To ensure the Amazon's survival is to ensure the world's.
The lung of our world is in danger
There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The Amazon, which contains 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, helps stabilize local and global climate. Deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world. And yet this irreplaceable region of planet earth is under continued threat. Its animal and plant life is increasingly pushed towards endangerment, and the indigenous people are mistreated by failed government policies and private companies exploiting the area dry of its resources.
The Amazon rainforest is now capturing one third less of the carbon in our atmosphere than it did just ten years ago; that amounts to one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide now freely circulating in the air. This increased carbon load on the climate will grow annually, accelerating changes in the climate and weather patterns. The entire forest lost over 760,000 sq km by 2014, and by 2025 some studies have estimated that 40% of the rainforest will be destroyed.
The Amazon rainforest is now capturing one third less of the carbon in our atmosphere than it did just ten years ago; that amounts to one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide now freely circulating in the air. This increased carbon load on the climate will grow annually, accelerating changes in the climate and weather patterns. The entire forest lost over 760,000 sq km by 2014, and by 2025 some studies have estimated that 40% of the rainforest will be destroyed.
Why is the Amazon Being Destroyed?
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Logging interests cut down rain forest trees for timber used in flooring, furniture, and other items.
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Power plants and other industries cut and burn trees to generate electricity.
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The paper industry turns huge tracts of rain forest trees into pulp.
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The cattle industry uses slash-and-burn techniques to clear ranch land.
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Agricultural interests, particularly the soy industry, clear forests for cropland.
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Subsistence farmers slash-and-burn rain forest for firewood and to make room for crops and grazing lands.
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Mining operations clear forest to build roads and dig mines.
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Governments and industry clear-cut forests to make way for service and transit roads.
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Hydroelectric projects flood acres of rain forest.
Soy farming results directly in devastating practices such as deforestation. Huge tracks of land are systematically cleared of trees and local ecology, then replaced with a soy crop. Farmers then use this area until the soil has been drained of its nutrients and can no longer yield another crop. They then move on and destroy another section of forest in pursuit of fertile farmland. This has created, not just an explosion of soy farming, but cattle ranching throughout South America, which also decimates plant life.
Logging is the most obvious threat to the Amazon rainforest. Illegal, non-sustainable logging is causing massive damage to the local ecosystem. A need for wood products and materials in construction drives the continued expansion of logging activities throughout the entire region. While huge efforts have been made to counter illegal logging, in 2013 it was reported that deforestation had increased by a third.
As industrial logging and other destructive industries move further and further into what remains of the Amazon Rainforest, many indigenous people's cultures and ways of life are put at risk. While the Brazilian law provided for the complete protection of all indigenous lands by 1993, only half of the indigenous lands in Brazil have been demarcated.
Oil drilling in the Amazon is not only a primary cause of deforestation, but also causes widespread soil and air pollution, indigenous conflict, biodiversity loss, and the displacement of local populations. Oil development in the Amazon is still on the rise and recently there has been outrage against the Ecuadorian government for permitting oil exploration in the Yasuni, one of the world’s most ecologically diverse places. In Peru, a serious political struggle is underway to prevent drilling in one Peru’s biggest oil blocks. Companies like Texaco, Chevron and Occidental petroleum have been defending themselves in court for decades to evade penalties for trashing the Amazon and causing widespread public health crises.
Regardless of whether it is mining, logging, or farming, there is a shared problem with all three activities: infrastructure. All industrial activities in the forest require the building of roads. The associated construction of every 40 meters of road claims 600 sq km of the Amazon forest.This level of destruction cannot continue unabated, but for as long as these trends are allowed to progress, the Amazon rainforest will decrease in size with countless species wiped out in the process, and the world’s climate changed irrevocably.
How Can We Save the Amazon?
Many solutions are needed to protect the Amazon Rainforest. Our team believes that for solutions to be effective they need to take into account human rights and the biodiversity of plants and animals. But this can only be achieved if environmental and economic alternatives replace the current destructive methods.
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Sustainable-logging regimes that selectively cull trees rather than clear-cut. We would then would save millions of acres of rain forest every year.
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Campaigns that educate people about the destruction caused by rain forest timber and encourage purchasing of sustainable rain forest products could drive demand down enough to slow deforestation.
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Encouraging people who live near rain forests to harvest its bounty (nuts, fruits, medicines) rather than clear-cutting it for farmland would save million of acres.
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Government moratoriums on road building and large infrastructure projects in the rain forest would save many acres.