Fast Facts Page

-Indonesia has 250 edible fruits, only 43 of which have been cultivated widely (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-Villagers in Indonesia use 4000 native plant species for food, medicine, and other valuable products (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-More than half of a prescription medicines contain some natural products.

-The total value of soil formation, waste disposal, air and water purification, energy absorption, and management of biogeochemical and hydrological cycles is at lease an estimated 33 trillion dollars yearly (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-The US fish and wildlife service estimates that Americans spend 104 billion yearly on wildlife related recreation, compared to 81 billion yearly on new vehicles (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-Millions of people enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, wildlife watching, and other outdoor activities based on nature (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-Every minute, 140 hectares (1 hectare= about a city block) of tropical rainforest are lost, resulting in the loss of an estimated 50-150 species each day (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

--Panama contains more species than all of North America (Melchias, 2001).

-Agriculture is responsible for the majority of habitat and biological  loss due to highly productive forests being converted into monocultures for large scale food production (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001).

-There is enough for in the world for each person to consume 2500 calories a day.  The average daily caloric consumption of a US citizen is 3500 calories.

-Although Indonesia covers only 1.3% of the earths surface, it contains 15% of the known plant species, and a significant share of the worlds animal diversity (Cunningham-Saigo, 2001). 

-Over 25% of our medicines are derived from plants (Melchias, 2001).

-The scanning of the rainforests for possible disease cures could potentially expose humans to bacteria and viruses never before encountered,  leading to outbreaks of horrific diseases to which we would have no known cures.

-Less than 8 percent of global forest area is legally protected. Legal safeguards appear ineffective against logging, poaching, and other forms of development in many countries (Melchias, 2001).

-Centers of plant diversity have been identified as conservation priority areas, rich in plant diversity or endemism. Nearly three quarters of the centers are found in forests (Melchias, 2001).

-Nobody knows how many species are disappearing or being generated on the earth; probably fewer than 10% of species have been given a scientific name (Melchias, 2001).

-The greatest number of plant species, estimated at 90,000, as well as the highest density of species per area , are found in the Neotropics, which comprise half of all the total rainforest area on the globe (Huston, 1994).

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