Questions about rain forests?

Question

1) How long has the rainforests been endangered?

2)What exactly is endangering the rainforests?

3)Can the rainforests be save or is it too late?

4)How many acres or miles are there left of the rainforests combined?

5)What needs to be done or can be done to preserve the surviving rainforests?

Websites are badly needed and appreaite thank u.

Answer 1

1) throughout 20th century up

2) Humans

3) Could be saved

4) more than 600 million hectares

5) stop using trees in rainforest, nd go green!

Websites:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest ,

http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm , and http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainfore...

More Info:

Human uses

Tropical rainforests provide timber as well as animal products such as meat and hides. Rainforests also have value as tourism destinations and for the ecosystem services provided. Many foods originally came from tropical forests, and are still mostly grown on plantations in regions that were formerly primary forest. Tropical rainforests are also the source of medicinal drug components.

Rainforests cover only six percent of the Earth, however, twenty-five percent of all drugs are derived from rainforest ingredients.

More than 1,430 varieties of tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer. The National Cancer Institute claims that 70 percent of the plants identified as having anti-cancer properties are found in the rainforest. The rainforest has shown to hold many other types of medicines as well, from everyday pain killers like aspirin to important cardiac drugs. In fact, plant derived medicines are commonly used for fever, fungal infections, burns, gastrointestinal problems, pain, respiratory problems, and wound treatment.

Deforestation



Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, as seen from a satelliteTropical and temperate rain forests have been subjected to heavy logging and agricultural clearance throughout the 20th century, and the area covered by rainforests around the world is rapidly shrinking. Biologists have estimated that large numbers of species are being driven to extinction (possibly more than 50,000 a year) due to the removal of habitat with destruction of the rainforests. Protection and regeneration of the rainforests is a key goal of many environmental charities and organizations. (It is doubtful that this rate will be sustained as the relative cost of logging rises with dwindling resources.[citation needed])

Another factor causing the loss of rainforest is expanding urban areas. Littoral Rainforest growing along coastal areas of eastern Australia is now rare due to ribbon development to accommodate the demand for seachange lifestyles.

About half of the mature tropical rainforests, between 750 to 800 million hectares of the original 1.5 to 1.6 billion hectares that once graced the planet have already fallen. The devastation is already acute in South East Asia, the second of the world's great biodiversity hot spots. Most of what remains is in the Amazon basin, where the Amazon rainforest covered more than 600 million hectares, an area nearly two thirds the size of the United States. The forests are being destroyed at an ever-quickening pace. Unless significant measures are taken on a world-wide basis to preserve them, by 2030 there will only be 10% remaining with another 10% in a degraded condition. 80% will have been lost and with them the natural diversity they contain will become extinct.

Many tropical countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Laos, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana and the Cote d'lvoire have already lost large areas of their rainforest. Eighty percent of the forests of the Philippine archipelago have already been cut down. In 1960 Central America still had four fifths of its original forest; now it is left with only two fifths of it. Half of the Brazilian state of Rondonia's 24.3 million hectares have been destroyed or severely degraded in recent years. Several countries, notably the Philippines, Thailand and India have declared their deforestation a national emergency

Hope I helped!

Answer 2

here are some websites for you

http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses...

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/

http://www.mongabay.com/