Why Rainforests Matter

Trees in the mist. Image courtesy of Katherine Secoy, Global Canopy Programme

Tropical rainforests provide important ecosystem services to local communities and to the world. They store water, regulate rainfall and contain over half the planet's biodiversity. Most importantly, tropical forests play a crucial role in climate change.

Emissions from tropical deforestation contribute 17% of annual greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Equally important, conserved rainforests continue to sequester almost the same amount of atmospheric carbon each year. As a result, tackling the issue of tropical deforestation will be essential if the world is to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to below two degrees Celsius this century and avoiding catastrophic climate change.

Orangutan Mother & aby © Jean Paul Ferrero/Ardea.com

In addition, rainforests support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion of the world's poorest people by providing food, fibre, water and medicines, as well as regulating local environments. Those supported include indigenous peoples with unique and precious cultures.

The rainforests are a complex environment essential to the stability of our planets climate and its ability to support life in its current form. But they are being lost at an alarming rate. Urgent action is required to halt this trend and preserve these forests for the benefit of local communities and for the good of the world.

Sources
1 IPCC, AR4 Synthesis Report (2007)

What is a Rainforest

Tropical rainforests have evolved over tens of millions of years into highly complex ecosystems, which contain over half of the world's species of plants and animals.

Rainforest, Costa Rica. Image courtesy of Chris Perrett, naturesart

Millions of years in the making

Many trees in the rainforests are hundreds of years old. Radiocarbon dating methods, used in the Amazon, indicate that half of all trees greater than 10 centimetres in diameter are more than 300 years old and that some trees are over 1,000 years old [1].

Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia is believed to be the oldest living rainforest at a grand old age of around 135 million years [2]. To put this into context, the first hominids (human-like primates) did not appear until around 5-8 million years [3]. This time has allowed rainforests to evolve into highly complex ecosystems with unparalleled and globally important levels of biodiversity.

Where are they?

By definition, tropical rainforests lie between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, 22.5° North and 22.5° South of the equator. Almost half of the remaining tropical rainforest is found in tropical America, a bit more than a third in Asia and Oceania, and fifteen percent in Africa. In total, over 80 countries are considered rainforest owning nations. However, three countries - Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - contain almost half of the world's tropical rainforests.

The structure of a rainforest

Home to an incredibly diverse range of species and plant life, the structure of rainforests is complex and highly evolved, making them the most biologically rich ecosystems to be found on the planet. Rainforest trees can reach heights of over 60m (200 ft) high. From the tips of their branches down to the base of their trunks, around four to five distinct forest strata can be found, each providing a specific habitat for plants and animals. Click here to read more.

Climate

As the name suggests, rainforests experience high levels of rainfall and are often covered by clouds and mist. This humid climate is partly created by the trees themselves. The combined activity of animal and plant life releases huge quantities of volatile organic compounds, which create the fine condensation nuclei around which water droplets form. Moisture is held in these humid, cool ecosystems and evaporates slowly to make clouds, which helps maintain regular rainfall.

Sources:
1 Bourgeron, Patrick S. (1983) "Spatial Aspects of Vegetation Structure", in Frank B. Golley: Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems. Structure and Function 14A, Ecosystems of the World, Elsevier Scientific, 29-47
2 http://www.daintreerainforest.com/ (accessed May 2008)
3 http://anthro.palomar.edu/earlyprimates/first primates.htm; http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/origins/bipediality.html (accessed May 2008)
4 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4947350.stm (accessed May 2008)
5 http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/rainforest/rainfrst.html (accessed May 2008)
6 BBC Anatomy of a Rainforest (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7127687.stm, accessed May 2008)

http://www.rainforestsos.org/

What is a Rainforest

Tropical rainforests have evolved over tens of millions of years into highly complex ecosystems, which contain over half of the world's species of plants and animals.

Rainforest, Costa Rica. Image courtesy of Chris Perrett, naturesart

Millions of years in the making

Many trees in the rainforests are hundreds of years old. Radiocarbon dating methods, used in the Amazon, indicate that half of all trees greater than 10 centimetres in diameter are more than 300 years old and that some trees are over 1,000 years old [1].

Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia is believed to be the oldest living rainforest at a grand old age of around 135 million years [2]. To put this into context, the first hominids (human-like primates) did not appear until around 5-8 million years [3]. This time has allowed rainforests to evolve into highly complex ecosystems with unparalleled and globally important levels of biodiversity.

Where are they?

By definition, tropical rainforests lie between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, 22.5° North and 22.5° South of the equator. Almost half of the remaining tropical rainforest is found in tropical America, a bit more than a third in Asia and Oceania, and fifteen percent in Africa. In total, over 80 countries are considered rainforest owning nations. However, three countries - Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - contain almost half of the world's tropical rainforests.

The structure of a rainforest

Home to an incredibly diverse range of species and plant life, the structure of rainforests is complex and highly evolved, making them the most biologically rich ecosystems to be found on the planet. Rainforest trees can reach heights of over 60m (200 ft) high. From the tips of their branches down to the base of their trunks, around four to five distinct forest strata can be found, each providing a specific habitat for plants and animals. Click here to read more.

Climate

As the name suggests, rainforests experience high levels of rainfall and are often covered by clouds and mist. This humid climate is partly created by the trees themselves. The combined activity of animal and plant life releases huge quantities of volatile organic compounds, which create the fine condensation nuclei around which water droplets form. Moisture is held in these humid, cool ecosystems and evaporates slowly to make clouds, which helps maintain regular rainfall.

Sources:
1 Bourgeron, Patrick S. (1983) "Spatial Aspects of Vegetation Structure", in Frank B. Golley: Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems. Structure and Function 14A, Ecosystems of the World, Elsevier Scientific, 29-47
2 http://www.daintreerainforest.com/ (accessed May 2008)
3 http://anthro.palomar.edu/earlyprimates/first primates.htm; http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/origins/bipediality.html (accessed May 2008)
4 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4947350.stm (accessed May 2008)
5 http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/rainforest/rainfrst.html (accessed May 2008)
6 BBC Anatomy of a Rainforest (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7127687.stm, accessed May 2008)

http://www.rainforestsos.org/

Forest outcomes from Copenhagen

The expectation that the Copenhagen climate change summit might agree a new international treaty on climate change was not fulfilled when the meeting finished with a weak voluntary agreement. This agreement, known as the Copenhagen Accord, does however contain references to what might be done to combat deforestation and does commit nations to providing finance for this purpose.

The main reference to forest related action says:

‘We recognize the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests and agree on the need to provide positive incentives to such actions through the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries.’

This is a substantial shift in policy towards protecting forests - most governments assumed that very little finance would be made available for forests until the market mechanism came into operation post 2012. However The International Working Group (a group set up following the meeting convened by The Prince of Wales in April 2009) issued a report in September 2009 which described a consensus on the need to provide substantial and immediate interim finance to rainforest nations. Subsequently, six nations (US, UK, Norway, France, Japan, Australia) pledged $3.5billion to support immediate REDD-plus activity between 2010-2012. The arrangements for this funding are being discussed during the first half of 2010, with the hope that an agreement can be reached in advance of the June UNFCCC meetings in Bonn.

The Prince's Rainforests Project continues to assist in the consensus building process that will lead to this interim finance for the rainforest nations being available this year. In addition we are working with the agricultural sector in rainforest nations in order to encourage appropriate finance to farmers so that real behavioural change can occur.

You can see the full text (three pages) of the Copenhagen Accord at http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_15/application/pdf/cop15_cph_auv.pdf

Source : http://www.rainforestsos.org

Rainforests

Images courtesy of Chris Perrett, naturesart

Rainforests wrap around the equator of the earth like a green belt. After millions of years of evolution, they are the most biologically rich ecosystems on our planet. Tropical rainforests contain a hugely rich diversity of species of plants and animals. They are also home to many different indigenous people, who have unique and treasured cultures.

Valuable resources for everyone

Rainforests are precious resources for all of us – not just for the nations in which they are found. They provide vital ecosystem benefits for the whole world. They store water, regulate rainfall and provide a home to over half the planet’s biodiversity. But more importantly, they also play a crucial role in climate change. And that’s why we’re worried.

When it comes to climate change, the destruction of rainforests has a double whammy effect for everyone. Rainforests absorb almost a fifth of the world’s man-made CO2 emissions every year. But tropical deforestation releases an extra 17% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. So if the rainforests are destroyed, it’s bad news on both counts.

Read more about what makes a rainforest
Read more about why rainforests are important
Download rainforest and climate change factsheets for teachers, students and pupils.

Rapid deforestation

Rainforests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate. This is increasingly due to destructive logging operations and conversion of the land for farming use.

Cutting down and burning tropical forests to clear the land in this way enables rainforest nations to provide globally traded commodities, such as timber, palm oil, beef and soy.

The world’s population is likely to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion over the next 40 years. This population growth, combined with rising incomes, will lead to a continual increasing demand for food, animal feed and fuel. And this, in turn, will lead to more destruction of rainforests – with devastating effects for everyone.

Read more about what is happening to rainforests

The need for urgent action

The Prince’s Rainforests Project believes that emergency funding is needed to help protect rainforests and to encourage rainforest nations to continue to develop without the need for deforestation.

If we don’t take action, we could lose another 100 million hectares of tropical forests over the next 10 years – that’s an area the size of Egypt.

Saving the rainforests will give the world a better chance to achieve its goals of stabilising climate change, while also preserving important ecosystem benefits, not to mention the fact that over one billion of the poorest people on Earth depend on the rainforests for their livelihoods.

The need for action is urgent. Recent research shows that it will be impossible to avoid catastrophic climate change without it [1].

Sources

1 McKinsey & Company, ‘Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve v2' (2009); ClimateWorks Foundation / McKinsey & Company ‘Project Catalyst'

http://www.rainforestsos.org

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM TROPICAL RAINFORESTS?

Photo by Ard Hesslink

“In myriad ways humanity is linked to the millions of other species on this planet. What concerns them equally concerns us.” –From Sustaining Life
Fifty percent of all known plants and animals occur in tropical rainforests, which cover just six percent of the earth’s surface. There is much we can learn from how each of these millions of species has adapted to the challenges of living in a tropical habitat. By emulating their strategies in our designs and following life’s principles, we can learn to live more sustainably.

For more information about the importance of rainforests and what you can do to help protect this rich source of inspiration, visit the website for the Prince’s Rainforests Project.

Photo by teejaybee

Approximately 80% of all insect species live in tropical rainforests.

Photo by flickrfavorites

"In a purely technical sense, each species of higher organism—beetle, moss, and so forth, is richer in information than a Caravaggio painting, Mozart symphony, or any other great work of art." –Edward O. Wilson

Here we present 24 strategies used by rainforest species that can inspire biomimetic designs.

Photo by Bob Snyder

The rainforest is home to 155,000 out of 225,000 plant species known in the world.
Source: http://www.asknature.org

ENVIRONMENT-ZIMBABWE: Future Generations Will 'Inherit Only the Wind'

Ignatius Banda

BULAWAYO, Apr 3 (IPS) - The plumes of smoke rising above the dense working class suburbs of Bulawayo are a sign of the environmental impact of Zimbabwe's electricity crisis.

Credit: IRIN

Zimbabwe's urban population is turning to firewood for fuel, with damaging effects on the country's forest cover.

In January, the Hwange Thermal Power Station broke down. Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) spokeperson Fullard Gwasira announced that the country's power supply had dropped to just 750 megawatts, barely a third of Zimbabwe's peak demand for 2,200 MW.

Faced with frequent power cuts, millions of people across the country have increasingly turned to wood as an alternative energy source, to cook and heat their homes during the winter.

Deforestation is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. The country lost more than 20 percent of its forest cover between 1990 and 2005, an average loss of 312,900 hectares, according to statistics compiled by environment website Mongabay from a variety of sources including the the United Nation's Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Still more alarming, the rate of forest loss accelerated by 16 percent between 2000 and 2005 as political and economic crisis gripped the country.

The controversial land reform exercise that began in 2000, which saw veterans of the 1970s war of liberation occupy many large farms owned by Zimbabwe's white minority, has contributed to reduced agricultural yields and environmental degradation.

Two or three times a week, James Chulu hires a donkey-drawn cart to tour the small farming plots in areas on the outskirts of Bulawayo to buy wood for sale in the city. Conservationists say the new occupiers of land in areas like Nyamandlovu and Plumtree are felling trees without replanting anything for the next generation.

"They have been selling us the firewood for sometime now," Chulu said. "But after ZESA began cutting electricity for hours (at a time) last year, the demand has gone up and we have virtually stripped the woodlands."

Thabilise Gumpo, of conservation group Environment Africa, is just one of many concerned observers.

"We will be left with no forests or trees and one has to imagine the deserts we are creating in the process all because of the electricity outages," she told IPS. "But it is difficult (to raise objections) when this is the only energy source the people have. The environment has been the worst casualty here."

So severely depleted is the supply of wood, that residents have begun to sacrifice precious fruit trees. Judith Mwale, a widow and grandmother whose face and posture betray 60 years of toil, can't afford the wood sold by vendors like Chulu, one U.S. dollar for a bundle of three small pieces.

"I had no choice but ask some young men in the neighbourhood to chop down the trees. How else would I prepare my meals and feed these children?" Mwale asked.

"What can we do?" Chulu says, shrugging his shoulders. He and Mwale both exemplify a common local attitude that the environment will take care of itself.

But environment activist Gumpo fears that future generations will "inherit the wind."

"It is a difficult gospel to preach," she says of conservation, at a time when a broke government is both failing to maintain its own generating facilities or to settle huge electricity bills for power imported from neighbouring South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.