The challenge facing rainforests

Rainforests are the richest places on earth holding the majority of the planets biodiversity yet 100 acres of rainforests are cleared every minute. In the 1990s alone, more than 200 million acres of forest - or an area greater than twice the size of California--were destroyed.

We are losing rainforests and species at an unprecedented rate due to the devastating effects of:

• deforestation for timber;
• conversion to farmland for cattle ranching and crops such as soya or palm oil;
• infrastructure projects, like dams and roads;
• mining and oil exploitation;

The threats are grave, but by targeting the highest priority areas and taking these areas off the market for destructive development, we will be able to combat these pressures.

Through the efforts of scientists and conservationists, we have been able to identify where biodiversity is concentrated and target financial resources at these areas to achieve the greatest conservation gains.

For example, 25 biodiversity hotspots that cover just 1.4% of the surface of the planet yet contain an amazingly high concentration of terrestrial biodiversity - more than 60%!

In addition, scientists from World Land Trust-US and all the major international conservation organizations recently joined forces to form the Alliance for Zero Extinction and identified the highest priority sites necessary for preventing the immediate extinction of the worlds rarest species. We specifically target resources to those sites with endangered species in most dire need of protection.