Trading Rain Forests for Deserts

Fourteen-year old Jacinto Garcia and his family are settlers in the Amazon jungle town of Jaru, in Western Brazil.

Typical of many who can't afford to live in the city, the Garcias moved to the jungle to try to make a living. Clearing away the rain forests is their hope for the future. It means fuel for cooking and land for crops and livestock.

The rain forests around the world are being cleared at a rate of 27 million acres (11 million hectares) a year.

At this pace, most of the rain forests could be gone in 20 years. Without them, many scientists claim, the whole world could be affected.

Trees and plants in the rain forest soak up poisonous gases (such as carbon dioxide) that add to global warming or what is often called the Greenhouse Effect. The less plants, the less carbon dioxide is soaked up and the hotter the earth.

Scientists are also worried about the deserts created in the forests' place. Shortly after the land is cleared, it becomes nearly useless. Most of the soil is too poor to support agriculture and it bakes as hard as brick under the hot sun of the Equator.

The loss of thousands of species of plants and animals also has scientists concerned. The tropical forests are home to more than half of all life forms on our planet. As the forests are destroyed, so are the plants and animals dependent on them.

Who has final say on what happens to the tropical rain forests? This question has become a big controversy.

Some Brazilians claim other countries want to prevent them from tapping the jungle's wealth, perhaps so they can obtain the riches foe themselves. American scientists say it is not a local issue, but a global one. What happens to the Amazon forest may affect the whole world.

No simple solution is in sight. One thing's for sure, until a solution is found, the threat to the rain forests will continue.

-By Becky Sweat

Taken from Youth 90 magazine