HOW are the tropical rainforests being destroyed?
The biggest threat to the rain forest is human activity. The ever-expanding human population is exerting tremendous pressure on the resources and the space of the rain forest. This is a concern to many people because of the certain loss of biological diversity, of new medicine sources, of new food sources, and of climate regulation. Agricultural Business According to a report by Friends of the Earth, as much as 80% of global deforestation is caused by conversion of forests into agricultural land. Often, endangered rain forests are cleared to make way for new or expanding farms. Thus, diverse tropical ecosystems are replaced with single species of crop plants. Agricultural products frequently grown on converted land include soy, palm, bananas, coca, and cacao, among others. Farmers in rain forest countries are often poor and can’t afford to buy land, but many still clear forest land to grow their crops. Because tropical rain forest soils are so poor in nutrients, farmers cannot reuse th