how much is left of the rainforest in africa?

Question

does it really matter that it is going away, is it causing us the GREEN HOUSE effect, they say that all the insect and animals that live in there are helping to create medicines to help humanity-are we going to run out or just clone the antibodies after its all gone.

Answer 1

This is a good question involving energy budget, climate, topography with challenges to ecosystems and species, even medicine!
First, the statement made about the Amazon Rainforest's contribution to the worlds oxygen supply is a scientific estimate, not a fact. Also, the infrared radiation is emitted by Earth after it is heated by the higher frequency, intense solar radiation.
Wiens law on the wavelength of radiation emitted by a blackbody will give you an idea.
Which brings us to the rainforests. Vegetation can absorb the solar energy and use it for biological processes. Less will be reflected to the atmosphere. Check out how the albedo of a surface can affect the global energy budget. Also, studies show that lower latitude tropical rainforests show greater biodiversity (vegetation, birds, insects) than other habitats of the world. One tree, like a gum, can affect a suprisingly amount of life. Problem is that rainforest ecosystems have a cycle that is devestated by clear-cutting. That is one problem with affecting environments that provide for the development of behaviors, organisms, and chemicals in ways that humans have yet to study, to understand, and possibly to imagine.
More on the energy budget, how Earth's emissions interact with atmospheric gases, biodiversity, and nucleotide/protein synthesis anyone ...

Answer 2

In 1992, tropical forests covered 7 percent of Africa. This 7 percent represented approximately 20 percent of the remaining global rainforests at the time, and is most likely substantially less than it is today. Africa's rainforests are the most destroyed of all tropical regions, and it is said that only 30% of the original forests still remain.

The rainforests are definitely not causing the Greenhouse Effect; in fact, they are a powerful force in preventing it. First, you must understand what the Greenhouse Effect is. CO2, or carbon dioxide, is known as a greenhouse gas because it traps heat. We produce a heck-of-a-lot of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from factories and pollution and whatnot. These gases gather up in the atmosphere. When the sun shines on the earth, some of the light turns into infrared rays and warms up the earth. Some of the light from the sun is reflected off the earth, and exits the atmosphere into space. Some of the infrared rays also refect of the earth and exit into space. However, some of these infrared rays, as they bounce off the earth, run into the greenhouse gases that are gathered in the atmosphere. The rays bounce off these gases, and return to earth, therefore heating it up. The most greenhouse gases there are in the atmosphere, the more infrared rays get bounced back to earth. The more rays that get bounced back, the hotter it's going to be. Check out this diagram of the Greenhouse Effect by clicking the link below.
http://water.me.vccs.edu/courses/ENV211/changes/greenhouse.jpg

The tropical rainforests are considered as the 'world's largest pharmacy' because of the large amount of natural medicines found there. Nearly HALF - yeah, half - of the medicines we use today come from the rainforest. And guess what? So far, only 1% - yes, 1 measly percent - of these tropical trees and plants have been tested so far for helpful medical properties. Imagine if we were to test all of these different species! Imagine what cures we would find.

As for 'running out' of these cures from the rainforest, it is definitely possible from the rate of deforestation due to logging and other reasons. I'm not sure if we could just clone these ingredients, but even if we could, if we lost the rainforests, we could be losing cures for diseases that we haven't found cures for yet, like cancer, AIDS, HIV, and so much more. We can't really clone something we don't have, right?

And, I just want to add this fact I heard about from watching this TV special, but did you know that the Amazon Rainforest accounts for 1/5 of the world's oxygen supply? That's a lot of oxygen.

Hope this helps!