UWC Grade 5 (2009-2010)

There are economic reasons for countries to cut down their rainforests. Farmland is made. This is both arable land which is used for tropical crops such as cassava and bananas, and grass land which is used for livestock farming, mainly cattle ranching. This farmland, as well as providing food, gives employment and earns money in export earnings for the country. The wood cut down is sold as timber and used as fuel. Tropical hardwoods are much in demand for use in building and furniture. The main markets for the tropical hardwoods are in the developed world. It will allow the mining of minerals. Many important ores such as bauxite and iron ore have been found in tropical rainforest areas. The most economical way to remove the rocks is often by opencast mining, which means that the trees have to be cut down. The produce power and water supplies. Rivers have been dammed to make large reservoirs for Hydro-Electric Power schemes. An example is the Sobradino Dam on the San Francisco River in Brazil.

All of the primary forests in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are gone. Ivory Coast's forests are essentially non-existent. Nigeria's forests have been decimated as well.

  Peasant farmers also clear the rainforest to have land for planting, by cutting the forest, and then in the dry season burning what they have cut.

Today we have less than 1.5 billion acres left, and we are clearing this remaining rainforest at the rate of 30 to 50 million acres per year, two to three times as rapidly as just a few decades ago.

  It is increasingly vitally important to plant tropical hardwood trees for harvest and to protect the world's remaining tropical rainforests.      It is also vitally important to get the message out to others about the importance

With the help and faith of our tree owners, with more than 2 million tropical hardwood trees planted to date, we are beginning to make a difference.