No matter where a person lives, even if it is not near a rain forest, the complete destruction of rain forests will affect living conditions. For years rain forests have provided countries around the word with valuable resources, minerals, lumber, and energy. In Brazil alone the rain forests contains 45% of Brazil's hydroelectric power. The minerals found in the rain forests of Brazil are estimated to value 1.6 trillion dollars, while the lumber that the rain forests can provide total 1.7 trillion dollars ("In the Forest" 1). Nutrients from decomposing organisms can be found throughout rain forests, including in soil and in trees. To continue destroying forests also destroys the important materials that they are providing to humans.

One of the most profitable resources the rain forests can provide is oil. Every country in the world uses oil, and most rain forests in the world are rich in oil. The Peten, a rain forest in Guatemala, is one such forest. Each day Guatemala uses 250,000 barrels of oil. Out of this oil Guatemala only supplies one-third of it and imports the rest (Bryce 10). During times of crisis the price the country pays for oil increases immensely. To help save money the country has been extracting more oil from the rain forests. However, it is not that easy. Crews enter the forests creating roads and causing damage to once unharmed land. The government of Guatemala granted two large oil companies the right to remove oil from the Peten. The area that was given to the oil companies is part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve that is supposed to be restricted from any cause of environmental destruction. However, the government has ignored the promises of the reserve with the hope of producing large amounts of oil and profiting from it.

Many governments more than welcome the destruction of the rain forests to increase profits of the country. They try to bribe the indigenous people to give up their land for logging, mining, and other reasons. The natives cannot live in the rain forests while destruction continues. Their supply of food is destroyed, their water is contaminated, and their land is burned. The natives cannot just move on to find a new lifestyle without losing their culture and dignity. Being forced out of rain forests the natives will be forced into the less fortunate areas of cities. They will also be given the poorest jobs since their knowledge is the rain forest, which is of little use in a big city (Bloyd 54). As stated by Evaristo Nkuang of Peru, "We either disappear with the forest, or live with the forest. We have no other place to go" (McCuen 53).

Despite proof from scientific research that many plants found in the rain forests help to cure viruses and diseases, the destruction of forests still continues. In the Unites States one fourth of all drugs that are prescribed have their roots in rain forests (McCuen 14). Rain forests contain a numerous amount of plant species that have not been discovered yet. One of these very plants could help to cure or treat medical patients, including those patients with AIDS or even cancer. Some plants found in the rain forests have been tested and are currently being used.

The rain forests also provide important exports such as oil, nuts, and rubber. Brazilian nuts have become an important export and coffee has been South America's main source of money. After Charles Goodyear learned how to use rubber to benefit humans the demand for it increased. The Amazon began to provide rubber for tires made around the world. Today the Amazon still provides the world with a large supply of rubber. Deforestation of rain forests decreases the amount of rubber South America supplies, and businesses will soon have to find a new supply of this resource.

Studies have shown that in rain forests that are not disturbed the nutrients it provides are rarely swept away by rainfall or rivers. Once depletion of trees begins to occur the valuable nutrients in the soil also begin to disappear. When rain falls in rain forests it often amounts to four to five inches in just one rain storm (Perry 25). Without trees this rain erodes the top layer of soil and the nutrients found in the soil. The soil also runs into rivers disturbing any nutrients that settled at the bottom of the river.

The rain forest have proved, however, to have soil that only supports the life of the rain forests. With trees gone the soil receives less rain, and the rain that it does receive washes away its nutrients. The land of rain forests then becomes farmable for only about two seasons (Medine 1). Some people realize that this land is not suitable for farming, but people than turn to subsidy farming. Subsidy farming had its peak year

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Approximate Word count = 3004
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)