Deforestation plays a major and important role in the preservation of all tropical rain forests. The destruction and deforestation for development in the Amazon causes the loss of numerous species, the emition of gasses such as carbon dioxide, and the displacement/ cultural extinction of countless tribes of indigenous people. Deforestation not only harms the rain forests but the overall well-being of the planet and may destroy future resources that include plants that can provide medicine. Aggressive development hurts the long term value of the rain forest and limits the economic viability of small farmers. The global deforestation rate is 2.4 acres per second. (2 football fields) That is 78 million acres a year, decreasing the size of the amazon by 15-18% each and every year. At this rate, the entire Amazon rainforest will be gone in approximately 80 years. As trees are removed from a rain forest, there is less transpiration-the releasing of moisture from a tree’s exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen- which means each year, less moisture is released into the atmosphere, decreasing rainfall and furthering drought-like conditions across the region.