Tropical rainforests are home to indigenous cultures and amazing biodiversity - at least 50% of all animal species on Earth live here, many of which have not yet been discovered. Forests play an important role in climate stabilization and have the largest biomass of all ecosystems. The current rapid reduction of tropical forest area is a major ecological problem. It is caused by tree cutting and agricultural land creation, with fifty percent of this happening illegally. Most deforestation is caused by several key agricultural products that are largely intended for export. Let's list at least five of them.
1. Beef Growing demand for beef is directly proportional to world population growth, especially in East Asia and China. Beef production is linked to illegal deforestation in Brazil. 2. Soy Soy is closely related to growing demand for beef. Most soy is used as feed for cattle, poultry and pigs. Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia are major soy producers. And again: its cultivation requires agricultural land created from cleared rainforests... 3. Palm oil Palm oil is the most profitable source of vegetable oil. Deforestation for its production is enormous especially in Indonesia, New Guinea and Malaysia, where there are extensive areas of illegal palm plantations producing this sought-after oil. 4. Wood pulp and wood chips Rainforest destruction for wood pulp and wood chips is mainly a problem in Indonesia. Wood pulp and chips are used to produce lower-quality paper and biomass for heat or compost production. 5. Cocoa In many countries, rainforests have had to give way to cocoa plantations, often created illegally. New Guinea exports almost one hundred percent of its cocoa production.
What to do about it? More and more companies are taking steps to identify products created illegally and unethically. A possible solution to this problem would be for importing countries to create a control system for these imported products and establish penalties for importing goods that were not produced legally and come from illegal plantations created on sites of illegally cleared rainforests. This could prevent further forest destruction. End consumers themselves can hardly influence this problem, as it is almost impossible for them to recognize the legal or illegal origin of a product. It would probably be more effective if consumers appealed to their political representatives to pay attention to this problem and support non-governmental and charitable organizations that directly deal with illegal rainforest destruction. red