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Evergreen, tropical rain forests are to be found on all continents, on both sides of the equator, about the 10-th degree of latitude, especially in South America, Asia and Central Africa. The biggest coherent surface - more than half of the total area of all tropical rain forests - is in the area of the Amazon basin. Other big rain forests are still to be found in the Congo basin and in Indonesia. The tropical rain forest marks an ecological system which encloses a huge number of forest types: on one hand, the lowland rain forest to about 800-m height, on the other hand the mountain rain forest to about 1500-m height and the nebulous forest from 2000-m height. |
The tropical rain forest is home for approximately 90% of all kinds of species in this world. The ecological system rain forest carries the main interest of the worldwide biodiversity and is comparable with the coral reefs of the oceans. The rain forests of Asia, America and Central africa contribute with lasting effect to the worldwide climate protection. Only about 7% of the land mass of our globe are still covered with rain forest. Every minute our globe loses approximately 28 ha of forest. The population explosion, unawareness and greed carry a responsiblity for the clearing of rain forests in an inconceivable speed.
Biodiversity is also called "life insurance of the nature “. Only the variety of the species, the genes and ecological systems enables it to adjust itself always adaptably to new conditions like climate change.
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A great part of our western drugs is based on rain forest plants. One estimates only about 1% up to now of the plants at a possible remedial effect been investigated. The rain forest and its rich vegetation is the biggest hope of the medicine against illnesses like cancer and AIDS.
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The animals of the rain forest carry substantially an addition to guarntee the biodiversity in the rain forests. Many types of tree species and botanical species germinate only after chewed, swallowed and part-digested by an animal.
With every felled tree in the rain forest not yet discovered, endemic animals and plants get lost forever..
For every felled tree rises the CO2 interest and aggravates a global process whose consequences have become uncalculable. |
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| The gigantic rain forests are the " green lung “ of the planet, our biggest CO2 memory and oxygen supplier. Today the lungs of our planet are very ill. |
The animals of the rain forest, in particular the last apes, the Gorrilas, Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Orangutans and many other animals are threatened by extinction. It is five after twelve. Now for many animals any help already gets too late.
What can you do?
There are already some important projects and initiatives which work to preserve the rain forest. WPE strives in with existing organisation to work close together. A competition thinking here is absent on the place. The rain forests need any conceivable help.
Support WPE, become a member. |
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Today’s human induced degradation of forests is too rapid and can not allow the natural ecological processes that support life to function properly.
This makes a mockery of the term ‘sustainable forestry’ if it is applied to a cutting cycle of a few decades in natural forests, when the trees being logged are centuries old.
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Co-evolution of seeds and fruit eating animals – known as seed dispersal agents - has led to mutual dependence. In order to survive passage through an animal’s gut, such seeds have developed such a tough outer coat that they are unlikely to germinate unless chewed, swallowed and part-digested by an animal. And of course the animal’s dung provides a neat package of fertiliser. Trials have shown conclusively that more of these seeds germinate and more seedlings survive if dispersed by an animal than if they fall on the ground from the parent plant.
A recent study in South America showed that in heavily hunted forests, where primate numbers were much reduced, there were far fewer seedlings germinated.
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It is thus evident then, that if forests are to survive on the long-term, protecting the trees by banning logging is not enough; hunting must be stopped too (or at least reduced to legal and sustainable levels), especially of keystone species such as primates and elephants.
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