The Worrying Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest
A sorry tale of an impending climate tragedy.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. It is situated in the drainage basin of the Amazon River, covering an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). The forest makes up 40% of Brazil’s total area.
The Amazon rainforest straddles nine South American countries: Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Guyana, and French Guiana. The most significant chunk of the forest falls within Brazil.
Illegal logging, increased urbanisation and agriculture are increasing the pace of deforestation, which in turn threatens the many millions of plant and animal species that call the Amazon home.
The deforestation of the Amazon is causing a ripple effect of devastation, and its presence is being felt in the form of catastrophic climate change across the globe.
According to an estimate, 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost over the past half a century. At the current pace of deforestation, no less than 27% of the Amazon is likely to be devoid of trees by the year 2030.
Tropical forests work as carbon sinks and absorb roughly half the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The Amazon alone absorbs half of that. To lose the Amazon would be a catastrophe and dramatically accelerate climate change. The Amazon produces 20% of the oxygen available in the Earth's atmosphere and is often referred to as the planet's lungs.
Tropical rainforests like the Amazon have an incredibly diverse range of flora and fauna. The Amazon is home to a wide array of species, many of which are yet to be discovered.
Statistics have revealed that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest within Brazil has increased by 10% year on year since President Jair Bolsonaro took over. His policies have consistently undermined environmental protections.
Increasing human activity in the Amazon jeopardises its future, and changing climate patterns have brought the jungle to a tipping point. Rainforests like the Amazon bring about rain when the trees pull water from the earth, release moisture in the air, and return as rain.
This activity is upended by deforestation, leading to forest fires and an increase in global temperatures. Soon, declining rainfall patterns and longer dry seasons will become the norm.
Scientists warn that the tipping point will be reached between 20-25% of deforestation, and 17% of the forest has already been lost.
If global temperatures see a rise of 4°C as predicted, it can be stated with utmost certainty that much of the central, eastern and southern Amazon will end up becoming barren scrubland.
Coupled with deforestation and drought, parts of the Amazon are a veritable tinderbox susceptible to forest fires. Since 2000, around 70% of the Amazon forest has been experiencing deficient rainfall.
The forest fires that devastated large swathes of the Amazon in August 2020, helped put the spotlight on the Amazon rainforest. This ancient forest is the victim of relentless colonisation and, combined with environmental vandalism, perpetuates a crisis.
If deforestation continues unchecked, the Amazon will cease to exist within a few generations, and this development will have unforeseen and unwelcome consequences for life on Earth. We must pay heed, for there is no Planet B for us.
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