The Rainforests are of two types, Tropical and Temperate. These are located near the equator. The temperature at these areas stays above 80 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year. In about 85 countries the Tropical Rainforests are concentrated. The damp and dense forests grow in Africa, Latin and South America and South East Asia. 50% of these Forests are within the borders of Brazil, Indonesia and Zaire. These Forests provide habitat for plant and animal species. The three layers of a Tropical Rainforest provide habitat for mammals, birds, snakes, etc. The canopy of the Forests grows normally to a height of above 200 feet, thus providing a shield for the sunrays, which get reflected, and a cool atmosphere is maintained inside the forest.
Temperate Rainforests are found in Canada, United States, New Zealand, Chile, Scotland and Ireland. Temperate Rainforests are fewer and the soil more nutrient than the Tropical ones.
How important are the Rainforests? They are very very important. The plants in the Rainforests breathe carbon dioxide and release oxygen thus giving us fresh and clean air. The environment becomes full of breathable air and this helps us in fighting pollution. The plants, some of very rare species, may some day provide us with the cures for the worst and fatal diseases for which, till now, mankind has not found any cure. Even after knowing this fact that the Rainforests are a perennial resource of all kinds of wealth, the Forests are destroyed systematically and unscrupulously, which is quite alarming. This results in the erosion of all fertile and nutrient soil and the land ultimately becomes a desert. Environmental and climatic changes occur globally leading to untold miseries to the humanity. The inhabitants do farming by cutting down the trees. Ranchers cut the forests for pastures for their cattle. The trees are cut and used for building houses, for pulp for paper industries and making furniture. By these acts the area of Tropical rainforests has drastically reduced from 20% to a mere 6%.
We should boycott, globally, of any kind of products which come out to the markets by the destruction of the Rainforests, avoid buying furniture made out of Ebony, Mahogany, Teakwood and Rosewood, etc. which are cut from the Forests. We should try to acquire Rainforests; the costs will be definitely cheap. Let us protect the Forests from poachers, burners and illegal woodcutters. We have to educate the local population to protect the Forests and compel them to refrain from cultivating, logging and hunting and make available to them alternative opportunities for their occupation.
