FACTS ABOUT THE RAINFOREST

Destruction of the RAINFORESTS

· Rainforests are threatened by unsustainable agriculture, ranching, mining, logging and ‘slash & burn’ activities for fuel usage. This is called deforestation.

· Originally, 6 million square miles of tropical rainforest existed worldwide, but as a result of deforestation, only 2.6 million square miles remain.

· Every second, a slice of rainforest the size of a football pitch is mowed down. That’s 86,400 football pitches of rainforest per day, or over 31 million football pitches of rainforest each year.

· More than 56,000 square miles of natural forest are lost each year.

· At the current rate 5-10% of tropical rainforest species will be extinct every decade.

A NATURAL DEFENCE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

· Rainforests act as the world’s thermostat by regulating temperatures and weather patterns.

· One-fifth of the world’s fresh water is found in the Amazon basin. They are critical to our limited supply of fresh water.

· Rainforests are the biggest Carbon Sink on the planet after the oceans.

BIO DIVERSITY

· A typical patch of rainforest (4sq miles) contains 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds & 150 species of butterflies.

· Covering less than 2% of the Earth’s total surface area, the world’s rainforests are home to half of the Earth’s plants and animals.

· Rainforests provide timber, coffee, cocoa and 70% of the plants identified as useful in the treatment of cancer.

PEOPLE & POVERTY

· Nearly 90% of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide depend on forests for their livelihood.

· 57% of the world’s forests, including most tropical forests, are located in developing countries.

· As forests disappear, so do their inhabitants. Brazil’s Amazon population has been reduced from 6 million to 250,000 people.