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Rainforest: World
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Subsistence farming has for centuries been a driving force in the loss of rainforest land. And as populations explode in Third-World countries in South America and the Far East, the impact has been profound. By tradition, wildlands and unsettled lands in the rainforest are free to those who clear the forest and till the soil. "Squatter's rights" still prevail, and poor, hungry people show little enthusiasm for arguments about the value of biodiversity or the plight of endangered species when they struggle daily to feed their families. These landless peasants and settlers follow the logging companies down the roads they've built to extract timber into untouched rainforest lands, burning off whatever the logging companies left behind.
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The tropical rainforest is a hot, moist biome found near Earth's equator. The world's largest tropical rainforests are in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Tropical rainforests receive from 60 to 160 inches of precipitation that is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The combination of constant warmth and abundant moisture makes the tropical rainforest a suitable environment for many plants and animals. Tropical rainforests contain the greatest biodiversity in the world. Over 15 million species of plants and animals live within this biome.
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In 1950, about 15 percent of the Earth's land surface was covered by rainforest. Today, more than half has already gone up in smoke. In fewer than fifty years, more than half of the world's tropical rainforests have fallen victim to fire and the chain saw, and the rate of destruction is still accelerating. Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues.
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There are three major rainforest areas. There is a large rainforest in Central Africa that covers more than 460 million acres (186 million hectares). The second largest rainforest, engulfing more than 600 million acres (243 million hectares), is in Southeast Asia and on such islands as the Philippines and New Guinea. The largest rainforest in the world can be found in Central and South America. It covers
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The tropical rainforest is home to the most diverse range of plants and animals on earth. The Daintree region supports species of plants and animals that have existed for millions of years and are integral to the ecosystem not just of the Daintree Rainforest, but of other areas around the world too. As difficult as it may be to imagine, what happens in the Daintree Rainforest affects what happens on the other side of the planet.
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The dark, cool interior of primary rainforest is surprisingly free of entangling vegetation. Only where light manages to filter through the interlocking canopy to the forest floor does vegetation proliferate. Walking in the rainforest is like taking a step back time. The modern world and all its stress fade into insignificance.
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