Tropical deforestation.

All of the world's rainforests will be gone in about 100 years because of deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing out of forests. If there weren't rainforests it would cause unknown effects on the world climate. It would also kill most animal and plant species. There are different types of deforestation. One type is called "Slash and burn" agriculture. This is when poor farmers chop down a small area in a rainforest and burn the tree trunks. …

…organisms are losing species that they depend on which makes them face extinction as well. It is hard to determine the actual rate of deforestation. To study the rate, scientists analyze satellite imagery of forested areas that have been cleared. It is estimated that 53,000 square miles of tropical rainforests were destroyed each year in the 1980's. Scientists are currently studying the rate of deforestation for this decade, and how it changes from year to year.