Who would have thought the rainforests were so important to our daily lives? We probably all have a vague idea that planting trees is a good thing, but according to The Prince’s Rainforests Project (TPRP), deforestation releases more carbon dioxide into the air than all the cars, planes and ships in the world put together.
While buying some books over the holiday period, I picked up this free guide, made by TPRP called Rainforests: The Burning Issue. Rather than being a straight out advertorial on how much we are damaging the environment, this guide puts together a very straightforward and convincing story on how deforestation can affect us and why we are doing it. But more importantly, it suggests a solution.
The guide outlines many reasons on why deforestation is bad for us (it’s the third largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions, rainforests contain many of our medicinal needs etc), but one of the most interesting pieces of information was that rainforests act like a giant water regulator. During the wet seasons, the rainforests absorb excess water, and then during the dry seasons, they release that water, which in turn causes rain.
They say that deforestation has a direct link to flooding and soil erosion during wet seasons, and excessive droughts during dry ones. All of which have effected us Australians of late.
However, deforestation is not an easy thing to stop. It occurs because it makes economical sense. The countries that partake in deforestation need to do so to survive.
What TPRP suggest, however, is a seemingly simple solution – pay these countries to preserve and grow forests, rather than destroy them. They believe that if other countries pitched in and raised 25 billion euros for the next five years, we could stop deforestation. In other words, “make rainforests worth more alive than dead.”
And why would a country like Australia pitch in for that? According to their studies, stopping deforestation would help us all. By paying the governments of countries like Brazil to preserve their rainforests, we would benefit with more stable weather conditions. More water and less drought for our farmers, plus cleaner air for the rest of us.
Of course, they also suggest we choose FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and Rainforest Alliance branded products at the shopping centre.
The question is would you want our government to pay other countries to conserve rainforests?
Check it out at www.rainforestsos.org
