to 90 percent of its present ecosystem will be destroyed by the year 2020 (Taylor Leslie, Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest. Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA). Similarly, the rate of the destruction of rainforests around the world is currently increasing, especially after the year 1997. As Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, head of the Amazon forest program stated, " 1997 will be remembered as the year the world caught fire." During that year, over 200,000 acres of rainforest were cut or burned each day. That is, over 150 acres of rainforests disappeared every minute. At this rate, more than half of the world's tropical rainforest will be cut down for industrial uses in less than 50 years. While it is generally recognized that reforestation programs in the Amazon region are essential to the global climate, the Brazilian economic problems are preventing or delaying the initiation of these programs.Cattle ranching is the primary reason for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. When the demand in the world for meat increases, more rainforest lands are being destroyed and turned into farmland for animals. By estimation, there are 220 million cattle, 20 million goats, 60 million pigs and 700 million chickens, in South America just to meet the world's demand. (Eden, Michael J. Ecology and Land Management in Amazonia. London, and New York: Belhaven Press, 1990) The cattle ranching program continues to move southward into the center of South American rainforests. Large acres of land in the Amazon rainforest are been cut and burned then reseeded with grass for cattle and other farm animals. Currently, the cattle ranching business in the Amazon rainforest has caused a total of 500,000 acres of rainforest destroyed. This has already effected the natural rainforest's ecosystem....
