This paper will present the reader with information regarding the rain forest and its critical importance and influence on the world's climate. I will discuss different aspects of the rain forest. I will inform the reader of the serious consequences the destruction of the rain forest will have upon mankind and his world. The loss of undiscovered species of plants, which is potential for medical cures, will be lost forever. Additionally mankind will loose many species of insects and animals as yet undiscovered by the wanton destruction of the rainforest. The forest's impact on the world's biological health is of critical importance to sustain life, as we know it. Its obliteration will be detrimental to all that inhabit this planet. I will conclude this paper by talking about the efforts being made to curb the rate of rainforest destruction and how we, mankind, can help in preserving this most precious resource. .
Tropical rainforests are the Earth's oldest living ecosystems. Fossil records show that the forests of Southeast Asia have existed in more or less their present form for 70 to 100 million years. Rainforests are dense, warm, wet, fertile, nurturing environments that are teaming with life. The plant life that is the rainforest consists of an innumerable species of trees, shrubs, vines and ferns that form a complex system of layers. The four major geographic regions in which tropical rain forests are found are: South and Central America, Africa and Madagascar, South and Southeast Asia New Guinea, and Australia. Each of these forest areas is separated by thousands of miles and is specific and unique. .
Years ago, the Earth had a green belt of rain forests around its middle that covered almost twelve percent of the earth's land surface. Today, with the destruction of the rainforests, they only cover about 2% of the Earth's surface, or 6% of its landmass. Despite the small land area they cover, rainforests are home to about half the worlds five to ten million plant and animal species.
