Phase Four IP

Depleting Our Lands:
Rainforest











Billie Berry











BIO
April 30, 2006
Instructor Novick
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Our rainforests are being consumed at an alarming rate every minute of every day. At

one point in time the rainforests covered 14% of the earth’s land surface. At present only

6% remains with experts estimating that it will completely depleted within 40 years. With

One and one-half acres being consumed every second, tragic consequences are suffered

both by developing and industrial countries (Raintree, 1996, 2006)

Multi-national logging companies, cattle ranches, and narrow minded governments

have this belief that that the only value they can get out of the land is it timber and

grazing properties. Because of this belief nearly half of the world’s species of plants,

animals, and microorganisms will be severely threatened over the next quarter century.

A this time the estimated loss for all three rainforest’s is 137 species every day (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

With the disappearance of each species, the possibility for cures for life threatening

diseases disappears as well. Right now 121 prescription drugs that are sold world

wide come from plant-derived sources. Of those, 25% of Western pharmaceuticals

come from the rainforests, but less than 1% of tropical trees and plants have been

tested for there value to the medical community. If you think of the logging, fires,

ranching, and major corporations like Texaco, Georgia Pacific, and Mitsubishi

plowing thru the land at breakneck speed, you see no possibility for the chance of

future research in the medical field to hold any benefits to humans (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

The medicinal value of the plants in the rainforest holds the greatest value to us. The

periwinkle plant is one of the most powerful cancer fighting plants within this forest. It

has increased the survival rate of in acute childhood leukemia since its discovery. The

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U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3,000 plants that are active against cancer

cells, and 70% of these plants come from the rainforest with 25% of the active

ingredients coming from organisms only found in the rainforest. To date there are

over 100 pharmaceutical companies involved in research programs to find new drugs

or cures from these plants (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

The medical field is but just a part of the benefits we get from the rainforest. 80%

of our diet comes from the rainforest, which holds over 3,000 types of fruit and

vegetables that include bananas, mango, pineapples, guava, corn, potatoes, and yams.

We also enjoy spices available from the rainforests like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and

sugar cane. My all time favorite would be cashews. And of all that it has to offer, we only

use 200 of the fruits, while the native Indians use over 2,000 (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

With all of this the cattle ranchers who can receive $60 per acre, and the loggers who

can receive $400 per acre, still do not see that if the land were left in its natural state and

harvested for its fruit, vegetables, and plants among others, it could yield $2,400 per acre

for the land owner. If managed properly, the rainforest could provide the world all the

natural resources on a perpetual basis, and provide a new source of income for

landowners while stopping the destructions that go on every day (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

Unfortunately the Indians are suffering the most. There way of living is being stripped

from them bit by bit. What started at around ten million natives in the Amazonian five

centuries ago has declined to less than 200,000 today (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

The loss of our tropical rainforests will have a devastating impact world wide. The

biological diversity (like in temperate forests) has more to offer in an ecosystem than in
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any other ecosystem on Earth. In the rainforest of Brazil a single pond can maintain more

variety of fish than in all the river’s of Europe. In North America a 25-acre plot of

rainforest in Borneo can contain 700 species of trees. This number equals the total tree

diversity of North America. And what truly gets me is that the number of species of fish

in the Amazon exceeds that found in all of the Atlantic Ocean (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

There are many forms of animal species to be found within the rainforests. There are

certain characteristics that have been found among mammals, birds, reptiles, and

amphibians within the Amazon that include adaptations to the life in trees, like the

prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics would include bright

colors, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruit.

The largest group of animals that live in the rainforests are insects. This includes

brightly colored butterflies and massive ant colonies. The basin of the Amazon river has

a wider variety of animal and plant life than any other biome in the world. The scattered

locations of Southeast Asia is the second largest population of plant and animals.

The Amazon has often been referred to as the “Lungs of Our Planet”, this being that

the Amazon provides an essential service by continuously recycling carbon dioxide into

oxygen. This accounts for 20% of the world’s oxygen (Raintree, 1996, 2006).

Even though areas of the rainforests are being set aside, the impact of the destruction

already experienced can never be recovered. This loss will effect us for all time.
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References:

Raintree Nutrition, Inc., (1996, 2006), Rainforest Facts, Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http://www.rainforestfacts.htm

Michael, G., (2001), Rainforests, Retrieved April 27, 2006 from http://www.rainforestbiomes.htm