Saving our tropical rainforests

We are surely all aware of the devastation being inflicted on the world's tropical rainforests. Hundreds of thousands of square kilometres lost every year for short-term "profit" and greed. The devastation must stop at once, otherwise the survival of plants and animals native to the rainforest are put in jeopardy. The way of life of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon is also under threat. And then there is the increase in carbon dioxide (CO₂) in our atmosphere due to the deforestation adding to the greenhouse effect, and the pollution - especially carbon monoxide (CO) pollution - from burning the trees. It is not too late for us to act to save the rainforests, and we must step up existing efforts.

About rainforests

Rainforests have a very high rainfall, between 1250 mm and 6600 mm typically (source: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm). Those rainforests which are located on or near the Equator are called tropical rainforests, or alternatively equatorial rainforests. Tropical rainforests have a relatively constant temperature which almost always exceeds 18 °C with an average annual temperature of 27 °C, and a predictable weather pattern all year in the equatorial region (sunny, with thunderstorms almost every afternoon), but there is still a distinct rainy season. The Amazon rainforest is by far the largest at 55 000 000 km² as well as the most famous. Other rainforests are the Congo Basin (the second largest at 3 700 000 km²), as well as those in South East Asia, parts of India, northern Australia, and parts of Hawaii.

The trees of the rainforests absorb a lot of the world's carbon dioxide (CO₂), about 18% of the world's CO₂ emissions are absorbed (source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218135031.htm). Although a lot of oxygen (O₂) gets released, decomposing plants absorb most of this oxygen, hence rainforests have a negligible impact on the amount of oxygen in the air, meaning that the rainforests are not the "lungs of the earth", as was previously believed. That does not detract from the fact that a lot of the CO₂ in the atmosphere gets absorbed by the rainforest trees, and it is vital to preserve tropical rainforests especially, as well as other forests in the world. The trees in the canopy also obtain much of the rainfall, shielding the topsoil below from heavy downpours, much of this then gets evaporated and precipitated through foliage and the water clouds often move great distances (only some of the water evaporated falls as rain in the tropics).

Tropical rainforests also support a wide and diverse range of plant and animal life, 80% of the Earth's known species (source: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSMAN18800220080620), including two new monkey species which have been discovered in the Amazon rainforest very recently. It is believed there are many species which are not yet discovered in any of the rainforests yet. Well known creatures are associated with the rainforest including macaws, jaguars, orangutans and hummingbirds in various parts of the world, all making their rainforests their home. There are also indigenous humans who live in the rainforests too including the Yanomami, Kaiapo, and Pygmy peoples for example. Among the enormously varied fauna in the tropical rainforest include plants prized for their medicinal qualities - including the clavillia plant which can kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites and can aid digestion, and the cocoa with its antioxidant properties and being a vital ingredient in chocolate. These and other medicinal plants give the rainforests the nickname "the world's largest pharmacy". Who knows what other medicinal plants are also present, maybe the key to a cure for cancer, HIV, or even flu could be found amongst these plants.

There are lots of flowering plants which get pollinated by bees, other pollinating insects, and hummingbirds. Then of course there is the fruit such as the açaí which has antioxidants, and the yumanasa berry which is said to be very sweet and have 1.5 times as much Vitamin C as oranges. Who knows what other fruit can be found in the tropical rainforests, this is discussed here.

The consequences of rainforest deforestation

Sadly, as we know already, the rainforests are being deforested at an alarming rate. Approximately 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost, and a lot of rainforest has been lost in the Congo and in South East Asia (especially Indonesia). There are serious consequences when rainforest trees are cut down and burnt. When the rainforest trees are cut down, a lot of CO₂ is released into the atmosphere, and when these chopped down trees are burnt, this releases a millions of tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere, along with a lot of carbon monoxide (CO) as well. The excess CO₂ being released into the atmosphere could have the potential to dramatically change global weather patterns due to adding to global warming (source: http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/background/rainfwld.htm). By cutting down rainforest trees, the other serious danger is that with the rainforests gone the grassland and deserts that replace it remain dry due to the hotter air, this can disrupt the water cycle and circulation, and could alter weather patterns thousands of kilometres away, thus cutting down rainforests can affect weather patterns in other continents, including how much rain there is.

Without the trees to protect the soil, the heavy rainfall will causes flooding, soil erosion, and mudslides which end up in the rivers, the resulting excess levels of silt in the rivers is lethal to aquatic creatures dependent on freshwater. Creatures lose their habitats, humans who live in the rainforests lose their livelihood. Conservative estimates are that 9,000 species are going extinct each year of which the majority are rainforest creatures. Also, the climate is seriously altered in the long term if, unfortunately all the rainforest goes (explain why). This is real devastation. The smoke from burning millions of hectares of rainforest can cause or contribute to problems in other nearby areas, for example the smog in Malaysia and Singapore from burning the cut down trees in the Indonesian rainforests in 1997-1998 (source: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/08indo_fires.htm).

Why is all this devastation being inflicted on the rainforests? Just so that mining, ranching and soya bean plantations - both a result of slash-and-burn farming, and unsustainable logging itself for tropical hardwood can happen. A significant amount of logging has been illegal logging (source: http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html).

Despite the unsuitability of rainforest soil by itself for growing crops, slash and burn farming is still done for either soya for animal feed (which is in turn for meat production, there is no guarantee that factory farming is not used), or for ranching itself (also for meat). It is said that slash and burn farming is the leading cause of Amazon deforestation. Bushmeat and logging are significant causes in the Congo Basin, as is slash and burn farming.

The problem with slash and burn farming

Slash and burn farming is unsustainable because the rainforest soil quality is too poor. for growing crops The reason why the rainforest soil is poor quality, as soluble nutrients are lost due to heavy rainfall, but these soils get replenished with fertile silt during seasonal floods.

To make the rainforest soil suitable for growing anything, biochar (a type of charcoal) needs to be added - this is in fact the traditional farming method by the peoples of the Amazon, these are explained here.

Causes of deforestation

There is no single root cause of deforestation but corruption is a factor - many of the rainforests are found in places where corruption is a problem and lax enforcement of environment protection laws mean they could get flouted, and the demand for meat (specifically beef) and leather is also a problem, some of which could be either directly from the Amazon or from animals fed with soya grown from there (and there is no guarantee that the meat does not come from factory farmed animals either), and also for mahogany, teak for furniture. The demand for meat, leather, mahogany, and teak in the world is contributing to the strain on our rainforests, and our earth - this is a symptom of overconsumption and the throwaway nature of the industrialised societies on Earth. Where there is demand, there is also likely to be greed which could be another factor in the devastation - the desire to make ever more profit from these highly destructive trades. Of these, cattle ranching is regarded as the biggest factor in deforestation in the Amazon.

Action being taken

In Brazil, the devastation in the Amazon has long been declared a national emergency, and Brazil have been taking steps to halt the deforestation (source: http://www.conservationtoday.org/index.php?/News/Country/Brazil-Takes-Action-Against-Climate-Change.html). There were fluctuations from approximately 11 000 km² to as high as 25 000 km² from the 1970s to 2005. The trend is a decrease in deforestation, especially since 2005 - it has been an overall decrease apart from a brief spike between 2004 and 2005 (approx. 25 000 km²) attributed to illegal logging, levels have dropped a lot until 2007 (approx. 11 000 km²) there was also a worrying rise in 2008 (approx. 12 000 km²), so far in 2009 the deforestation rate is approximately 6 000 km² which is promising, statistics are shown in this graph. The measures Brazil are employing to combat deforestation including stepping up police vigilance, banning usage of deforested areas, and suspending public funds for any group or individual flouting environmental laws. And also, a Brazilian federal prosecutor has filed a billion dollar law suit against the cattle industry for environmental damage (source: http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0624-marfrig_beef_amazon.html).

In addition Brazil have also set up the Amazon Fund, an international fund to help themselves preserve the Amazon with the money going towards projects to help slow down deforestation, Norway have conditionally contributed $1 billion (£605 million, €704 million), and Brazil are hoping to raise $21 billion (£13 billion, €15 billion). Following the release of Greenpeace's report "Slaughtering the Amazon" which reported on the cattle industry expansion in Brazil, and how international shoe brands and other big name brands could be contributing to deforestation in the Amazon (through meat and leather from Brazil), the World Bank has withdrawn a loan to a major cattle giant, and several supermarket chains (including Wal-Mart) are planning to suspend contracts with companies within the cattle industry associated with deforestation, and Nike and Timberland have committed to keeping leather resulting from Amazon rainforest destruction out of their footwear. All these can only help stem the tide, shows that even the corporate giants and financial institutions are getting involved in saving the Amazon, if after pressure by Greenpeace. In further good news, the Amazon soya moratorium which had lasted 3 years has been extended for a year. However, there is no room for complacency, the aim is for all rainforest deforestation to be stopped, and not only in the Amazon. There is still a long way to go, not only in Brazil, but in all countries.

On the other hand, WWF have expressed concern about the risks of further deforestation due to possible squatting on land. Greenpeace have stated that the Brazilian government "still refuses to get out of bed with the agriculture industry" and calls for much more to be done, including calling for an effective climate deal being reached in the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December, and being attended by all heads of state. These concerns illustrate that although much progress has been made, there is a lot more still to be done.

Pressure from the Rainforest Action Network meant that Citigroup have pledged to stop financing projects destructive to rainforests, including in the Congo Basin (the Chad-Cameroon pipeline which would have gone through the Congo Basin) and elsewhere (e.g. the Camisea Gas Project in the Peruvian Amazon), a measure which was announced in 2004.

Despite this, the deforestation situation in the Congo Basin could be a lot worse than in the Amazon, as shown here and in here, in fact Africa has unfortunately had the highest deforestation rates on Earth.

Steps needed to save the rainforest

Simply banning tropical timber, creating nature reserves, and toughening the laws against deforestation alone - though welcome - will not be enough by themselves to save the remaining rainforest, as these do not address the root causes. The root causes - social, economic, and political - of deforestation must be recognised and dealt with, and the ideal solutions can be arrived at which save rainforests and help the stakeholders at the same time (including helping the farmers out of poverty). Sustainable development in the rainforests will help alongside creating the said nature reserves, making sure that economic success does not cause deforestation, and promoting more ecotourism is another possible idea. All the solutions are described in full here, and the suggestions are very good indeed. Another possible solution is to ensure that a lot more trees are planted than are cut down, and that none are burnt - sustainable forestry.

What we can do

You might be wondering how we, as citizens of Earth, can help to slow or reduce the decline in our rainforests. The steps we can do are:

1. Never buy mahogany, teak, ebony, or any other tropical hardwood - unless it is proven that they come from sustainable sources (which is difficult), you can look for the Forestry Stewardship Commission logo which indicates the wood came from sustainable sources (the same applies for paper too). However, if you are in any doubt, avoid all tropical hardwood.
2. Avoid all meat which came from places where rainforest deforestation is a problem - especially canned beef which could be sold in our supermarkets, also avoid all meat from creatures fed with soya from such deforested areas. If more people became vegetarian, or at the very least gave up beef, or cut down on red meat consumption drastically, rainforest trees might not need to be cut down to make way for unsustainable farming. Supermarkets need to ban meat sourced from former rainforest.
3. Avoid any other product (including vegetable oil) derived from Brazilian soya.
4. Do not buy any goods or services from organisations involved in the destruction of tropical rainforests in any way (including those who finance such destruction directly or indirectly through issuing loans) until and unless they change their practices. You may also wish to do some research on the Internet - search to find out which companies implicated in the destruction of the Amazon.
5. Avoid leather, or avoid goods made from leather resulting from destruction of the rainforests - these could also be from cattle in the Brazilian rainforests. Unfortunately many big brands were implicated in Greenpeace's investigation, but the good news is that the report is having an effect - Nike and Timberland have been cited earlier in this article as stopping sourcing leather from the Amazon. However, it is safer to avoid leather altogether (whether on shoes, car seats, etc), as well as to go for synthetic or man-made leather (again providing these are not from the rainforests either).
6. If you would like to go further, you can support efforts to save the rainforest - donate to Greenpeace, WWF or other similar charities.
7. You may also wish to write to senior executives of the organisations (especially multinationals) mentioned in Greenpeace's report. If nothing else, they will at least know they have customers or potential customers who are environmentally conscious.
8. Ask for better labelling. We need better labelling because we have the right to know the exact sources (i.e. the countries) of the goods and food we buy.

In sum, it is not only governments where the tropical rainforests exist which need to act. Every individual has a stake in saving the rainforest, as do governments, corporations, organisations (inter-governmental, governmental or otherwise). Inter-governmental co-operation in this issue can only be welcomed. An example of such co-operation is from an organisation called the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, established by countries with rainforests with the aim of ensuring economic growth whilst saving the rainforests, for more information click here.

Temperate rainforests need to be saved too

Tropical rainforests are by no means the only type of forests or habitat, we need to preserve all habitats on Earth. We also need to save all temperate rainforests as well. Much of the worlds temperate rainforests are already depleted. Most of the remaining temperate rainforests are in the Pacific Northwestern states of the USA and Canada. In the US for example, the saving of the Oregon forests is a welcome step in the right direction, however approving logging in Alaska's temperate rainforest is an unfortunate step backwards although even now it is not too late to reconsider.

Rainforests are vitally important to Earth and must be saved

Rainforests, are vitally important to the Earth. The bad news is that a lot of rainforest has been destroyed for short term gain, the good news is that there is still a lot of the Amazon rainforest left (80%), and not all of the rainforest has been destroyed meaning we can still save the remaining rainforest. The Brazilian government in particular has taken steps to try to halt the devastation, although environmental groups say that much more can be done as well. There are efforts. The WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Network and Rainforest Action Network amongst other environmental Non-Government organisations are continuing to keep up the pressure on governments and companies. The pressure has achieved results with companies pulling out of destructive ventures. We can also do our bit to help, and we must, including boycotting any products suspected of being made as a result of rainforest destruction. Every person, nation, corporation and organisation has a stake in saving our rainforests. Saving our rainforests not only guarantees the survival of life in the Amazon and even life on earth, our grandchildren will be able to see rainforest animals in the rainforests themselves.