The Amazon Rainforest

Amazon Rainforest size The Amazon rainforest covers over 2.1 million square miles of tropical terrain in South America. Since 1960, the size of the Amazon rainforest has shrank dramatically. This is due to slash and burn farming as well as a steadily growing human population in need of more land. Because the soil in the forest becomes useless for crop cultivation after a few years, farmers keep clearing away more and more of the forest. At the current rate of deforestation, the size of the Amazon rainforest will have shrank to just 40% within 20 years. Intense efforts are being made to save what’s left of the Amazon. Between 2002 and 2006, these efforts have nearly tripled. It has resulted in a 60% drop in deforestation. About 1 million square kilometers of the tropical forest are now officially protected for a total of 1,730,000 square kilometers of land.

Dangers of the Rainforest Most of the Amazon lies in Brazil, though several other countries, including Peru and Ecuador, also hold large sections of this massive jungle. The Amazon's natural beauty and immense biodiversity attract tourists in search of exotic adventures. However, this region can be just as dangerous as it is beautiful. The rainforest is brimming with creatures that will attack in self defense. Images of jaguars, alligators, anacondas and piranhas come to mind when thinking of the most formidable animals in the Amazon. In addition, the rainforest houses numerous species of small, venomous creatures like snakes and frogs. However, the most common problems arise from encounters with blood-sucking leeches as well as the aforementioned health issues involving disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Indigenous People of the Rainforest The world's rainforest are home to many tribal people. This is one of the least-recognised facts about rainforests Tragically, most of the native societies of the rainforest have already been destroyed. In Brazil alone, 87 tribes were wiped out in the first half of this century. In the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, the military is estimated to have killed up to 150,000 tribal people under the guise of counter-insurgency measures. More than 1,000 rainforest cultures still exist, but nearly all of them face a grim future due to the development plans of the ruling elites in their countries and international development agencies. Their lands are being taken, their basic rights disregarded, and often even their very existence is being ignored. These rainforest cultures are storehouses of great knowledge. From them we can learn to live sustainably, within the limits required by the planet's ecosystem. Rainforest cultures have learnt to harvest the wealth of their forests without destroying them. They have a store of medicinal plant knowledge and a fundamental understanding of native flora and fauna. Rainforest cultures have successfully lived in rainforests for thousands of years. Not only are forest-dwelling cultures losing their forests -- they are also losing their younger generations to whom they wish to pass on their traditional knowledge. With the incursion of western civilization, the young have come to aspire to the wealth of the western world and all its technology, whilst disregarding their elders' wisdom. Five hundred years ago, an estimated ten million Indians lived in the Amazon rainforest. Today, fewer than 700,000 survive.

Rainforest Destruction One and one-half acres of rainforest land is lost every second. This has far-reaching environmental and economic consequences. Since 1978 over 750,000 square kilometers (289,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana. For most of human history, deforestation in the Amazon was primarily the product of subsistence farmers who cut down trees to produce crops for their families and local consumption. But in the later part of the 20th century, that began to change, with an increasing proportion of deforestation driven by industrial activities and large-scale agriculture. By the 2000s more than three-quarters of forest clearing in the Amazon was for cattle-ranching. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef. Between 1996 and 2004, the total export value of beef increased tenfold from $1.9 million to $1.9 billion, making Brazil the world’s largest beef exporter. It has the largest commercial cattle herd of approximately 180 – 190 million head. The government of Brazil offers loans of billions of dollars to support the expansion of its beef industry. One acre of rainforest timber yields an owner $60. One acre for grazing yields an owner $400. One acre of renewable medicinal plants and fruits yields an estimated $2400.

Medicines from the Rainforest More than half the world's approximately 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. Some of our oldest medicines came from plants. Digitalis, for heart failure, came from the foxglove plant. Colchicine, for the treatment of gout, came from a small flower, the colchicum. And quinine, for the prevention and treatment of malaria, as well as the treatment of some heart diseases, came from the back of the cinchona tree in the rainforests of South America. Even now, we have found new medicines for malaria from artemesia plants ("Sweet Annie") and medicines for cancer from the Pacific Yew (taxol). The potential for discovery of new medicines is vast. Due to rainforest destruction, the earth loses an estimated 137 plant, animal and insect species every day. As the rainforest disappears, so do many potentially valuable drugs. Currently 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest materials, but only 1% of these materials have been tested. Currently, over 120 drugs come from plant-derived sources. Of the 3000 plants identified by the US National Cancer Institute as active against cancer cells, 70% come from rainforests.