Current Amazon Deforestation Destroys More Than Just Trees
The Amazon rainforest is nature’s gift that keeps on giving, however, this globally important ecosystem is threatened by deforestation more than ever. With an increased rate of forest fires in recent years and a president that prioritizes land development over land preservation, the impacts of a smaller Amazon are being felt by all walks of life.
Loss of species is of serious concern for conservationists as the Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest biodiversity hotspot, containing millions of different species. Deforestation has led to vast amounts of habitat loss in the Amazon rainforest, being transformed into uninhabitable landscapes used for agricultural and mining practices. The destruction of forest habitat and increased human activity within the amazon has led to the decline of the Jaguar (Panthera onca), listed as near threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. During the 1960’s it was estimated that there was upwards of 300,000 jaguars in the wild, whereas today there exists around 64,000 individuals. Jaguars are an important component of its ecosystem, known as a keystone species, meaning that its existence impacts the populations of other species. For example, it is the top predator of the Amazon rainforest, so it plays an important role in controlling prey species numbers. If the Jaguar was to be removed from the ecosystem these species populations would grow resulting in overgrazing of vegetation that supports thousands of insect species. Therefore, if current human activity in the forests continues to grow the loss of the Jaguar would have severe impacts on the forest’s biodiversity.
Indigenous culture in the amazon forest is also threatened by deforestation for commercial uses. Thousands of acres of once indigenous territory have been converted for agriculture and mining. The conversion of forest to these other land uses threatens the livelihoods of many indigenous communities that rely on the forest for food, medicine and importantly, a place to live. This problem has only been exacerbated recently after the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president. Mr Bolsonaro wishes to convert more forested land for the agriculture and mining sectors as a means of boosting the economy. He claims that the land owned by indigenous peoples is too large for the amount of people that occupy it, and seeks to convert these indigenous owned lands for farming practices. In retaliation to these new policies that threaten the livelihoods of indigenous people and their culture, thousands have protested and demonstrated in the streets of the capital city of Brazil. The president wishes for the indigenous peoples to integrate into the larger populations, but in doing so this would lead to the demise of a whole culture and valuable traditional ecological knowledge would be lost.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis, this plays a crucial role especially today where we are emitting huge amounts of CO2 that is harmful to our planet. Rainforests absorb more CO2 than any other forest system due to their immense size. In fact, the Amazon Rainforest is able to absorb as much CO2 in one year than what the UK produces on a triennial basis. This process of carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere by trees is what’s known as an ecosystem service, a service provided to us from nature that would cost a great deal for us to replicate. Its clear to see from this the effect that deforestation of the Amazon would have in terms of its environmental impact, the less trees we have the more CO2 would remain in the atmosphere. But on top of this, dead trees actually release CO2. So, deforestation would not only reduce the amount of CO2 being absorbed but also add to the release of it into the atmosphere. On top of this, the land cleared of forest is typically used for practices that produce, you guessed it, more CO2.
It is clear that the amazon rainforest is under threat of losing all organisms that occupy it, from the smallest insects to even the humans that call it home. Deforestation for commercial exploitation of the forests land seems to be a recurring theme in the threats to life within this extraordinary, and globally important, habitat. However, with continued public and governmental support, life in the Amazon rainforest can be conserved. If you want to help in this process, there are various charities working to maintain and improve the forest as we know it. Examples of some of these charities can be found below.
