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

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.

Forests cover 31% of total land area.   The livelihoods of 1.6 billion people depend on forests.   Forests provide a home to more than 300 million people worldwide.   The total global trade in forest products was valued at around $379 billion in 2005.   Forests are home to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity.

In this high-tech world of metal and plastic, it's easy to forget that many things are still made with good, old-fashioned wood. Countries with lots of forest stand to benefit from the lucrative timber trade, but at what cost to their ecological footprint? Here are five major timber exporters, and who is buying their wood. © WWF / GOOD / SectionDesign The Global Timber Trade, Who's Buying, Who's Selling? In this high-tech world of metal and plastic, it's easy to forget that many things are still made with good, old-fashioned wood. Countries with lots of forest stand to benefit from the lucrative timber trade, but at what cost to their ecological footprint? Here are 5 major timber exporters, and who is buying their wood. Our EarthForestsImportance of ForestsForest conservationTypes of ForestsProblemsSearch Forest News & Resources Priority Forests Amur-Heilong Amazon Borneo Forests Caucasus Carpathians Congo Basin European Alps Himalayas Mediterranean Forests Mekong Forests New Guinea Forests Did you know? The five most forest-rich countries are the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the USA and China, and they account for more than half of the total forest area. Ten countries or areas have no forest at all and an additional 54 have forest on less than 10% of their total land area.

Five Basic Steps to Saving Rainforests "TREES" is a concept originally devised for an elementary school audience but serves well as set of principles for saving rainforests and, on a broader scale, ecosystems around the world. Teach others about the importance of the environment and how they can help save rainforests. Restore damaged ecosystems by planting trees on land where forests have been cut down. Encourage people to live in a way that doesn't hurt the environment. Establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife. Support companies that operate in ways that minimize damage to the environment.

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.

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.

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