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| Rainforest Deforestation – Our Insatiable Consumption of Natural Resources |
| ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS - GLOBAL WARMING | |||||||||||||
| Written by Lucy Brake | |||||||||||||
| Friday, 10 December 2010 00:00 | |||||||||||||
Rainforest Deforestation – Our Insatiable Consumption of Natural Resources
About Deforestation The world’s natural rainforests are simply quite remarkable; they are vital to our very survival. Rainforests provide raw materials to a global population, sustain biological diversity, provide habitats for wildlife, nurture water and soil resources, control flooding and enrich air quality. Natural rainforests are also essential to the livelihood of many of the world’s indigenous peoples. So why have we been so unyielding in our destruction of these precious resources? “rate of natural tropical forest loss was equivalent to 36 football fields a minute”(Source: WWF ) Why are Rainforests Threatened?What is really quite unbelievable is the rate we are destroying these rainforests. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization believe that in 2005 the “rate of natural tropical forest loss was equivalent to 36 football fields a minute” and it has only been increasing since then. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of impartial scientists formed by the United Nations whose role is to evaluate the risk of global warming, tells us that “rainforest deforestation is responsible for about 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions”, more than all the cars, trucks, planes, boats and trains in the world combined. An increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, probably including expansion of subtropical deserts. Warming will be strongest in the Arctic and will be associated with continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects include increases in the intensity of extreme weather events, species extinctions, and changes in agricultural yields. Courtesy of National Geographic. All Rights Reserved ® Global Warming 101: National Geographic
To add to this global dilemma, the drive for new sources to fuel the world’s unquenchable desire for transportation means that high value rainforests are now being deforested, slashed and burned and then replaced with cash crops to make biofuels. We really should be worried, as Franklin D Roosevelt once said "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people."
“rainforest deforestation is responsible for about 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions”
The Forest Carbon Tracking Task (GEO FCT) has been established to support countries wanting to establish national forest-change, carbon estimation and reporting systems. See http://www.geo-fct.org for more information
Large Solar Farm
“In the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change.” Daniel Howden, writing in "The Independent"
The facts are crystal clear, so what can we do?
Keep America Beautiful! 
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Buy Forest Stewardship Council certified wood to support sustainable forestry.
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World Wildlife Org:
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| Labeled photographs courtesy of photographer Sharon H. |
| PhotoBucket.com |
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