
The world's rainforests are being destroyed at a faster rate than ever before in history.  It is believed that more than 80,000 acres of tropical rainforests are wiped out every day.  This deforestation is causing the extinction of around 50,000 plant, animal, and insect species every year.  If the destruction of the rainforest continues at this rate, we could lose up to 50% of the world's species (Scientific American).  Amongst these disappearing tropical rainforests, the Amazon rainforest is the world's largest and provides humans with the most resources.  Before it is too late, we have to decide whether the Amazon rainforest has a greater economic value dead or alive.  We can either continue with deforestation to meet the demands of timber, livestock, and minerals along with other goods or we can preserve the species of the Amazon to continue advancing modern and future medicines.  Either way, a decision needs to be made soon before the damage to the Amazon rainforest becomes irreversible. 

Humans are the main cause for the destruction of rainforests.  We are using the resources of the rainforest much faster than they can be replaced.  Rhett Butler explains the reasons for deforestation in his article, "Why Are Rainforests Being Destroyed?"  From 2000 to 2012, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil lost 360,277 square kilometers.  This number is significantly higher than any other country during this time period.  Butler says there are two main ways that humans destroy the boundaries of the Amazon.  The first method is to burn down sections of the forest to make land for farms and livestock.  Many of these farms are very small and barely profitable.  The other method of deforestation is using heavy machinery to get access to resources that include timber, pulp for making paper, extraction of minerals, and energy (Butler).  All of these goods are traded and play a large part in the world's economy.  Is this the best use for these resources or is there more to gain from the Amazon rainforest.

While Butler is mainly concerned with the destruction of the Amazon rainforest as a whole, Shreya Dasgupta focuses on the number of tree species threatened by extinction in her article for Mongabay Environmental News.  The southern and eastern portions of the Amazon, called the "Arc of Deforestation", is not being protected.  This section of the forest has lost over 17% of its tree cover in the last 14 years.  Dasgupta reports that up to fifty percent of the 15,000 tree species in the Amazon will be threatened by extinction due to human activities.  With this rapid loss of species in the Amazon rainforest, we are missing out on potential medical benefits that might only be found in these plant species. 

The Amazon rainforest, along with the other tropical forests of the world, have a large number of flower and plant species that we use in our medicines.  In 2009, it was reported that "a quarter of our modern pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, but less than one percent of the trees and plants in the tropics have been tested for curative properties" (Scientific American).  Of that one percent that has been tested, we have already developed medicines that that lower blood pressure, fight against fungi, fight liver disease, and fight against cancer cells just to name a few ("Medicinal Plants of the Amazon Rainforest").  Scientists have barely scratched the surface of the rainforests but the potential health and economic benefits from the 99% of untested species is much greater than the current economic value of the Amazon rainforest's raw materials.  Therefore, we should protect the Amazon rainforest in order to continue researching curative properties.  If protected, the medicines could benefit the majority of the people and might put an end life threatening diseases.

At the current rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, we are losing species of flowers and plants that would have a greater benefit to humans than the raw materials could ever provide.  The wood, minerals, and energy we are tearing down the rainforest for are still going to be in high demand but we should look for those luxuries somewhere else.  I don't think that we should leave the Amazon rainforest completely untouched, but I do believe that we need to know more about the plants and animals we are driving into extinction before deforestation kills them all.  The future economic value of the Amazon rainforest after researching species' curative properties will be much greater than the money being made from the farms, wood, and minerals.  If we stop deforestation and start researching medical benefits of these threatened plants, it might end up saving lives of future generations.

