Living Pharmacies

Rainforests are the planet's most promising source of undiscovered medicines. A large share of the plant compounds being studied for cancer treatment come from species that grow only in tropical forests. Aspirin traces back to willow bark, morphine to poppies, and quinine to cinchona trees. The next breakthrough drug may sit inside a species we have not yet catalogued.

Beyond medicine, rainforests hold genetic diversity that is irreplaceable. Crop wild relatives — the wild ancestors of our food plants — carry genes for disease resistance, drought tolerance, and nutritional content that plant breeders depend on.