The world's forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 100,000 acres every day. They find it impossible to make loggers re-plant the lands they clear. Desperate for more fertile land, families move from their worn out farms into the cleared areas to practive shifting agriculture. Financially strapped governments are unable to send extension workers into these communities to teach environmentally sustainable land management, even if they should happen to have technicians familiar with the concept. So the burning continues and the cycle of land depletion continues.
Food production is now in decline.
Weather patterns are changing, and both the local and global atmosphere are increasingly polluted. Because of these factors, soil is eroding, streams are carrying silt that smothers coral reefs, land is turning into desert, habitats are disappearing, many species of plants and animals are becoming extinct, atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are increasing, world temperatures are higher, the ozone layer is thinner, the sea level is rising and fresh water levels are falling. The rich web of life, of which we are all a part, depends on a multitude of interactions between plants, animals and the natural resources of the planet. When we lose any part of it, the entire web is negatively affected. How the world's people, industries and governments care for this planet, on which we all depend, can determine our future.