Dr. N. Munal Meitei
Environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel
Email: nmunall@yahoo.in
June 22, World Rainforest Day, is a wonderful opportunity to dive into the vibrant ecosystems of rainforests and discover the incredible diversity of life they support. As defined, rainforests are tall trees, mostly evergreen, with a high amount of rainfall. Many of the forests with 6 Major Forest types and 10 Subtypes in Manipur may be included in the category. Thus, the celebration of Rainforest Day has great significance in our state too.
Often described as the “Green lungs of Earth,” the Rainforest covers 6% of the Earth’s surface, but houses a remarkable 50% of terrestrial biodiversity, playing a crucial role in keeping our environment balanced. Both the International Day of Forests & Rainforest Day, 2025 have a similar theme, “Forests and Food”, emphasizing the vital role the Rainforests play in food security, nutrition, livelihoods, fuel, income and employment while also supporting soil fertility, medicines and incredible Biodiversity.
Rainforests as one of the most powerful and cost-effective climate change mitigation instruments and also to raise awareness of the crucial role played by these intricate ecosystems in maintaining the health of our planet and human survival. Rainforests are indispensable for the health of ecosystems, for sustaining global biodiversity, influencing climate patterns and generating the oxygen that is vital for all living beings on Earth. Rainforests provide 20% of the oxygen and absorb 7.6 billion MT CO2 annually, supply freshwater and many food products such as coffee, spices and fruits and stabilize climate patterns.
With increasing human demand, rainforests the size of 40 football fields are lost every minute, which is 78 million hectares every year, with 15 billion trees. Since 1980, the total disappearance of Rainforests will be equivalent to the size of Europe. The common causes include logging, mining, farming, industrial development and land clearance for agriculture and farming.
Wherever a field of rainforest is removed, the surrounding wildlife habitats and homes of indigenous peoples are disrupted. Deforestation can cause flooding, soil erosion, desertification and climate change, but it also threatens our biodiversity and imperils our planet’s health. Globally, deforestation results in an increase of 15% of the total CO2 emissions – more than from all cars in the U.S. and China combined. In the global warming era, protecting and restoring rainforests is imperative.
These pervasive forces have triggered a cascading effect of damaging repercussions across the globe, posing a serious threat to countless species that are found in rainforests. Moreover, these activities have far-reaching implications, intensifying the global climate emergency. Rainforests also support jobs and economies through sectors like tourism and sustainable forestry.
Forests are home to more than three-quarters of the world’s life on land. Forests occupy 31% of the world’s land surface, absorbing 30% of all global carbon emissions. Today, around 13% of Earth’s land is covered with tropical forests. Luckily, around 34% of the world’s forests are still in primary forests consisting of native tree species without the disturbances from human activities and ecological processes.
Forests harbor most of Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity with the three components—ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Forests provide habitats for about 80% of amphibians, 75% of birds and 68% of mammal species. About 60% of all vascular plants occur in tropical forests. A square kilometer of forest may be home to more than 1,000 species.
An estimated 75% of the 115 leading food crops globally – together representing 35% of global food production – benefit from pollination by animals and bees that live in forests. The global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people by 2050; this implies an increase in food demand of 46%, thus increasing demand for land and placing huge pressure on Rainforests.
Earth, with all its life, is our only home. With overconsumption and rapid population growth, unfortunately, our humanity is jeopardizing our future by trashing our living environment and exhausting resources. Unprecedentedly, we face several pernicious environmental problems, such as the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event and the climate crisis.
Manipur, with 17,418 sq km of forests, including the trees outside forests, which is 78.01% of the area, has a total carbon stock of 178.72 million tons equivalent to 655.31 million tons of CO2 which is 2.51% of total forest carbon stock in the country though our geographical area is 0.7% only.
After its publication, the declaration “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: a Second Notice” sparked a warning tale about the global environment and climate. This research paper is currently ranked 6th out of 9 million papers on the Altmetric scale, giving mankind a wake-up call for environmental skeptics.
Rainforests are dubbed as “World’s largest Pharmacy” since a quarter of all known natural medicines come from rainforests. Rainforests have not been fully explored and there are likely millions of species of plants and animals to be discovered. We want to ensure a chance for our children to discover all undiscovered plants and animals before they disappear.
Rainforests are the source of everything, fantastic and useful from nature. Natural climate solutions like protecting and restoring forests could reverse global emissions by a third. Your efforts, together with the actions of others, emerge as a beacon of hope, inspiring global efforts to protect and restore these beautiful habitats, the Rainforests, the soul of living beings.
