Conclusion: “Is the human race responsible for the demise of the earth?”

After exploring the theme of deforestation and its effects on the environment, the most logical answer I could ever possibly give, is that the human brain is responsible for the demise of the earth. This may seem highly ironic because it is the human brain which is the most evolved of the species and the most advanced piece of equipment on the earth. Yet our fundamental problem stems from our genius. Through technology and science, the human being has become an extremely good alchemist, who has managed to, not only source ancient sunlight, but harvest it too, in the form of fossil fuels for energy. From population graphs, earlier shown, one can see that the earth experienced a population explosion just after fossil fuel was found, and has been exponentially growing ever since.

The problem and the solution of the destruction of the rainforest are thus economic. We need more land to harvest plantations, more trees to make fuel and more land to live on and urbanize. In countries with poor economies like Madagascar, governments need money to service their debts, squatters and settlers need money to feed their families, and companies need to make profits. The simple fact is that the rainforest is being destroyed for the income and profits it yields, however fleeting. Money makes the world go around, even in South America and even in the rainforest. But this also means that if landowners, governments, and those living in the rainforest today were given a viable economic reason not to destroy the rainforest, it could and would be saved. And this viable economic alternative does exist, it just needs to be escalated on a global scale. Many organizations have demonstrated that if the medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, oils, and other resources like rubber, chocolate, and chicle (used to make chewing gums) are harvested sustainably, rainforest land has much more economic value today and more long-term income and profits for the future than if just timber is harvested or burned down for cattle or farming operations.

“In fact, the latest statistics prove that rainforest land converted to cattle operations yields the landowner $60 per acre; if timber is harvested, the land is worth $400 per acre. However, if medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, rubber, chocolate, and other renewable and sustainable resources are harvested, the land will yield the landowner $2,400 per acre. This value provides an income not only today, but year after year - for generations. These sustainable resources - not the trees - are the true wealth of the rainforest.”

Source: Global Deforestation". Global Change Curriculum.
University of Michigan Global Change Program.
January 4, 2009.


This should no longer be a theory. It is a fact, and it should be implemented today. Just as important to wild-harvest the wealth of sustainable rainforest resources effectively, local people and indigenous tribes must be employed. Today entire communities and tribes earn five to ten times more money in wild-harvesting medicinal plants, fruits, nuts, and oils than they can earn by chopping down the forest for subsistence crops. This much-needed income source creates the awareness and economic incentive for this population in the rainforest to protect and preserve the forests for long-term profits for themselves and their children and is an important solution in saving the rainforest from destruction. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-deforestation.html)

When the timber is harvested for short-term gain and profits, the medicinal plants, nuts, oils, and other important sustainable resources that thrive in this delicate ecosystem are destroyed. The real solution to saving the rainforest is to make its inhabitants see the forest and the trees by creating a consumer demand and consumer markets for these sustainable rainforest products .

This is the only solution that makes a real impact, and it can make a real difference. Each and every person in the United States can take a part in this solution by helping to create this consumer market and demand for sustainable rainforest products (Gigi Van Zyl – a Financial Economist working for Nedbank).

By purchasing renewable and sustainable rainforest products and resources and demanding sustainable harvesting of these resources using local communities and indigenous tribes of the rainforests, we all can be part of the solution, and the rainforests of the world and their people can be saved.