5 Things The Rainforest Does For You

Nature Is Speaking — and The Rainforest is a bit of a wiseacre. “They do breathe air and I make air," it says. “Have they thought about that? Humans … so smart. They’ll figure it out. Humans, making air? That’ll be fun to watch.” Well, it has a point.

Rainforests, indeed all types of forests, around the world provide people with benefits we need to survive. Here are five benefits you might not know you are getting from rainforests — brought to you by some rainforest residents, who were caught on camera by the TEAM Network.

1. Rainforests regulate our climate.

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Rainforests act as the world's thermostat by regulating temperatures and weather patterns. Their loss also contributes to climate change, as tropical deforestation accounts for about 10% of the world's heat-trapping emissions.

2. They help provide oxygen.

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All forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen that human beings, and other animals, need to survive.

3. They are nature’s water factories.

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All forests capture, store, purify and then gradually release clean water to towns and cities located downstream. When they are lost, water flows become more unreliable — leading to greater floods or periods of low water flow, which lead to scarcity of drinking water, water for sanitation, water for agriculture or even power outages from hydropower damns.

4. They are economic engines.

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Around 1.6 billion people — including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures — depend on forests for their livelihoods. Every year, people trade more than $300 billion worth of forest products like timber, bamboo, fruits and mushrooms.

5. Biodiversity found within rainforests is key to new medical discoveries.

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Seventy percent of the plants identified by the U.S. National Cancer Institute that can be useful in cancer treatments only grow in rainforests. Nature-based products account for an estimated 42% of the revenue generated from the world's top-selling pharmaceuticals.

Despite their immense value, nearly half of the world’s forests have been lost.

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Every second, an area of rainforest the size of a football field is cut down to plant crops, graze cattle and generate income from timber and other forest products. That's 86,400 football fields of rainforest per day, or over 31 million football fields of rainforest each year. At that rate the world's rainforests could completely vanish in 100 years.

Nature Is Speaking. Are You Listening?

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Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, Edward Norton, Penélope Cruz and Robert Redford all join forces to give nature a voice. Watch the films and take action at natureisspeaking.org. Listen to The Rainforest and take action at natureisspeaking.org and share the message on Twitter with the hashtag #NatureIsSpeaking.

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GIFs Courtesy the TEAM Network

©TEAM Network / Via teamnetwork.org

TEAM is a consortium between Conservation International, the Smithsonian Institution, Wildlife Conservation Society and 80+ global partners. It works in 16 countries and 17 protected areas around the equator in South America, Asia and Africa. Using camera traps and on site assessments, along with some innovative data help from HP, TEAM can measure the health of tropical forests in near real time. Its data helps park managers, and governments manage and address changes in the health of the forest. This year they captured their 2 millionth camera trap photograph.