Young Wrexham

Information » Environment » Plants and animals » Forests and rainforests

Forests

• Most forests in Wales are free for you to visit and enjoy
  

• Forests are great places to walk, cycle, have a picnic, or simply relax in and enjoy being outdoors
  

• The Forestry Commission for Wales has information on activities and events that are held in forests across Wales
  

• There are many visitor centres throughout Wales where you can find out information on activities and events that are organised especially for young people

Rainforests

• Rainforests are forests which grow in areas of high rainfall
  

• Rainforests cover only a small part of the earth's surface yet they are home to over half the species of plants and animals in the world
  

• Rainforests are found in Central America, the Amazon, Africa, Southern Asia and Australasia. Each rainforest has a different climate
  

• They are a vital resource for our planet. They provide us with oxygen to breathe, and are home to complicated eco-systems and millions of plants and animals
  

• Rainforests also recycle rain fall, protect soil, recycle nutrients and store carbon
  

• The land and trees provide native people with their everyday needs such as shelter, food and medicine
  

• Much of the world's rainforest has still not been explored but it is thought there are thousands of plants and animals waiting to be discovered

Conserving rainforests

• Rainforests used to cover 15 per cent of the earth's land area. In the last two centuries, the total area of the rainforest has decreased from 7.1 billion acres to less than 3.5 billion acres
  

• More than 30 million acres of tropical forest are destroyed each year. If this continues at the same rate, there will be no rainforest left by 2050
  

• The destruction of the rainforest is called deforestation. The trees are being cut down for many reasons including :
  

  • Clearing space for farming
    

  • Producing timber from the trees
    

  • Creating roads
    

  • For mining and oil
    

• Deforestation is in danger of affecting the world's climate. Burning trees leads to a huge amount of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide retains the heat from the sun and does not allow this heat to escape which means the world's temperature will increase