Today the world is losing 33.8 million acres of rainforests per year. This number sounds astoundingly huge yet it may seem so meaningless because rainforests, as many people see, locate somewhere far away in South America or Africa. This is exactly the reason why people must first understand the importance of rainforests before they can start to lend their support for these endangered treasures. Rainforests play many essential roles in our daily lives: They serve as our global pharmacy, food basket, library, and climate control.

Rainforests contains greatest resources for natural medicines. Already 2000 tropical plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties. The forests also yield chemicals to treat inflammation, rheumatism, diabetes, muscle tension, surgical complications, malaria, heart conditions, skin diseases, arthritis, glaucoma, and hundred of other maladies. Even a cure for AIDS may someday be found in rainforests. According to Robert Cook from Harvard University, in 1987, researchers found a tree compound from a Malaysian rainforest that was 100% effective against the HIV-1 virus. The researchers were not able to find the tree again, however, so the cure was never found.