Tropical forests encompass not only mist enshrouded rainforests but also remote cloud forests, endangered dry forests and pine savannas. Tropical forests are not a single ecosystem, but millions of unique ecosystems that are home to over half of the world’s plant and animal species.

Exotic orchids, stealthy jaguars, giant armadillos, colorful songbirds, noisy monkeys and reclusive snakes are but some of the creatures that inhabit tropical forests — along with millions of human beings who have relied on forest fruits, fibers, grains, medicines, cloths, resins and pigments for millennia.

The forest regularly saves our global food supply by offering new, disease-resistant crops. Although we have sampled only a tiny fraction of the potential foods they already have a profound influence on our diet. An astounding number of fruits (bananas, citrus), vegetables (peppers, okra), nuts (cashews, peanuts), drinks (coffee, tea, cola), oils (palm, coconut), flavorings (cocoa, vanilla, sugar, spices) and other foods (beans, grains, fish) originated in and around the rainforest.

If we are not careful though, our appetites for these products could destroy the source from which they came as unsustainable farming methods continue to be a major cause of rainforest destruction and pollution worldwide.

    blog comments powered by Disqus

    SERVICES:

    GENERAL: