BUT WHY SHOULD WE STOP IT? - THE FACTS

Without trees human life could not survive. Trees provide us with food, fuel, protection from the elements, climate control, building materials and shade and yet we have begun to undervalue them and destroy them. 

They have taken between 60 and 100 million years to evolve and are believed to be the oldest and most complex land based ecosystems on earth.

It is believed that the Amazon rainforest alone stores over half of the Earth's rainwater and provides over 20% of the World's oxygen and is home to over 50% of the Earth's plants and animals.

If we continue deforestation at the rate we are going, scientists are estimating nearly 80-90% of Tropical Rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2020.

One of the most practical benefits of the tropical rainforests is the medication that is derived from plant sources. 25% of our modern medicines originate from the tropical forest plants.

As well as medication, the tropical rainforests were originally home of such foods as nuts, bananas, coffee and spices as well as industrial products such as rubber, resins and fibres. All products that we consume today and take for granted.

Last but not least are the Indigenous people. These peoples are the true guardians of the forests and depend on them as a source of substinance, living culture and natural heritage. They know the essential properties of each individual tree, and what it can provide in terms of food, medicine and other materials. The cultivation of the land is a carefully planned operation which has been used for thousands of years.

The logging firms are now making roads into the forests, thus reducing the land on which the native people farm, and without land to grow food, they will literally starve.

As we can see there are many reasons why the tropical rainforests are important. It has only been recently that the World has started to take notice and it is this awareness that needs to keep increasing and being acted upon if we are not to lose what makes this planet what it is today.

The Future of our Rainforests.

What can be done to stop this destruction? 

The rainforests are disappearing at several square kilometres (square miles) per second!! We can join groups that act on behalf of the forests, or we can buy products that support the World Land Trust and other such incredible organizations. We can buy products that only come from sustainable growing systems. The truth is we are running out of time and once the rainforest is cut down, the whole ecosystem is then destroyed and it will take thousands of years to put it back.

Organic meltdown and the World Land Trust have pledged to save trees from deforestation in Ecuador and will continue to do so in order to avert and slow down the real Organic Meltdown.  Your support is vital if the quick demise of a major portion of all life on Earth is to be averted in the years to come.