection of rainforests. As much as we may feel the conduct of businessmen is wrong we are all in some way consumers.
4.Why Should We Conserve Rainforests? Rainforests are responsible for so much of the advancements in medicine, technology and the development of houses and countless other structures around the world, due to the so many uses there is high demand across the world, people are rapidly consuming these before mentioned products and not looking at the big picture…the depletion of rainforests. This depletion of rainforests is a real thing, which if not sustained certainly will cause changes so drastic that the rainforests are virtually unrecoverable.
As discussed earlier the deforestation of rainforests has the ability to cause, damaged oxygen cycle, no food or resources, no medicinal herbs or plants causing unknown disaster, and no more resources to build houses for out constantly growing population, this will have devastating effects on our eco-system. Tropical rainforests are getting cut down at a rate of 6000 trees an hour, this extremely rapid deforestation of rainforests has caused rainforests that were once 14% of earth’s surface all the way down to only 6%, at the rate we are chopping rainforests will be gone in approximately 40 years.
So some of us might not witness the complete deforestation of rainforests but we must protect future generation from this controversial threat. Rainforests are the means of supplying us with oxygen. And the human body cannot survive longer than 4 minutes without oxygen. Wiping out rainforests for some will also be then end of their traditions and heritage, with the loss of their knowledge of the land we might not have a chance to survive. Men and Women traditional to the land have knowledge we do not yet know all about, some have great knowledge of medicinal herbs that could have several lives but when the rainforest is gone so are they.
If their culture is gone the will be forced into assimilation with our new modernised world. Let’s all together fight this global epidemic and preserve and sustain our rainforests, if we come together and support conservationists we can help, even a donation will give needed funding behind this work. Protecting the rainforest is protecting ourselves so get on board and make a difference.
