| Rain Forests in Danger |
Source of Water for Millions
by Reuters on February 9, 2004 at 11:07:27
(info@fcsf.org)
on 25/Nov/2004 at 05:19:08
In a study released today, United Nations scientists said that global warming threatens the tropical jungles that attract the humidity of the clouds around the land providing water to millions of human beings in Africa and Latin America.
Rain forests in the equatorial and subequatorial zones in Latin America, Africa and Asia amount to 2.5 percent (400,000 square kilometers) of the tropical forests of the world, but the benefits of those important forests are felt beyond those geographic limits.
The clean and safe water supply of these forests, in the La Tigra National Park of Honduras, satisfies the demand of 40 percent of the living water for the capital Tegucigalpa said the report “Agenda of the Rain Forests.”
The capitals of Ecuador, Mexico and Tanzania are other cities that consume rain forest water. Still these forests could disappear because of a series of adverse factors said scientists commenting on the abovementioned report of global warming created by the gases from the Greenhouse Effect. “The unique characteristics of these forests are that they can capture humidity from the condensation of the clouds and this makes them very sensitive to climatic changes,” said Philip Bubb, one of the co-authors of the report.
The risk is double because the disappearance of these forests addresses the fundamental issues of the disappearance of the water supply and the dozens of species that inhabit those places. Other risks are the practical extension of the cutting down the forests to create farms, the forest fires, the construction of highways, and the introduction of species from other regions of the world.
The combined effects of these risks can signify the loss of many mammalian, bird and amphibian species, said the report disclosed the day that more than 2,000 delegates started an auspicious meeting for the UNO called the seventh conference of the Treaty on Biological Diversity.
Since today in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, officials and experts discussed ways to slow the rate of the loss of species, reduce global warming and promote larger areas of protection of forests, fluvial systems, oceans and mountains. Officials and experts of 188 countries will work from the 9th to the 20th of February and will also look for solutions for Third World countries – habitat for the majority of the species in the world – they can also benefit from the effort of the developed countries to protect those species.
To inaugurate the meeting, Klaus Toepfer, chief of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) said that the efforts to halt the disappearance of species should go hand in hand with the battle against poverty.
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