Rainforests United

Add your View

Comment by Mike Spencer on November 23, 2009 at 3:12pm

The Prince's Trust does invaluable work in trying to stop global warming. Prince Charles voiced concerns about the Environment long before it became fashionable and politically correct, well over 10 years ago. This years Christmas Lecture by Prince Charles was a truly inspirational speech & pointed the way forward in ways that made so much sense. Putting it simply, in basic terms, we cannot go on pilaging the planet regardless of the consequences. We are all part of village Earth, & all indigenous people have as much right to live their way of life as we do. What makes us so important! Time to stop the selfishness.

Comment by Mike Spencer on November 23, 2009 at 3:03pm

I posted this on Pledging for Change before i was aware of this grooup. I thought I'd also post it here where it is even more appropriate.

Deforestation is one of the largest contributors to climate change.
Here are some very poignant facts:-

1. Over half of the world's plant & animal species are found in rainforests
2. the Amazon forest releases 20 billion tonnes of moisture every day, helping to water crops thousands of miles away.
3.Deforestation releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the cars, planes and ships put together.
4. Healthy rainforests absorb up to 10% of man's carbon emissions each year.
5.Farmers in Brazil can make $3,000 per hectare by clearing forest and growing soybeans for export.
6. 15 million hectares of tropical forests are lost every tear - an area larger than the size of England
7. 43 of the 100 best-selling products in British supermarkets contain palm oil, linked to rainforest clearance in Southeast Asia.
8. There are approximately 60 million indigenous people who rely on forests for their way of life. The Amazon basin alone is home to over 300 tribes. We stand in danger in loosing these people and their wisdom that they can impart to us.

BIODIVERSITY

1. At least 6 million different species live in the world's rainforests.
2.A single hectare of tropical rainforest species may contain more than 480 tree species.
3. 99% of rainforests species have still to be studied by science.
4. 137 species of plants, animals and insects become extinct every day in the rainforest. Who knows what natural medicines we are destroying on a daily basis.
5. By 2022 98% of the Orangutan's habitat in Borneo & Sumatra will have disappeared, all due to deforestation in the name of timber harvesting & palm oil plantation.

UK PUBLIC OPINION

A majority of UK adults (66%) agree they would be willing for their government to spend a small amount of taxpayers money each year on preserving rainforests.

Please help stop the madness and take action now. Please go to http://www.rainforestSOS.org & lend your support.

Deforestation is causing many indigenous people to loose their habitat and way of life, not to mention the species of animals that are being lost daily. Add to that the plants that are being lost (who knows what natural medicines are being lost on a daily basis), and you have a very sad state of affairs indeed.

It is a symptom of man's disregard for Mother Earth & Nature in the pursuit of the dollar. If only we could learn how to treat Mother Earth from the very indigenous people we are displacing.

Comment by Karen Maskall on October 6, 2009 at 10:55am

Did you know that the VEGETABLE oil that people use is basically a con. Its actually Palm Oil. I will NOT buy food prepared with this oil or any other food where vegetable oil is listed in the ingredients. Palm Oil is very high cholesterol fat too. I haven't really done enough research to add much more here at the moment.

No none of it makes sense anymore does it Rex? And as Palm Oil plantations take up vast area of rainforest, the water they consume will be sucked out of the nearby grounds too. And bit by bit the surrounding forest will die along with all of the animals and the wonderful natural herbals and medicines that we can all benefit from.

Comment by Rex Sumner on October 6, 2009 at 10:31am

Thanks Alana! Oil Palms use 37 litres of water each per day - which is more than the rainforest used too. An often forgotten benefit of the rainforest is the amount of clean drinking water they produce - oil palms dont produce any.
It takes 6 tonnes of crude oil to produce 1 tonne of nitrogen fertiliser (urea). You need 1 tonne of fertiliser per hectare per year for oil palms. You get 3 tonnes of palm oil per hectare per year plus 250kg of kernel oil.
Doesn't add up, does it?

Comment by Allana Lane on October 6, 2009 at 10:12am

Bio fuels are are a real worry. They just take up far too much land to grow. There are viable alternatives such as algae and bamboo.. both of which take less space and grow very quickly to be harvested several times a year.

Govts speak of saving the planet...well they should ban any company in thier countries of selling any bio fuel which has destroyed rainforest areas. But they won't because they see the ££££.

We need to all fight for the rainforest and endangered species. Love your website Force for the Forest... think you had the wrong link so I'll add it here for you

Comment by Rex Sumner on October 6, 2009 at 8:53am

The Amazon isn't the only rainforest that is threatened. There are three main rain forests - the Amazon, Africa and SE Asia. In SE Asia it has nearly all gone, cut down for profit and turned into oil palm plantations. They make $60,000 a hectare to cut down the rainforest.
However in Sumatra, one organisation has succeeded in bucking the trend and has preserved an area the size of Belgium, the Leuser Ecosystem, home to the last viable populations of mega fauna in SE Asian. Not just preserved it, but expanding. Currently in the process of cutting down 800 hectares of oil palm plantation and reforesting the land. Not happening anywhere else...
For more information see www.forcefortheforest.com
We need to get other rainforest people in touch to see how preservation can be achieved.