One scientist at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C., proposed that 10 percent of existing rain forests be set aside for posterity, to safeguard as many species as possible. At the moment about 8 percent are protected, but many of these reserves or national parks are parks in name only, since there are neither funds nor personnel to protect them. Clearly, something more must be done.

Peter Raven, a spokesman for rain-forest conservation, explains: “Efforts to save the rain forests call for a new internationalism, a realization that people everywhere share a role in the fate of the earth. Ways to alleviate poverty and hunger throughout the world must be found. New agreements between nations will need to be developed.”

His recommendation makes sense to many people. Saving the rain forests requires a global solution—as do many other situations facing mankind. The problem lies in getting “agreements between nations” before a worldwide catastrophe occurs and before the damage done is irreparable. As Peter Raven implies, the destruction of the rain forests is closely related to other intractable problems of the developing world, such as hunger and poverty.

So far, international efforts to address such problems have met with limited success. Some people ask, Will nations one day rise above their narrow and conflicting national interests for the sake of the common good, or is the quest for “a new internationalism” just a dream?

History does not appear to give grounds for optimism. Nevertheless, one factor is often ignored—the viewpoint of the rain forest’s Creator. “It should be borne in mind that we are destroying part of the Creation,” points out Harvard Professor Edward O. Wilson, “thereby depriving all future generations of what we ourselves were bequeathed.”

Will the Creator of the earth allow mankind to destroy his handiwork completely? That would be inconceivable.a Rather, the Bible predicts that God will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” (Revelation 11:18) How will God impose his solution? He promises to establish a Kingdom—a supranational heavenly government—that will solve all earth’s problems and that “will never be brought to ruin.”—Daniel 2:44.