Amazon Rainforest Facts
SAVE THE AMAZON FORESTRainforests are home to more species of plants and animals than the rest of the world put together. An astounding number of fruits (bananas, citrus), vegetables (peppers, okra), nuts (cashews, peanuts), drinks (coffee, tea, cola), oils (palm, coconut), flavorings (cocoa, vanilla, sugar, spices), and other foods (beans, grains, fish) come from rainforests.
Tropical forest oils, gums and resins are found in insecticides, rubber products, fuel, paint, varnish and wood finishing products, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, disinfectants, and detergents.
Madagascar is 2% of Africa's landmass but has 10,000 species of plants -- 80% are endemic (found no where else in the world). Madagascar is home to all of the world's lemurs -- all are endangered. Almost 90% of Madagascar's forests have been destroyed.
The Amazon River's annual outflow accounts for one-fifth of all the fresh water that drains into the world's oceans.
780 tree species have been found in a 10 hectare plot of Malaysian rainforest -- more than the total number of tree species native to the US and Canada.
In 1800, there were 2.9 billion hectares of tropical forest worldwide. There are 1.5 billion hectares of tropical forest remaining.
Between 1960-1990, 445 million hectares of tropical forest were cleared.
Asia lost almost a third of its tropical forest cover between 1960-1980 -- the world's highest rate of forest clearance.
Almost 90% of West Africa's rainforest has been destroyed.
We lose 50 species every day -- 2 species per hour -- due to tropical deforestation.
About 50% of all mammals and 25% of all bird species in peninsular Malaysia will become extinct by the year 2020 if the rainforest destruction continues.
Over 50% of the Earth's species live in tropical forests.
90% of all primates are found in tropical forests.
In Southeast Asia, traditional healers use 6,500 different tropical plants.
75% of Australia's tropical rainforest has been cleared since the late 1700s.
Over 90 different Amazonian tribes are thought to have disappeared in the 20th century.
It takes 60 years for a tropical rainforest tree to grow big enough to be used for timber.
Tropical rainforests cover 6% of the earth's surface and contain over 50% of the earth's species.
Approximately 80% of all insect species live in tropical rainforests
1 in 5 of all the birds on Earth live in Amazonia
Only 4% of the world's tropical rainforests are protected.
An area of woodland containing 10 species of trees in the UK would contain 180 species in a tropical forest.
More than 9000 species of orchids grow on tropical trees.
The largest flower on Earth comes from a tropical forest - the Rafflesia grows up to 1 metre across.
Unlike our forests most of the nutrients of a rainforest are stored in its vegetation rather than in its soil.
On September 9, 1987, a satellite picture of the Amazon River Basin showed a total of 7,603 fires burning in the rainforest.
In most tropical countries only one tree is replanted for every ten cut.
About 2,000 trees per minute are cut down in the rainforests.
Half the rainfall in Amazonia returns to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration.
Almost 65% of Central America has been cleared to create pastureland for grazing cattle.
Rainforest land cleared for pasture or farming degrades quickly and is usually abandoned.
The Ganges Plain, in India, is the most densely populated region in the world. It has suffered severe flooding because of deforestation.
Most of the forests in India and Nepal have been cleared for agriculture.
In Papua New Guinea, butterfly farms are a successful operation that provides income and supports forest preservation.
In the 20th century, 90 tribes of native peoples have been wiped out in Brazil alone.
The rainforest is home to 155,000 out of 225,000 plant species known in the world
Just 100 hectares of Amazon rainforest can contain up to 1500 different plant species, as many as in the whole of the UK
For every tropical plant species that becomes extinct it is thought that 20 insects are certain not to survive.
Only 3% of all tropical tree species used for timber and paper products are grown in plantations
Temperate rainforests are extremely rare worldwide, the only remnants being in New Zealand, Tasmania, Chile, Siberia and western North America, with the largest being in western Canada. All are endagered.
Emissions from deforestation in developing countries represent about 20% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions
If we even halve the current global rate of deforestation, we would reduce total annual global greenhouse gas emissions by 10%,
More than 100,000 acres are deforested each year to grow coca, marijuana, and opium poppies.
