The Environmental Damage to Tropical Rainforests
Tropical Forest Degradation Continues to Damage the Environment
Jun 8, 2009
The continuing environmental damage to tropical rainforests, dubbed the "Lungs of the Earth", has negative impacts on biodiversity, climate and ecosystems.
Although only occupying a small percentage of the Earth’s land surface, tropical rainforests contain a large part of the planet’s biodiversity and play a large role in the global environment. Often considered as the lungs of the planet, they sequester huge amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide while exuding oxygen. Although the environmental importance of tropical rainforests is well recognized, because they are so rich in resources they are under constant threat from non-sustainable development.
The Environmental Importance of Tropical Rainforests
Tropical rainforests are havens of biodiversity and have numerous impacts on the Earth’s environment.
- Environmental Science by Chiras, published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers in 2006 states, “Tropical rain forests exist near the equator in South and Central America, Africa and Asia. By far the most complex and diverse of all the Earth's biomes, tropical rain forests support a wealth of plants, animals and microorganisms.”
- Jonathan Cowie, author of Climate Change, published by Cambridge University Press in 2007 argues that, “Currently, undisturbed tropical rainforests appear to function as carbon sinks and so they help slow global warming.”
- In Tropical Forests, published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers in 2008, the author Bernard Marcus claims, “Tropical rainforests have been described as the lungs of the planet. The year-round photosynthesis carried on by the tropical plants takes carbon dioxide out of the air and replaces it with oxygen.”
- William Laurance, author of Emerging Threats to Tropical Forests, published by University of Chicago Press in 2006, points out that, “Because tropical forests house at least half of all Earth's species, changes in these high-biodiversity forests will have a large impact on global biodiversity.”
- Forest, by Tom Warhol, published by Marshall Cavendish in 2007 sums up the environmental importance of tropical rainforests when it states, “The tropical rainforest is the most diverse and productive biome on the planet. Two and a half acres of forest may contain up to 750 species of tree, 1,500 species of vascular plants, and 42,000 species of insects.”
Causes of Tropical Forest Degradation
Illegal logging, land change use, the move to biofuel production and even climate change mitigation efforts, such as the Kyoto Clean Mechanism Development, all pose a threat to the rainforest biome.
- The Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project produced a report entitled “An Emergency Package for Tropical Forests” in March 2009 which states, “Rainforests are being lost at an alarming rate, mostly because destructive logging and conversion to agriculture provide compelling financial returns.”
- Vested Interests, published by Global Witness in June 2009 argues that, “Intact tropical rainforests are virtually immune to fire, but as these forests are degraded by human activities the frequency and extent of fires increase. In particular, degradation due to industrial logging is one of the major causes of increased fire susceptibility in tropical forests.”
- A Dangerous Distraction, edited by Adam Bradbury and published by Friends of the Earth in June 2009 shows that under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism as presently defined, tropical rainforests converted to plantations, especially of palm oil, would qualify as carbon offsets, thus encouraging developed countries to support deforestation in order to nominally lower their carbon emissions.
- Global Environmental Outlook 4, by the United Nations Environment Programme, published by Earthscan in 2007 claims, “Tropical forests are the terrestrial system likely to be the most affected by human actions in the first half of this century, largely through habitat conversion for agricultural expansion (including the growth of biofuel plantations).”
The copyright of the article The Environmental Damage to Tropical Rainforests in Reforestation is owned by Laurence O'Sullivan. Permission to republish The Environmental Damage to Tropical Rainforests in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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