–Tropical Forests: 36) Forest depletion is not debatable, it’s irrefutable.
–World-wide: 37) Medicinal and Indigenous value

Articles:

Tropical Forests:

36) In a recent issue of PNAS, Grainger (1) claimed that the evidence for decline of global tropical forests is ”unclear” and that it is difficult to demonstrate that it is happening ”convincingly using available tropical forest area data.” We agree with most of the article, yet we feel these statements overstate the uncertainty about tropical deforestation. His assessment is based only on the national-level data in the 2005 Forest Resources Assessment, yet data from other studies designed to estimate global rates all show convincing evidence for decline in the area of tropical forests. Two studies estimated that deforestation was from 5.6 to 9.2 million hectares per year in the 1990s for the global tropics (2, 3), and another one estimated that it was 4.9 1.3 million hectares per year for the global humid tropics (4). All three are based on satellite observations and represent convincing evidence for declining tropical forest area during the 1990s. Many national studies show large areas of forest loss. Data from Brazil and Indonesia—the two countries with the highest rates—alone are enough to demonstrate that tropical forest decline has continued since 2000. The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon ranged from 1.8 to 2.7 million hectares per year since 2000 (5). That for Indonesia averaged 0.7
million hectares per year since 2000 (6). These published data provide convincing evidence for decline in tropical forest cover. http://www.pnas.org/

World-wide:

37) One who experiences the diversity and indescribable beauty of the rain forest may be impressed with its plant and animal variety on a strictly visual and audio basis, but the rain forests are essential to human life, providing medicines, foods and climate control. Rain forests have provided enormous contributions to human well being through food, climate control and drugs obtained from, or based on, plants from the rain forest; including Rosy Periwinkle, a plant used to battle Hodgkin’s disease and child leukemia. It is estimated that the Indians in Amazonia used no less than 1600 pharmaceutical plant extracts. Amazingly, it is probable that there are at least 10,000 plant species worldwide that have not yet been identified. In addition, as food crops, we only use 7,000 of about 75,000 known edible plants. Unfortunately, for all the beauty, life, life-saving foods and medicines the rain forest has provided humanity, our way of saying thank you has left much to be desired. While some may chop down the forest for purposes of logging; some clearing it for agricultural purposes and indigenous peoples who cultivate the land through lack of choice, humanity is setting itself up for certain disaster. Each year, up to 54,000 square miles of rain forest are destroyed and 500,000 trees are cut down every hour. Due to the removal of trees, we lose 20,000 to 100,000 species per year and may lose 20% of all species on the planet within the next 30 years. http://autumnsunrise.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/environmental-health-a-look-at-the-rain-forest/