There are many scientists, governments and organisations that are becoming ever more worried about the amount of tropical rainforest which is being cut down. Once covering 14% of the earth's surface, rainforests now cover only 6%.
Below are two people with different viewpoints on deforestation.
Hello, my name is Ban Ki-moon. I am the Secretary-General for the United Nations which is an organisation that gives advice to nearly every country in the world. It is our advice that people stop cutting down large pats of the world's tropical rainforests. We believe this is because if we continue to see large parts of the rainforests deforested then it is going to cause global warming to happen even more quickly than it already is. We also believe this is because many endangered species live in the rainforest and will lose their homes. |
Hi, my name is Fabio and I live in Brazil. I do noThere are simply not enough jobs in Brazil for everyone and cutting down trees is the only way that I can make any money!t have a lot of money and many months I find it difficult to buy enough food to stop my children from going to bed hungry. I also find it very difficult to make enough money to send my children to school so that they can get a better job.I have to cut down trees and sell the logs I get to businesses and other countries to make any money at all.
It is your job to decide which viewpoint you agree with. Why have you come to the decision that you have made? What advice would you give to try and make both sides happy?