1. Vanishing Biodiversity
Rain Forest Land Uses
Vanishing Biodiversity
• Rain forest has biodiversity—50% of all plant, animal species in the world
- 50 million acres of rain forest worldwide destroyed annually for timber and crops
Pressures
• Over half of Amazon rain forest is in Brazil
- 200 mil acres destroyed annually projection
Many medicines and species still undiscovered
Continued . . .
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2. Environmental Concerns
• Deforestation—cutting down and clearing away trees
• Rain forests regulate climate: absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen
- carbon dioxide builds up in atmosphere, prevents heat from
escaping into
space
- global
warming—
atmospheric
temperature
rises, weather
patterns
change
Continued . . .
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