The problem of deforestationThe world's forests are in serious danger. More than half of the original forest cover has been destroyed and the situation risks deteriorating if the current alarming rate of deforestation is not curbed. Every minute, an estimated 26 hectares of forest are lost – an area equivalent to 37 football fields – and it is not difficult to predict that if this continues, we will end up with a planet devoid of forests. This would be catastrophic: not only are forests home to some of the most important species on the planet, but they also play a vital role in regulating the climate and making the planet habitable. Much of the land was once covered in trees, but the majority of them had long been cleared to make way for an ever-expanding human population. This is particularly true in regions with temperate climates, such as Britain and other parts of Europe, where agriculture took over the landscape early on and has now reduced large forests to tiny, scattered pockets. across the country. However, it is only relatively recently that tropical forests have been seriously attacked. Globally, there were twice as many rainforests at the turn of the 20th century as there are today, and only about 700 million of the original 1.5 billion hectares remain. The rate of deforestation in Africa is extremely worrying: around four million hectares. hectares of forest are destroyed every year, to the point that 45 percent of its original forest cover has disappeared. Commercial logging, land clearing for agriculture, roads and railways, forest fires, mining and drilling, firewood collection and deforestation for...... middle of paper ... Nature is a vast interdependent system which currently exists in a more or less balanced state. Manipulating such important factors as rainforests could cause irreversible damage to the world as we know it. Another consequence of deforestation concerns the scientific possibilities that would be lost with the disappearance of tropical rainforests. It is estimated that only a small fraction of the plants and animals living in rainforests have been identified, and some scientists believe many of them may hold the key to finding cures for some of the deadliest diseases known to man. man. For example, the US National Cancer Institute has listed some 3,000 plants with anti-cancer properties, 70 percent of which are found in tropical forests. Who knows what other secrets the rainforests hold??