Experts agree that the number-one cause of extinction is habitat destruction. Quite simply, when habitat is reduced, species disappear. In the rainforests, logging, cattle ranching, mining, oil extraction, hydroelectric dams and subsistence farming are the leading causes of habitat destruction. Indirectly, the leading threats to rainforest ecosystems are unbridled development, funded by international aid-lending institutions such as the World Bank, and the voracious consumer appetites of industrialized nations. If deforestation continues at current rates, scientists estimate nearly 80-90 percent of tropical rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2020.
Tropical rainforests are by far the richest habitat on Earth.
At least two-thirds of the world's plant species, including many exotic and beautiful flowers, as well as plants with medicinal value, occur in the tropics and subtropics. Rainforests are part of the global weather system. Destroying them alters the hydrological cycle - causing drought, flooding, and soil erosion in areas where such events were previously rare. The cutting of forests also changes the albedo or reflectivity of the earth's surface, which in turn alters wind and ocean current patterns, and changes rainfall distribution. Unless otherwise noted.