why is it important to save rainforests?

Question

in hawaii. tell me your source and lots of info. thanks!

Answer 1

Rainforests harbor thousands and thousands (if not millions) of species of plants, animals, and insects, many of which we have yet to truly discover and/or understand. We have learned about medicines from the rainforest, and we are constantly finding new uses for the resources we get from the rainforest. We can't afford to destroy it all before we can discover what's within it. We also need the atmosphere-cleaning we get from those millions of acres of plants and trees. The rainforests are home to people as well, and if we take that away, we'd be destroying civilizations and cultures, history, people, plants, animals, and insects. Permanently!

Answer 2

How do you define "important?" It's actually not all that important for humans or the planet in general...it's mostly important to the plants and animals that live there. Defining importance is more of a human value, not a natural one. In the eons of time, the Earth has gone through great natural changes...from times with far more rain forest than we have now, to times with far less. Through it all life has persisted. So how important are they really?

As for oxygen...the science is not settled as to rain forests being net suppliers or users of oxygen. The short answer to the question is that it's too close to call...it's far more complicated than simply saying "plants emit oxygen," because plants also use oxygen, especially when they die and decay. The bottom line that most people seem ignorant of is that the Earth's oxygen supply (99% of it) comes from plankton in the ocean, not from plants on the land (including rain forests). You could burn down every forest on Earth and the oxygen supply would only be reduced by 0.1% (source below). The debate over saving rain forests has nothing to do with oxygen.

I'm not saying it's okay to cut down all the rain forests. I feel that we humans should always be pragmatic when it comes to our impact on the environment. Don't deny that we will have some impact, but we should always balance that with conservation and wise-use practices.

Answer 3

The rainforests (particularly the Amazon) suck in huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide and emit large amounts of Oxygen (thus cooling the planet from the Green houose effect). Also most scientists estimate thousand (possibly millions) of undiscovered animal and plant species live in the rain forests, some of which may be benificial to humans in many areas (new drugs, for example).

Answer 4

rainforests are the main oxygen supply to th earth if we cut it all down we lose alot of oxygen plus more the 4000 species of plants and animals are found in the rainforest destroying their homes is certain death to them and when we lose a plant or animal species their roll in life goes unanswered and sends the planet into an unbalance and that certainly means the death for many other creatures

Answer 5

well it soaks up co2 a greenhouse gas, there fore reduces the effect of global warming! also it has one of the most diverse colections of species. plus many believe that plants in the rainforest may provide material that can be used to generalte a cure for modern day cancers. safe the trees man!

Answer 6

The importance of rainforests:

1.Biodiversity:
Tropical forests cover only twelve percent of the land-area of the Earth, yet they are home to between 50 and 90 percent of the world's species. Because of tropical deforestation, at least one species is disappearing every day. This rate of extinction is now 400 times faster than at any other period in the history of the planet.

2.Medicines:
Rainforests are a vital source of medicines. Today, less than 1 percent of the worlds tropical forest plants have been tested for pharmaceutical properties, yet a quarter of all modern medicines came originally from rainforests. Most were first discovered and used by indigenous people.

3.Food Diversity:
Rainforests also offer a bounty of foods. Foods that we use today which originated in rainforests include coffee, cocoa, many fruits and nuts, spices, rice, and other products such as rubber, gums, resins, dyes, tannins and cane. Of an estimated 75,000 edible plants found in nature, only 150 enter world commerce and only 20 (mostly domesticated cereals) stand between human society and starvation. This makes modern agriculture extremely vulnerable to pests, diseases and changes in climate. Genes from wild plants can be used to fortify modern varieties against this vulnerability. Without rainforests, this opportunity is lost, as is the chance to develop entirely new food plants.

4.Climate:
Tropical forests regulate global and regional climate-systems by acting as heat and water pumps. They release moisture into the atmosphere which returns to the ground as rain. When the forest is cleared, the water cycle is disrupted, temperatures increase, droughts become common, and eventually deserts may form. For example, the drought in the Sahelian belt (south of the Saharah Desert), has been attributed to deforestation in West Africa. Estimates suggest that tropical deforestation currently contributes at least 19% of greenhouse gas emissions. Tropical forests have been described as "the lungs of the Earth". However in mature primary forest, storage and release of carbon is in balance. Carbon-dioxide consumed during photosynthesis is equalled by that released when organic matter decays. A standing forest acts as a store or sink of carbon. On the other hand, when forests are burned or logged and the debris left to decay, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

5.Prevention of Flooding, Soil Loss and Siltation:
Tropical rainforest soils are very old and have been impoverished by eons of high rainfall leaching away their mineral nutrients. The forests have evolved to cope with this by rapidly recycling nutrients. Forest litter, and the droppings and remains of animals are quickly decomposed, releasing nutrients for uptake. Most nutrients are only available from this decomposing layer, so many rainforest trees are shallow-rooting and have buttresses for support.

Rainforests act like giant sponges, soaking up moisture, and then releasing it slowly. This moderates the flow of rivers thus preventing flooding and ensures that rivers and creeks continue to flow during periods of lower rainfall.

When the forest is cleared, rain falls directly onto the compacted soil, often resulting in serious soil-erosion, siltation and flooding. Major floods in southern Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines have been attributed to forest clearance.

Once the nutrient recycling-system is broken down, the land can't support human activities such as cattle ranching for more than a few short years.

6.Tropical Rainforests are Absorbers of Carbon Dioxide:
Scientists now say that the rainforest ecosystem in the Brazilian Amazon is a net absorber of carbone dioxide, and therefore helps to protect the earth against the greenhouse effect. This means that primary forests may be more important as carbon sinks than either young secondary forests or plantations. Over the past few years, the forest industry has argued that plantations are needed to absorb carbon dioxide, and plantations are still being established in place of natural forests in countries such as Indonesia and Chile.

Answer 7

oxygen is the main reason, however rainforests also soak up lots and lots of water, so if you plan uprooting the thousands of trees, and building on top of that land, you will have massive mudslide, and flooding problems. also millions of plants and animals inhabit rainforests... so yeah

Answer 8

Ever heard of Egypt, Antarctica, the Sahara Desert??? All of these used to be Rain Forests... Is that a good enough answer for you?

Answer 9

they keep our ecosystem healthy...they also to keep the diverse groups of living organisms alive so they won't go extinct...not to mention to slow down global warming...which will melt less of the ice at the N and S poles...cause less changes to the rapidly errantic weather conditons...it all links together...

Answer 10

becouse the tree produce oxigen and take away many of the nastys we produce they keep the worlsd in balance