What Is Being Done to Protect the Rain Forest?

Question

In a world plagued by so many problems, is conservation of the rain forests that important? What do we stand to lose if they disappear?

Answer 1

We stand to lose a lot - oxygen for example. But, since the rain forests are not situated in the jurisdiction of the United States, we don't have any control over what South America etc. does with this resource.

Answer 2

nothing

Answer 3

The mass scale alteration of habitat can impact local and worldwide climate and generally results in a dramatic drop in biological diversity.

Also, pharmeceutical companies are now working with rainforest nations to protect habitat, as there are many materials  there that can eventually lead to cures for many horrible diseases.  

On a scientific scale, there are gobs of unidentified species, and it's a crying shame to exterminate their habitat for short term gain until we at least know a species existed and how it affects other species.

Ecotourism and better land management practices offer better long term economic solutions to problems affecting the people in countries where rain forests are being decimated.

Answer 4

Although some efforts are being made to conserve the forests that remain, the task is gargantuan. National parks can protect pockets of rain forest, but hunting, logging, and slash-and-burn farming still continue inside the confines of many parks. Developing countries have little money to spend on park administration. In our modern world, short-term benefits often override long-term value

Cash-strapped governments are easily lured by international companies into selling logging rights—in some cases one of the few national assets available to pay off foreign debts. And the millions of itinerant farmers have nowhere to go but deeper and deeper into the rain forest.

Fully 80 percent of what we eat has its origins in the tropics.Man cannot afford to turn his back on the origins of his food supply. Both crops and livestock can become weakened by too much inbreeding. The rain forest, with its vast collection of species, can supply the genetic variety needed to fortify these plants or animals.  Besides being a source of food and clean air, the rain forest can be a veritable medicine cabinet. A quarter of all the drugs doctors prescribe are derived from plants that grow in tropical forests. Yet,  only about 7 percent of all tropical plants have been screened for possible medicinal properties. This number may be quite a bit less since many species exist that are unknown. The cure for cancer may be flourishing in a rain forest somewhere or it have already been destroyed.

Rain forests are important to the regulation of rainfall and temperature as well as protection against soil erosion.

Happily, the future of the rain forest does not hinge on the concern—or the avarice—of man. The Bible gives us reason to be confident that the Creator himself will intervene to save our tropical forests. In God's promised new world, future generations will see the glory that is the rain forest.—Revelation 11:18, Revelation 21:1-4.

Answer 5

I think the best answer is "we don't know, only that it will be a lot".  Oxygen yes, but if the Bush Administration doesn't care about us being able to breathe, why should we?

There was an experiment done back in the 70's.  Some scientists went to the Amazon.  They wanted to test how many species lived in one tree, and if some might be unknown to science.  They were expecting several hundred, with maybe 2-3 unknown to science.   Since they had satellite photo's that allowed them to make fairly accurate counts of the numbers of trees, the information could be used to answer questions like yours.

They covered the tree with plastic and released a poison gas like exterminators use.  A while later, they collected the dead animals.

To their surprise, there were over 6,000 species who made their home in that one tree.  Over a thousand were new to science.

That suggested far larger numbers than ever suspected.  The number of unknowns would be in the millions.  New uses for chemicals derived from tropical life are being found every day, especially in the field of Medicine.  DNA science has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.  Destruction of the forests without even knowing what they contain closes the door to all that.  It is a few people making the decision for all people, without even knowing what they are destroying.

Answer 6

We need to plant trees so we conserve oxyen

Answer 7

Not that much