5 key actions to be taken to protect rainforests?
Saving the rainforest is the need of the hour. While the good news is that people are acknowledging it, coming together in this initiative and playing their parts, the task is a mammoth one. We have already lost a significant forest area to meet the ever-growing demand for deforestation; we cannot afford to lose anymore.
Rainforests, the lungs of the planet, now only cover a mere 6% of the earth. This number will continue to decrease because of a lack of conscious effort being taken by us to save it from further destruction. We need to protect and save the rainforest to ensure that our tomorrow is better than our yesterday.
What We Need to Do
1. Avoid the Use of Paper and Wood Products
This is one of the most significant actions on our part that can help protect our rainforests. Large-scale degradation of forests results in the disappearance of green cover from the face of the planet.
We can take up some small but effective steps to reduce the use of paper and wood products and save the rainforest. Using cloth bags and napkins and avoiding disposable paper products like cups and plates can help reduce the number of trees being cut daily. Choosing tree-free alternatives of paper and products that can be recycled is encouraged.
2. A Little Knowledge Can Make a Big Difference
There are food products like soybean, palm oil, and beef whose production and manufacturing processes largely contribute to deforestation. By limiting the use of such products, we can do our part in this great initiative.
Buying meat from local farms and reducing its intake altogether, or checking the labels of palm oil and soya for sustainable alternatives are small steps that we can take to help save the rainforest.
3. Buy Products That Do Not Indirectly Harm the Rainforest
While buying gold and other precious stones, always ask the sellers whether they use recycled metals to make them. It can result in reducing deforestation due to mining activities.
Another major cause of the destruction of rainforests is the logging of rare woods like mahogany, ebony, and rosewood, which are highly valued worldwide for their intrinsic qualities. Ask sellers to show products made of recycled pulp and paper products instead of hardwood.
4. Supporting Rainforest-Saving Initiatives
Programs like the Protect-An-Acre Program of RAN can also help fight the pervasive problem of vanishing rainforests. Funding is provided for local people of the forest region to grant them legal recognition. This program also deals with promoting alternative economic practices in these areas and prohibiting practices harmful to the rainforest.
RAN or Rainforest Action Network is a strong organisation that has successfully led many meaningful boycott missions on some well-known brands. Burger King and Mitsubishi had to change their business policies and adopt environmentally friendly and supportive measures. Thus, by supporting organisations like RAN, you can contribute to the ongoing worldwide rainforest conservation initiative.
5. Spread Awareness and Educate Everyone
Today, the internet and media are powerful tools for mass environmental education. People will have to understand the usefulness and importance of rainforests and join hands to strengthen campaigns and programs that contribute to the cause. The idea is to channelise the efforts of protecting the rainforests by providing all kinds of support and help.
Mass awareness about how to save the rainforests is sure to gain effective feedback and support from all sections.
Conclusion
Saving the rainforests is essential to continue for all living beings to continue to thrive on planet earth. The choice that faces us today is straightforward: be a nature guardian, or play your part in ending the world as we know it. What will you choose today?
