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Rainforests play an invaluable role in
sustaining life on Earth. Although tropical forests cover less than 2
percent of the globe, they provide a home for more than 50 percent of all
living things！as many as five million species of plants, animals, and
insects. Rainforest also provide a home for an estimated fifty million
indigenous people around the world, most of whom rely on the rainforest to
sustain their traditional ways of life.
Although people often don't realize it, rainforests also play an important role in sustaining life outside the rainforest. For example, at least 25 percent of all modern drugs originally came from rainforests. Many of the foods we consume today, from rice and millet to bananas and pineapples, owe their origin to the rainforests, and rainforests provide an ongoing source of genetic material that is crucial to the sustained productivity of many modern crops. Rainforests also help regulate the global climate, most notably by absorbing and storing vast quantities of carbon. Forests contain about 610 billion tons of carbon, making them one of the Earth's primary 'carbon reservoirs.' By acting as carbon 'sinks' and 'reservoirs,' rainforests help moderate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels！an extremely important function, since excess atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary factor in human-induced climate change. |
