As I'm sure many people already now, rain forests do more than just act as a home for exotic birds and cute monkeys...they operate as a sort of "lung" for the environment, recycling nutrients and helping to regulate the quality and flow of water (clean water is another big problem in Africa...kind of a vicious cycle situation). 
The deforestation occurring in Africa is adding to a world wide air pollution problem. However the thing that makes this such a complicated issue is that because Africa is largely a suffering continent, many of the developing countries use wood fuel for heating and cooking (which are basic necessities to pretty much everyone).
Just to give an idea of how integral wood fuel is to African lives, I have some statistics... around 90% of the entire population of the continent relies on wood fuel for cooking, that's A LOT of wood! Its no wonder then, that even though forests cover about 22 % of the region, but they are disappearing faster than anywhere else in the developing world. It seems like, as always, Africa is in a complex situation...whereas other countries use the products of deforestation for logging or commercial use, the African people rely on the destruction of their rainforests just to survive.
2 comments:
I think the topic of deforestation in Africa is especially important, so many people think "Sahara" when they hear "Africa", we sometimes forget there are rainforests and jungles in Africa and not just South America.
I didn't even think about all of the wood that is used for cooking an fueling things for survival. No wonder the resources are being depleated..
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