Introduction to Rainforest Deforestation

As the needs of humans and their demands on industry grow, rainforest deforestation is becoming an increasingly large environmental problem. The devastating effects of human activity on the rainforests can be seen in the dramatic reduction in the amount of earth’s surface they cover. Once rainforests coated as much as 14% of Earth’s surface, but today the number is closer to 6%, and shrinking. Every second, one and a half acres of rainforest are lost forever, complete with nearly 137 plant, animal, and insect species every day. Many of these estimated 5,000 species lost every year were never discovered and now never will be. Some estimates hold that the rainforest will be completely wiped out in as little as 40 years.

The possible impacts of this tragedy are menacingly colossal when one considers that nearly half of all plant and animal species on Earth are endemic to the rainforest. About 25% of medicines used in the modern pharmaceutical market are derived from rainforest ingredients. However, currently less than one percent of the trees in the rainforest have been tested for medicinal properties. Imagine the potential contained within this vast pool of resources that is currently being ruined.