Science and Nature Rainforest

Rainforests are the most diverse ecosystems on the planet
containing more species of plants and animals than all the earth's
other ecosystems combined - possibly as many as 30-40 million
species - two-thirds of all the world’s wildlife species

Tropical Forests are the Earth's oldest ecosystems. Fossil
records show that the forests of South-East Asia have survived in
their present form for at least 70 million years (Myers, 1992).

A single hectare of tropical rainforest may contain 200 tree
species. The same area of temperate forest typically contains only
10 to 15 species (World Rainforest Movement, 1990).

Rainforests contain medicines - an estimated one in four of all
purchases from pharmacies in countries such as Britain contain an
active ingredient derived from a tropical forest species.

Currently, 121 prescription drugs currently sold worldwide come
from plant-derived sources. And while 25% of Western
pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less than
1% of tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.