Rainforests now cover less than 2 percent of the Earth s surface. 90 percent of all species on Earth live in the rainforest. Ancestors of humans first evolved in the rainforest. If a Rainforest is cut down it takes up to 1,000 years for it to grow back to what it was before it was cut-down if seeds are replanted. Half of the World s fresh flowing water is stored in the Rainforest.
Rainforests affect global weather patterns very much.
They also affect prevailing winds, cloud formation, temperature, and rainfall. There are about 140 million people that live in the rainforest in more than 1,000 indigenous tribes. We rely on Rainforests for food, medicines, and wood. Some products that we use almost every day that are grown in the rainforest are coffee, bananas, citrus fruit, chocolate, antibiotics, mangoes, tranquilizers, make-up, vegetables, rubber, and wax. Originally 8 square miles of rainforest covered the earth.