The protection of the remaining forests of the worl is a well know subject, and a crucial part of environmental consideration. In Brazil, where some of the last reserves are located, attentions are concentrated on the tropical rainforests, along the Atlantic coast and tha Amazon. The reasons to worry are justified in numbers. In 500 years ( particularly in the twentieth century) 93% of the Brazilian rain forests has disappeared. Forests are important because they shelter biodiversity, genetic material for the evolution of species, regulate the climate (temperatures and rains), hold carbon dioxide reducing the “green house effect”(global warming), protect the soil and store water for human and animal sonsumption, besides precenting floods. Did you know that of the total amount of water in the globe, only a little less than one per cent can be used by us to drink and produce food? And did you know that about one third of the world population does not have access to potable water? Also, did you know that the lack of drinkable water is responsible for more infant deaths than all wars and diseases put together? Think of it and of what you could do to preserve water. THE AMAZON FOREST COULD VANISH FAST The destruction of the Amazon rainforest, which constitutes 50% of the biodiversity of the Earth, could be irreversible within a decade, according to a US scientist. James Alcock, of Pennsylvania State University, says the forest could virtually disappear within half a century.