SAVE THE RAINFOREST!

 
There are millions of differents species of plants and animals on Earth, and still so many remain undiscovered. Of the known plants and animals, it is estimated that 50% live in the tropical rainforests.

With warm temperatures year round, and near daily rainfall, the rainforest has the ideal conditions for sustaining. Thus, rainforests contain the most biodiversity, and provide us with the widest range of resources of all ecosystems.



The Maues Marmoset



Rainforests are home to countless millions of the most amazing species of plants and animals. Some with millions in their population, other with only dozens. The Maues Marmoset, a tiny monkey the size of your hand lives entirely in a few square miles of the Amazon rainforest. Here you’ll also leopards, jaguars, apes, toucans, billions of insects, chameleons, poison-dart frogs, sloths, fish, the fourteen-foot boa, birds, river dolphins, manatee, and humans…To name a few.




The Jaguar

 



The Tree Frog






  Many of these species have not been able to adapt quickly enough to the rapid changes that humans are making to their environment, taking resources unsparingly and giving nothing back. An average of 35 rainforest species becomes extinct every day. We are losing rare, even undiscovered animals and plants that are used for medicinal cures, more than 99% of which have yet to be tested. Tropical rainforest cover only about 7% of Earth’s land surface, yet tens of millions of acres are being destroyed every year. Our rainforests are disappearing.

The Rainforest Conservation Fund (RCF) is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization founded in 1988. Their aim is to protect the rainforests, using practical solutions, and often by teaming up with other organizations. Some of the threats that they are fighting include logging, clearing for farms and ranches, over-hunting and -fishing, charcoal production, mining and exploration, road building and industrial plants, and oil extraction.

Some of the RCF projects include work around the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Conservation Area, in the Amazon basin of northeast Peru. Here they fight for the animals as well as for the rights of the people who live in parts of the Amazon, whose homes are being threatened by industrial plans. They want to protect the reserves around the Tahuayo River. They are also working with the Universidad de Golfito Foundation in the last remaining tropical rainforest in Costa Rica, which has become too small to ensure the long term survival of its endangered species. They intend long-term to purchase 5000 hectares of this rainforest in order to protect more of it from being taken down.

For all the reasons listed above – the beauty and importance of our tropical rainforests – the work of the RCF is very significant. One of the most effective things they are doing is raising awareness, because the loss of our rainforests is everyone’s business. We will all be affected, and more people need to take a stand against the destruction of our natural ecosystems.

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http://www.rainforestconservation.org/25

http://www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_005.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/27257/rainforest.html

http://www.lizasreef.com/HOPE%20FOR%20THE%20RAIN%20FORESTS/endangered_rain_forest_animals.htm



http://www.upacificosur.org/Fundacion/Forest.html



http://www.nature.org/rainforests/explore/threats.html

http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm



Also check out:

The Second Incision: Coral Reefs


Saving the Penguins!

(You'll find my comments there, too)