Did You Know?

Tropical forests are home to more than half of all the species on earth.


Approximately 12% of the earth's surface (5 billion acres) was originally covered with tropical vegetation. An estimated 50% of this vegetation has been destroyed.


Over half the rain that falls on a tropical rain forest is water derived from the forest itself.


The treetop regions (the canopy) of tropical forests foster up to 40% of the earth's inventory of species.


Five out of six tropical species have never been seen by scientists. This amounts to at least 2-1/2 million unknown species.


One hectare of rain forest will lose about one kilogram of topsoil per year to erosion. That same hectare, cleared of forest, can lose up to 34 tons of topsoil per year.


Tropical forest ecosystems have been in existence for at least 50 million years. Within a period of half a century they will be eliminated. The destruction period? One-millionth part of their history.


Half of Costa Rica's deforestation has occurred since 1950.


Costa Rica has 500 resident bird species; four times as many as in the temperate forests of eastern U.S.


There are 8,000 plant species in Costa Rica. Great Britain has 1,433.

Tropical Rain Forest Facts

A tropical rain forest has an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches and is depicted by lofty broad-leaved evergreen trees that form a continuous canopy.


Tropical rain forests of all kinds once covered more than eight million square miles.


Due to human intervention, the Earth loses 40 million acres of rain forest every year. For example, an area of rain forest the size of New Hampshire and Vermont is cut annually for timber, paper pulp, and other wood products.


As a result of these activities, less than 3.4 million square miles of forest remain today.


While rain forests occupy less than 7 percent of the world's land area, they are home to more than half of the world's plant and animal species.


Without biodiversity -- the wealth of plants, animals and natural ecosystems that make up life on earth -- human beings could not survive. Wild species are the source of all of our foods as well as many of our most important fibers, building materials, and medicines.


Scientists have classified more than 1.4 million plant and animal species, but believe that between 5 million and 30 million species actually exist.


Less than 5 percent of the world's tropical rain forests are contained in parks and other protected areas.

Benefits of Tropical Rain Forests

More than 5,000 plant and animal species found in rain forests are used worldwide for food, medicines and other products.


About $40 billion is spent annually on prescription and non-prescription drugs that contain active ingredients derived from rain forests.


About 80 percent of the top 50 prescription drugs used in the U.S. were either synthetic compounds modeled on natural products, semi-synthetic compounds derived from natural products, or, natural products.


Approximately $10 billion worth of "minor" rain forest products, including rattan, bamboo, nuts and spices, are purchased annually.


Of the 3,000 species of plants that have been identified as having anti-cancer properties by the National Cancer Institute, 70 percent are from rain forests.

What If We Destroy All Our Tropical Rain Forests

Scientists say that rain forest destruction will accelerate global warming, greatly altering global weather patterns.


Scientists estimate that one rain forest species becomes extinct every 15 minutes due to the loss of its habitat.


If current deforestation rates continue, all of the Earth's tropical rain forests will be cleared away in 177 years. And approximately 25 percent of the Earth's species will be extinct by the middle of the 21st century.