MOST tropical forest-containing at least two-thirds of all plants and animals species as well as being the source of many foods, medicines, and industrial products.

About half of all tropical forests are already gone. Forest loss affects hundreds of millions of people through increased flooding, soil erosion and silting of waterways, droughts, shortages of timber, and displacement of societies and cultures.

As tropical forests and other biologically-rich habitats are destroyed or degraded under the pressures of human population growth and economic activity, the normal rates of extinction of plant and animal species are accelerating.

We simply do not know the extent of this phenomenon, but experts estimate that we may be losing several thousand species each year, and one-fifth of all species could disappear within the next 20 years.

Energy use, industrial production, and deforestation all contribute to air pollution that is harming plants, animals, and human health, and altering the global atmosphere.

Soil erosion is seriously degrading crop lands in most of the world’s important agricultural regions, the world’s grain acreage is diminishing, and grain production per person is declining.

Tropical countries with high population growth rates usually have deforestation rates well above the average annual rate of 0.6 percent for tropical areas.

The clearing of large amounts of forest harms a country’s potential for development. Forests perform many functions important to long-term national productivity.

In addition to providing homes for hundreds of millions of people, forests protect watersheds, regulate water flow and weather patterns.

Industry must expand to support growing populations and to raise living standards. Yet industry must not reduce the quality of life, destroy the environment, or undermine the economic potential of future populations by exhausting natural resources.

Air and water have traditionally been regarded as free goods, but in reality they are not free.
MOHAMED KHAN