Source: Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and
Their Climatic Implications
surface, yet they
are home to some 50 to 70 percent of
all life forms on
our planet.
The rainforests are quite
simply, the richest, oldest, most productive and most
complex ecosystems on Earth.
As biologist Norman
Myers notes,
"Rainforests are the finest celebration of
nature ever known on the planet." And never before
has nature's greatest
orchestration been so threatened.
Global Rates of Destruction
2.47 acres (1 hectare) per second: equivalent to two U.S. football fields
150 acres (60 hectares) per minute
214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) per day:
an area larger than New York City
78 million acres (31 million hectares)
per year: an area larger than Poland
In Brazil
5.4 million acres per year (estimate averaged for
period 1979-1990)
6-9 million indigenous people inhabited the
Brazilian rainforest in 1500.
In1992, less than 200,000 remain.
Species Extinction
Distinguished scientists estimate an
average of 137 species of
life forms are driven
into extinction every day, or
50,000 each year.
Projected
Economic Value of One Hectare in
the
$6,820
per year if intact forest is sustainably harvested
for fruits, latex, and timber
$1,000
if clear-cut for commercial timber
(not sustainably harvested)
or
$148 if used as cattle
pasture
While you were reading the above statistics,
approximately 150 acres of rainforest were
destroyed.
Within the next hour approximately six
species will become extinct.
While extinction is a natural process, the alarming rate of extinction today, comparable only to the
extinction of the dinosaurs, is specifically
human-induced and unprecedented. Experts agree that
the number-one kause of extinction is habitat
destruction.
Quite simply, when habitat is reduced,
species disappear.
In the rainforests, logging, cattle
ranching, mining, oil extraction, hydroelectric dams and
subsistence farming are the leading causes
of habitat destruction.
Indirectly, the leading threats to rainforest
ecosystems are unbridled development,
funded by international aid-lending institutions
such as the World Bank,
and the voracious consumer appetites of
industrialized nations.
If deforestation continues at current
rates, scientists estimate nearly 80-90 percent of tropical
rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed
by the year 2020.
Source: Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and Their
Climatic Implications