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Daniel Herten

Medicinal Treasures of the Rainforest: Discover the healing resources of the Amazon - 1 views

www.adventure-life.com/...rainforest-medicine-78

scientist

shared by Daniel Herten on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • A look at the botanical treasures, both known and undiscovered, that exist within tropical rainforests.
  • The abundant botanical resources of tropical forests have already provided tangible medical advances; yet only 1 percent of the known plant and animal species have been thoroughly examined for their medicinal potentials.
  • 20 or 25 percent of the world's plant species will be extinct by the year 2000.
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  • Approximately 7,000 medical compounds prescribed by Western doctors are derived from plants
  • These drugs had an estimated retail value of US$43 billion in 1985
  • For maladies ranging from nagging headaches to lethal contagions such as malaria, rainforest medicines have provided modern society with a variety of cures and pain relievers.
  • • Quinine, an aid in the cure of malaria, is an alkaloid extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree found in Latin America and Africa. • From the deadly poisonous bark of various curare lianas, used by generations of indigenous peoples in Latin America, has been isolated the alkaloid d-turbocuarine, which is used to treat such diseases as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other muscular disorders. It also permits tonsillectomies, eye, abdominal and other kinds of surgery due to its anesthetic qualities. • From Africa, Madagascar's rosy periwinkle provides two important anti-tumor agents. One provides for a 99 percent chance of remission in cases of lymphocytic leukemia. The other offers a life in remission to 58 percent of Hodgkin's Disease sufferers. In 1960, only 19 percent had a chance for survival. Commercial sales of drugs derived from this one plant are about US$160 million a year. • Without wild yams from Mexico and Guatemala, society would be without diosgenin and cortisone, the active ingredients in birth control pills. Until recently this plant provided the world with its entire supply of diosgenin.
  • Finally, rainforest plants provide aids for research.
  • testing agents for potentially harmful food and drug products
  • Tropical forests offer hope for safer contraceptives for both women and men. The exponential growth of world population clearly demonstrates the need for more reliable and effectiv
  • e birth control methods. Worldwide, approximately 4,000 plant species have been shown to offer contraceptive possibilities.
  • The chemical components of plants that medicine men use in healing rites could conceivably be building blocks for new drugs or even cures for such scourges as cancer or AIDS.
dodo8140

Rainforest Plants Used for Medicine - 1 views

www.buzzle.com/...-plants-used-for-medicine.html

rainforest plants medicine scientist

shared by dodo8140 on 02 Jun 12 - Cached
  • dodo8140 on 02 Jun 12
     
    This is the some things the scientists uses
Namsai Sethpornpong

Uses of trees - 1 views

www.botanical-online.com/usesoftrees.htm

scientist cosmetics CEO Eco-Tour Eco-Tourism WWF furniture

shared by Namsai Sethpornpong on 22 May 12 - No Cached
    • Namsai Sethpornpong
      Namsai Sethpornpong on 22 May 12
       
      Trees for Obtention of Medicines and Natural Remedies: This is going to be my point about why I need to keep the Rainforest. I need to use this exotic plants to help me to come up with more medicines to benefit for us. 
  • Namsai Sethpornpong on 22 May 12
     
    This is about the uses of the trees and plants in the rain forest. 
spunk9

Rainforest Facts - 0 views

www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_007.htm

WWF

shared by spunk9 on 22 May 12 - Cached
  • Often described as the Earth’s lungs, only in reverse, the tropical rainforests
  • What’s truly amazing, however, is that while the tropical rainforests cover just 2% of the Earth's land surface, they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet. Additionally, "nearly half the medicinal compounds we use every day come from plants endemic to the tropical rainforest." If a cure for cancer or AIDS is to be found, it’ll almost certainly come from the tropical rainforests.
  • The Primary Source, writes that "tropical rainforests are the Earth’s oldest continuous ecosystems.
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  • The largest rainforests are found in the Amazon Basin of South America, in Western African countries that skirt the equator, as well as South Pacific countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
  • Often described as the Earth’s lungs, only in reverse, the tropical rainforests, take in vast quantities of carbon dioxide (a poisonous gas which mammals exhale) and through the process of photosynthesis, converts it into clean, breathable air. In fact, the tropical rainforests are the single greatest terrestrial source of air that we breathe.
  • tropical rainforests cover just 2% of the Earth's land surface
    • spunk9
      spunk9 on 04 Jun 12
       
      The rain forest has really less space but it is home of two thirds of the living species which mean that if we destroy just a little bit it effects alot of species
  • they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet.
  • Fossil records show that the forests of Southeast Asia have existed in more or less their present form for 70 to 100 million years
  • Circling the Earth’s equator like a belt, the tropical rainforests maintain a near constant temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit and receive anywhere from 160 to 400 inches of rain per year.
  • a typical four-mile square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1,500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 125 mammal species, 400 species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians, and 150 different species of butterflies."
mikitsujiyama

Sky Rainforest Rescue - 0 views

www.wwf.org.uk/...sky_rainforest_rescue.cfm

WWF

shared by mikitsujiyama on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • environmental importance of the world’s vast tropical rainforests is well known – both
  • Home » What we do » Safeguarding the natural world » Forests » Forests where we work » Amazon » Sky Rainforest Rescue Sky Rainforest Rescue Help WWF and Sky save a billion trees in the Amazon WWF has joined forces with Sky for an exciting campaign to help protect part of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Our target is to safeguard a billion trees, covering an area about the size of Belgium. Why we’re involved T
  • in terms of species diversity and for regulating the global climate.  Rainforests are also a crucial source of lots of products we use and benefit from every day, including cocoa, nuts, fruit, timber and many medicines. But deforestation from activities like illegal logging, clearance for cattle ranching and development of roads threatens the Amazon. Today an area the size of three football pitches is destroyed every minute. Sky Rainforest Rescue is based in the state of Acre in western Brazil where we are pioneering a new initiative by working with local communities – including rubber tappers and farmers – to help make it more profitable to keep trees standing than to clear forest.
Aylie Fucella

People of the Amazon | Greenpeace International - 0 views

www.greenpeace.org/...people-of-the-amazon

amazon people greenpeace indigenous

shared by Aylie Fucella on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • The Brazilian Amazon alone is home to 20 million people including 400 different indigenous groups and the future of the Amazon depends on the future of those that call the forest home.
  • It provides almost everything from food and shelter to tools and medicines, as well as playing a crucial role in people's spiritual and cultural life.
  • As logging companies move in, indigenous people are losing their traditional territory. Some indigenous people, such as the Deni living in a remote area of Brazil's Amazonas state, are working not only to protect their culture, but the forest and the diversity of life upon which they depend.
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  • use 32 plant species in the construction of hunting equipment alone. Each plant has a specific role according to its physical and chemical properties.
  • Manaus is the commercial centre of the Amazon region with a population of almost two million.
  • Aylie Fucella on 05 Jun 12
     
    looks cool ANGUS
Aries Wangbunyen

WWF - Amazon - World's largest tropical rain forest and river basin - 0 views

www.worldwildlife.org/...index.html

rainforest amazon tropical WWF

shared by Aries Wangbunyen on 22 May 12 - Cached
  • The landscape contains:One in ten known species on Earth1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests4,100 miles of winding rivers
  • Basin
  • 2.6 million square miles, about 40 percent of South America, in the Amazon
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The rain forests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate.Unfortunately, deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.
  • Amazon, a place two-thirds the size of the U.S.,
  • Unfortunately, deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.
  • There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The rain forests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate.
  • WWF has been working in the Amazon for 40 years
  • construction of roads and dams, and extractive activities including illegal logging and climate change are the biggest drivers of deforestation and river degradation. At current deforestation rates, 55% of the Amazon's rainforests could be gone by 2030
  • 40,000 plant species, 3,000 freshwater fish species and more than 370 reptile species exist in the Amazon. It is one of the world’s last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins and home to many birds and butterflies. Thousands of tree-dwelling species including southern two-toed sloths, pygmy marmosets, saddleback and emperor tamarins and Goeldi’s monkeys are found here too.
  • More than 30 million people from 350 indigenous and ethnic groups live in the Amazon and depend on nature for agriculture, clothing and traditional medicines. Most live in large urban centers, but all residents rely on the Amazon’s natural bounty for food, shelter and livelihoods.
Aries Wangbunyen

Why are rainforests important? - 0 views

kids.mongabay.com/...401.html

WWF Aries

shared by Aries Wangbunyen on 04 Jun 12 - Cached
  • Rainforest in Honduras WHY ARE RAINFORESTS IMPORTANT? Flying over the heart of the Amazon is like flying over an ocean of green: an expanse of trees broken only by rivers. Even more amazing than their size is the role the Amazon and other rainforests around the world play in our everyday lives. While rainforests may seem like a distant concern, these ecosystems are critically important for our well-being.
  • Rainforests are often called the lungs of the planet for their role in absorbing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and producing oxygen, upon which all animals depend for survival. Rainforests also stabilize climate, house incredible amounts of plants and wildlife, and produce nourishing rainfall all around the planet. Rainforests: help stabilize the world’s climate; provide a home to many plants and animals; maintain the water cycle protect against flood, drought, and erosion; are a source for medicines and foods; support tribal people; and are an interesting place to visit
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