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Rainforests are one of the most essential and beautiful assets on our planet. Not only do they provide the oxygen we breathe and the water we drink, but they also help stabilize the climate patterns, absorb the carbon dioxide emissions in our atmosphere. On top of that our every rainforest in the world house half of the world’s biodiversity of animal and plant species. Saving the rainforest from further destruction is extremely important.
Today, rainforests are rapidly disappearing for several reasons. Overpopulation and cutting down trees, plants, and other plant species in the forest to make way for vast plantations are just a few of the reasons. If this doesn’t stop, the Earth and all its inhabitants may eventually suffer. Our rainforests are considered the lungs of the earth and if it is not properly taken care of, it will stop doing its functions. These activities are not sustainable and do not protect the natural and environmental concerns of communities.
But despite the growing rainforest concerns both locally and internationally, the world’s rainforests continue to be destroyed every day. The good news is that there are still a lot of ways to help our rainforests and all of us can be part of it. However, it is not going to be an easy task considering our rainforests are heading to a steep downhill. Nevertheless, with our combined efforts, everyone can work together to protect the rainforests, protect, and preserve them for the next generations.
Saving the rainforest involves some basic steps which are often called the TREES concept.
· Teach others about the importance of the environment and how they can help save rainforests.
· Restore damaged ecosystems by planting trees on land where forests have been cut down.
· Encourage people to live in a way that doesn’t hurt the environment.
· Establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife.
· Support companies that operate in ways that minimize damage to the environment.
Applying this concept in whatever we do will help save every rainforest that is rapidly destroyed every minute.
Here’s what we can do to save the rainforests in our own ways.
1. Raise awareness about biodiversity and natural forest issues in your communities.
The first thing you can do to save a single rainforest in your own country is to raise awareness about the issues we are facing today. Things like deforestation in Brazil, poaching, illegal mining, and other activities about development that destroy the rainforests. Declare yourself as someone who wants to protect them and show the people in your community why they should get on board too. Tell the world about the activities that have caused damage and destruction to the rainforests. These include illegal logging, mining, forest fires, and many more. These illegal activities could result in massive destruction of our ecosystems, culture, and climate. Moreover, you can also raise awareness about the violation of indigenous rights caused by the destruction of our rainforests.
2. Support for indigenous rights in saving the rainforest.
Many of the indigenous people living across 90 countries worldwide are struggling to maintain their legal rights to traditional forest lands and territories. With this, they are slowly losing their culture and identity. Indigenous people should have the rights to their lands and territories considering that they know more about how to care for their lands and protecting biodiversity for so many years. To help them out, you can use your platform to let the voices of indigenous people be heard.
3. Contact the government.
The government has the power to make it easier to pass laws on protecting every area of our rainforests. They are also the link to many departments and agencies tasked to protect them. For this reason, what we can do is contact local and national governments to do more for the people and the environment. For instance, one-third of the world’s remaining primary tropical rainforests including the Amazon is in Brazil. But government figures in Brazil are slow to take action in protecting natural resources. With our collective effort, we can convince the government to implement new laws that will ensure the protection and conservation of our rainforests.
4. Hold organizations and businesses accountable.
Many of the businesses and corporations today are the ones doing the most destructive practices in our rainforests. They may reason out it is for development, but development without thinking of sustainable ways to keep the forests protected is nothing. For this reason, these businesses should be held accountable for their environmentally destructive practices even in one rainforest. To express our concern, we can boycott the products they manufacture, sign petitions, or call them out on national television, or in social media. This way, we can visibly show them and call them out for their irresponsible actions in every area of our rainforests.
5. Reduce our beef consumption.
Beef is one of the four commodities that is the main reason why there is deforestation in every rainforest in many countries in the world. Beef consumption is the most destructive of all, alongside palm oil, soy, and wood. They are the major reasons why deforestation still happens today. For this reason, the best thing we can do is reduce our beef consumption to reduce the demand for them. Moreover, this will also reduce the emissions caused by beef production around the world.
6. Avoid palm oil products.
Palm oil production is one of the widely known reasons why our rainforests are damaged. It has been on local and national news for some time. So many environmental problems are caused by palm oil production alone. Avoiding palm oil products may seem like hitting the tip of an iceberg but it is one solid way to help. our rainforests.
7. Teach the new generation about saving the rainforest.
The children of today will be the ones responsible for protecting every forest in the future. What we can do now is to educate them on the dangers of deforestation and how important it is to save at least one rainforest. We can begin by telling them that forests house the plants and animal species that provide us the food and other needs of our communities. Our children should understand that every area of every local forest provides food for millions of people. Teach them that the plants should also be protected so we can achieve sustainable ways of feeding the next generation. We can get involved in saving the rainforest by simply teaching the new generation.
