In addition to wood, rainforests produce a number of valuable products which are used by literally hundreds of manufacturing industries. They can be harvested every year from the forest without harming its [G 09 / ecology], unlike the limited long term potential of a clear cut timber harvest. The possibility of utilizing more plants for man's benefit is great. Of the 90,000 plants in tropical forests, only around 9,000 have been studied at all, of which about 900 in any great detail.
Alternatives to logging are to harvest many of the forest's trees for their gums, fibers, latexes, oils and resins. Tropical plants can also produce bio-crude, a plant-based energy form. Amazonia is particularly rich in such plants. Gasoline could literally be grown in trees such as the 'copaiba langsdorfii,' which produces hydrocarbon fluid similar to diesel.
