Tropical Challenges

The same heat that grows rainforests makes life hard for people:

• Disease — warmth and humidity let mosquitoes and parasites breed year-round, so malaria and dengue never get a winter pause
• Poor soil — heavy rain washes nutrients out fast, so the ground under that lush canopy is often surprisingly thin
• Fragile farming — slash-and-burn clearings give a few good harvests, then fade, pushing farmers to cut even more forest