Did you know rainforests are the earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some reaching 70 million years old? They are like the great-great grandparents of the earth.
Rainforest ecosystems are home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species even though they cover roughly only 6% of the earth’s surface.
Rainforests not only support the plant and animal species living there, they also support us. Rainforests produce about 20% of the world’s oxygen and store a massive amount of carbon dioxide which helps to stabilize the earth’s climate.
But the rainforests in the Amazon have been taking a massive blow in the last several decades. According to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 80% of the Amazon rainforests are being destroyed for cattle ranching in Brazil.
Edward O. Wilson, American biologist, and author, stated in his book Half-Earth; “A 2008 mathematical model by a team of botanists predicted that between 37 and 50 percent of rare tree species in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest, “rare” defined as having populations of fewer than ten thousand individuals, will suffer early extinction, caused by contemporary road building, logging, mining, and conversion of land to agriculture.”
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, beef production gives rise to more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry. This includes roadways, airways, railways, and ports! I have a hard time wrapping my head around that there is more cattle production than all the cars on the road, than all the flights that occur around the world on a daily basis?
Even though these rainforests sit on small parcels of land, they pack a punch to keep our planet healthy. These rainforests are vital to all of our survival.
References:
1. https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/beef-production-is-killing-the-amazon-rainforest/
2. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rain-forest/
4. Wilson, Edward O. Half-Earth. New York, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016
Image courtesy of @Greenpeace /Daniel Beltra
