Speaking
at the recent United Nations-sponsored Biodiversity Science Policy
Conference in Paris, France, acclaimed tropical biologist Dr. Thomas
Lovejoy warned that with 18% of the Amazon rainforest already gone, a
cumulative loss of 20% will set forces in motion that reduce the forest
just to one-third its original size within 65 years.
These
research findings drew on the expertise of Japan's Meteorological
Research Institute, the UK’s Exeter University, Brazil's Centre for
Weather Forecasting and Climate Change, Germany's Potsdam Institute and
Earth3000. Moreover, the study showed that the current combination of
global warming, deforestation and
forest fires are likely to
undermine the Amazon's unique hydro-geological system whereby the
forest self-generates at least half of its rainfall and also brings
replenishing moisture to other regions.
Dr. Lovejoy's
assessment affirms previous studies by the UN Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, which warned that global warming would result in a
40% loss of this vital ecosystem.
Dr. Lovejoy and
international scientist contributors, we thank you for your clear and
cautionary message. In the narrow margin of time that remains, let us
all work with renewed commitment to save our precious planet.
In
her efforts to safeguard life on Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai has
frequently addressed the importance of conserving the rainforests, as
in an October 2009 videoconference in Germany.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
Saving the world’s tropical forests, the lungs of the Earth, is one of
the very important priorities. Because when the tropical rainforests
are destroyed, there are many frightening side effects.
It’s
not just the permanent changes to the world’s temperature, rainfall,
and weather patterns which the forests regulate. It’s not just about
the millions of people who might lose their livelihoods that depend on
the forests.
There is the extinction of plant and animal
species that is 100 times faster than what is natural, and it ruins our
ecosystems. The rainforests themselves normally are our protectors, but
as the climate gets warmer, instead of absorbing CO2 to protect our
planet’s climate, they will be emitting back CO2 as
Now, we
need to look at the main reason why there is deforestation. There is a
whole industry behind it in most of the cases, namely the livestock
industry. For example, the number one reason for deforestation of the
Amazon, which is the greatest lung of our planet, is to raise cattle.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Stop
the livestock industry - that would be the most effective way to halt
global warming and restore our planet. It will save our precious
forests, which takes decades to grow, and create more natural forests
that we need to reduce global warming.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50194 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/amazongate-more-sloppy-writing-than-sloppy-science.php http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0203-hance_amazontip.html
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