A disappearing paradise
Tenzin Tsomo XI A
Rainforests since time reminiscent have
been a place of great wonder and curiosity. These places are known to have the
most diverse and vibrant forms of living species in the world as, these rich
biomes are the natural habitats of about three-fourths of known plant and
animal species in the world. Mostly found in Latin America( One fourth in
Brazil), Southeast Asia, Africa, and in some Pacific islands, tropical
rainforests as well as temperate rainforests found in some continents near the
pacific are the most fascinating places of extensive research and adventure for
zoologists around the world.
We humans, rely on rainforests for the
production and direct consumption of a large variety of organic products. Also
a large number of vegetables and staple crops which are prevalent in our daily
diet are originally from the rainforests. One of the main attractions in the
rainforest resources is the exotic amount and variety of wood found in these
places. This accounts to the great demand for logging of rainforest trees for
commercial purposes. Other than that rainforests are major contributors to the
terrestrial global carbon pool or to put
it more simply the carbon cycle. They are beneficiary for not only humans but
for every living organism surviving till now.
Sadly, the human greed for the
rainforest resources are causing great changes and are rapidly taking toll on
the animals and plant species living in them. In the ancient times these biomes
were cleared/or in more literal meaning, ’razed to the ground for farming
purposes through the method of shifting cultivation. This practice has
destroyed great tracts of rainforest areas.
But the shift to the modern twenty first century has posed a surprising
and an even greater threat for the rainforests. Such type of threats, which may
eventually lead to the extinction of these great natural habitats.
With reference to the conservation groups, it
is estimated that globally, the equivalent of two football fields of
rainforests (about 2.5 acres or 1 acre )
is destroyed in a passing second and each day amounts to an area larger than
New York City or about 214,000 acres of rainforest area! . The destruction is
paving the way to the extinction of more than 100 species a day and about 20
percent of the surviving species within a generation. The countermeasures for
protecting the rainforests can be performed but if we belittle the action plan,
the chances of saving these natural paradise is simply ‘zero’.
It is in our
hands, whether we choose to wait and watch or, do something today that our
future world will thank you for.
