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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."
spunk9

Problems - Loss of Species - 0 views

www.webofcreation.org/...species.htm

WWF

shared by spunk9 on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Massive extinctions have occurred five times during the earth's history, the last one was the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Scientists are calling what is occurring now, the sixth mass extinction. The loss of species is about losing the very web of life on Earth
  • Within the next 30 years as many as half of the species on the earth could die in one of the fastest mass extinctions in the planet's 4.5 billion years history.
  • There is also the loss of the genetic diversity within species, as well as the loss of diversity of different types of ecosystems ,which can contribute to or hasten whole species extinction.
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  • "Every day, an estimated 100 plant and animal species are lost to deforestation" . . . "A conservative estimate of the current extinction rate indicates that about 27,000 species a year are being lost." National Wildlife Federation
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.,
  • 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.
  • 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.
Vishuka Mathur

Interesting Facts & Information: tourism, travel, culture, language, business... - 1 views

www.kwintessential.co.uk/...61

Brazil information facts tourism Eco-Tour Eco-Tourism

shared by Vishuka Mathur on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • When on an ecotour the holiday makers will usually be under the guidance on a naturalist or an expert on the area to help people observe, understand and appreciate the wildlife, fauna and flora. Ecotourism has become an ethical alternative in the tourism industry and is growing in popularity.
    • Vishuka Mathur
      Vishuka Mathur on 22 May 12
       
      This is referring to how Eco tourism attracts tourism in a country, giving a chance for the people to understand and experience the wild life.  
  • Amazon is home to 20% of the world's bird species, 20% of its plant species, 10% of its mammal species and 3000 species of fish. As a result it is a great place to go on holiday or vacation for an ecotour.
    • Vishuka Mathur
      Vishuka Mathur on 22 May 12
       
      Here we can see why is it good to live there and some statistics on the population of plants and more wild life.
  • A genuine ecotour should however offer the tourist the following elements: education, conservation, sustainable development and benefit to local people. If any of these elements are missing from a potential ecotourism operator then possibly think again.
    • Vishuka Mathur
      Vishuka Mathur on 22 May 12
       
      Here we can see how Eco tourism is done, and what all the Eco tour should cover up, including how it benefits the local people with education about wild life and its conservation, & how it's sustainable.
spunk9

Human activity is driving Earth's 'sixth great extinction event' | Environment | The Gu... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...-extinction-hotspots-australia

WWF

shared by spunk9 on 04 Jun 12 - Cached
  • The review, published in the journal Conservation Biology, highlights destruction and degradation of ecosystems as the main threat. In Australia, agriculture has altered or destroyed half of all woodland and forests. Around 70% of the remaining forest has been damaged by logging. Loss of habitats is behind 80% of threatened species, the report claims.
  • More than 2,500 invasive plant species have colonised Australia and New Zealand, competing for sunlight and nutrients. Many have been introduced by governments, horticulturists and hunters. In addition, the report says, average temperatures in Australia have increased, in line with climate change predictions, forcing some species towards Antarctica and others to higher, cooler ground.
Aries Wangbunyen

Rainforest Concern - Why are rainforests important? - 0 views

www.rainforestconcern.org/...why_the_importance

WWF Aries

shared by Aries Wangbunyen on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • They provide a habitat for plants and animals Tropical rainforests took between 60 and 100 million years to evolve and are believed to be the oldest and most complex land-based ecosystem on earth, containing over 30 million species of plants and animals. That's half of the Earth's wildlife and at least two-thirds of its plant species!
  • contain 1000 trees with up to 300 species.
  • There are many more thousands of rainforest plants and animals species still waiting to be discovered.
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  • Without rainforests continually recycling huge quantities of water, feeding the rivers, lakes and irrigation systems, droughts would become more common, potentially leading to widespread famine and disease.
  • Did you know that we also depend on trees to cleanse our atmosphere? They absorb the carbon dioxide that we exhale, and provide the oxygen we need to breathe. When rainforest trees are burnt they release carbon dioxide, which pollutes the atmosphere and contributes to global warming. Deforestation is in fact considered the second major driver of climate change (more than the entire global transport sector), responsible for 18-25% of global annual carbon dioxide emissions.
spunk9

Endangered Species - humans, body, water, Earth, plants, animals, oxygen, air, plant, c... - 0 views

www.scienceclarified.com/...Endangered-Species.html

WWF

shared by spunk9 on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • spunk9 on 04 Jun 12
     
    basic information about extinct species
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.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • 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.
spunk9

Species Extinction - 0 views

library.thinkquest.org/...extinction.htm

WWF

shared by spunk9 on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
    • spunk9
      spunk9 on 04 Jun 12
       
      The species are dying at a alarming rate already and if we destroy the rain forest even more the web of life will be effected badly
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
Tulsi Jipp

WWF - Tropical Forests - 0 views

wwf.panda.org/...tropical_forests

rainforest amazon tropical WWF

shared by Tulsi Jipp on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • For biologists, tropical rainforests are some of the richest, most exciting areas on earth! They are home to gigantic trees, colourful birds, millions of brightly hued insects, and a variety of fascinating mammals. There are 3 main regions of tropical rainforest: in Central and South America, in West and Central Africa, and in Southeast Asia.
  • ropical rainforests have more kinds of trees than any other forests in the world. The richest in plant species are Amazon forests, but in general all tropical forests have an incredible variety of trees
Aries Wangbunyen

The Effects of Destroying the Tropical Rainforests - 0 views

www.scalloway.org.uk/phye2.htm

rainforest amazon tropical WWF

shared by Aries Wangbunyen on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • When the trees are cut down it takes away the habitat of the plants and animals. It also reduces the space for the indigenous people who have lived there for thousands of years.
  • This way of life has died out with contact from incomers.
  • Some native groups suffered greatly from diseases which they had no resistance to.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Deforestation has led to the loss of thousands of species of insects, animals and plants. It means that important chemicals that could be used for medical purposes have not been found and will be lost.
  • Without the branches and leaves to break its fall, heavy tropical storms can quickly wash the soil from even an gentle slope.
  • The climate of the area becomes drier with the loss of the vegetation which acts as a "sponge" to hold on to the moisture. Having less cloud cover means the increase in temperatures. Both the burning of the trees and their reduced number increases the concentration of carbon dioxide. The extra carbon dioxide is believed to contribute to global warming, which in turn is blamed for the rise in sea level.
mikitsujiyama

For a Living Amazon! - 1 views

wwf.panda.org/...amazon

WWF

shared by mikitsujiyama on 22 May 12 - No Cached
  • One in ten known species on Earth lives in the Amazon. Its forests contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, the release of even a portion of which would accelerate global warming significantly. 30 million people living in the Amazon depend on its resources and services – not to mention many millions more living as far away as North America and Europe, but still within the Amazon’s far-reaching climatic influence.
Ness T

Benefits of Ecotourism-Advantages and Disadvantages for Ecotourism - 0 views

www.benefitsofecotourism.com/...d-disadvantages-for-ecotourism

ecotoursim rainforest benefits disadvantages

shared by Ness T on 05 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • here are many more advantages of ecotourism than disadvantages
  • if done right, the goals of ecotourism are to help the environment, preserve natural resources as well as help the local communities and economies.
  • to make a lot of money from tourists
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • seeking environmentally friendly vacations
  • friendly activities
  • preserve nature, wildlife, species and earth's natural resources as well as help local people with access to civilization and education.
  • if a country is prime for ecotourism, the money could be used to preserve the environment in that country so that the natural resources would last longer.
  • benefit from the growth in their economy
  • no longer
  • live poorly
  • the locals rarely benefit from the growth of their economy
  • nvestors and foreign corporations do.
  • environment and natural resources rarely get preserved because they are worth more in a theme park attracting ecotourists.
  • Ness T on 05 Jun 12
     
    Mostly Positive (and some negative) sides of Eco-Tourism, very basic, clear, short, to the point website.
tharin

Rainforest furniture - 0 views

thestar.com.my/...story.asp

furniture WWF

shared by tharin on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • tharin on 05 Jun 12
     
    By SYLVIA WESTALL Love your new dining room table ... but did you ask the salesman whether it's made from chopped up rainforest trees? A growing number of shoppers are doing just that when buying furniture because of concerns about the effects of shrinking rainforests on global warming and the extinction of rare species of flora and fauna that inhabit these forests.
Tulsi Jipp

Earth's environment getting worse, not better, says WWF ahead of Rio+20 | Environment |... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...earth-environment-wwf-rio20

tropical WWF

shared by Tulsi Jipp on 04 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Most alarming, says the report, is that many of these changes have accelerated in the past decade, despite the plethora of international conventions signed since the initial Rio Summit in 1992.
  • Climate-warming carbon emissions have increased 40% in the past 20 years, but two-thirds of that rise occurred in the past decade.
  • Wealthy countries have seen some improvement, with the Living Planet biodiversity index, rising 7% since 1970, as nature reserves and protections were introduced. But the biodiversity index has dropped by 60% in developing countries, where people depend more on nature.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • "The Living Planet report shows that the biggest single drop in the living planet index is for freshwater species in tropical areas, which have shown a decline of 70% since 1970," said David Tickner, head of freshwater at WWF-UK.
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