ENDANGERED RAINFOREST AND THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Ecocide - A Crime Against Peace
Citizens of the World Against Belo Monte
Sign Chief Raoni's petition. Stop the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam Project!
Support Chief Raoni and the indigenous peoples of Xingu and request the permanent abandonment of the proposed Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project:
http://raoni.com/signature-petition-against-belo-monte.php
http://raoni.com/signature-petition-against-belo-monte.php
Amazon river ecosystems being rapidly degraded, but remain neglected by conservation efforts
February 08, 2013
The world's largest river system is being rapidly degraded and imperiled by
dams, mining, overfishing, and deforestation, warns a study published last week
by an international team of scientists.
http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0208-amazon-river-threats.html
The world's largest river system is being rapidly degraded and imperiled by
dams, mining, overfishing, and deforestation, warns a study published last week
by an international team of scientists.
http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0208-amazon-river-threats.html
RAINFOREST FACTS
The Disappearing Rainforests
We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.
Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.
There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.
In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. With them have gone centuries of accumulated knowledge of the medicinal value of rainforest species. As their homelands continue to be destroyed by deforestation, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.
Source: http://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm
Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.
There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.
In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. With them have gone centuries of accumulated knowledge of the medicinal value of rainforest species. As their homelands continue to be destroyed by deforestation, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.
Source: http://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm