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This year's rainforest project will protect acres in the world’s largest and most species rich rainforest: the Amazon!
Why must we save it?
- It is home to a third of all plant and animal species found on Earth and nearly a fourth of the planet’s fresh water, yet only a small fraction of it has been explored and many of its flora and fauna have yet to be discovered. Scientists have discovered six new primate species there in just the last 10 years!
- The Amazon is like no other place on Earth! Three out of four of the Amazon’s 40,000 different plant species are endemic. There are 10 different species of macaws! With more than 80 species (most of which are endemic), the Amazon has the highest level of primate diversity in the world.
- The Amazon rainforest is the home of many plants and flowers that provide us with medicines. 70% of the plants used to produce cancer-fighting drugs come from the rainforest, yet we have only studied a small portion of the thousands of plants found in the Amazon. As the Amazon rainforest disappears, countless plants that could provide medical miracles are lost forever.
- The Amazon is also the world's largest absorber of carbon dioxide and its survival is critical in the fight to slow global warming. A huge increase in greenhouse gases in the last 150 years is upsetting the balance of heat absorbed and released by the Earth’s atmosphere. This has increased temperatures and caused climate changes worldwide. Rainforests lock up atmospheric carbon in their vegetation via photosynthesis. When forests are destroyed, large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are released into our atmosphere accounting for almost 20% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Cleared and fragmented forests also absorb less carbon than intact forests, produce less oxygen and offer less protection from severe storms like hurricanes and tsunamis. Saving rainforests really can save the world.
- Although it abounds in ecological riches and most of it remains unexplored, it is vanishing: over 20% of the Amazon has been lost in the last 40 years. The ongoing changes that threaten the Amazon (agriculture, logging and climate change) will likely be intensified under a new South American initiative to build roads and other infrastructure across the continent. Intercontinental highways cutting through the Amazon will only bring more devastation to the rainforest.
- The Amazon spans over nine countries, but over 60% (or 1.9 million square miles) of the Amazon is located in northern Brazil. Just a few years ago, Brazil’s conservation efforts were decreasing the rate of deforestation, but increased demand for agricultural goods is fueling a huge surge in deforestation as farmers convert rainforests to cattle pastures and crops.
How will we save it?
Brazil and Conservation International (CI) are proven conservation partners. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently signed into law much-needed protections and management for their other rainforest, biodiversity hotspot: the Atlantic Forest. Conservation International has estimated that only 15% of the Brazilian Amazon is protected. The president of CI, Russell Mittermeier, recently met with President da Silva to consult on how to increase the number of protected acres in the Brazilian Amazon.
In addition to spending the last several years studying the flora and fauna of the region, the people at Conservation International have also been working with indigenous tribes like the Kayapó in the Amazon since 1992 to save this precious ecosystem. CI provides technology and training, transportation, fuel and communications equipment to help the tribe monitor their territory’s 1,243-mile border.
CI also helps the Kayapó setup sustainable enterprises like harvesting and selling Brazil-nut oil which has long been a Kayapó tradition. Today processing Brazil-nut oil for commercial distribution is underway in several Kayapó villages. Other small enterprises being developed or expanded are based on non-timber resources such as copaiba oil, cupuaçu cupuacu fruit, honey, cocoa, and mahogany seeds. You can help CI, Brazil and the Kayapó save the Amazon by supporting Earth Foundation’s Rainforest Rescue Campaign for the 2009-2010 school year!
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We provide free curriculum and videos to teach your students about the Brazilian Amazon and its inhabitants and how to save their home.
Your students and their families save acres of the Amazon rainforest with the purchase of our environmental t-shirts, bags, hats and boxer shorts. Every 10 items sold protects an acre in the name of your school!
Click here to learn more and reserve your FREE Rainforest Rescue Kit or call us at
1-800-566-6539.
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