Most people envision the Amazon
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Don’t shrug it off, saying this is for others to worry about. The Amazon is the world’s most significant rainforest, which absorbs heat-trapping CO2 emissions. And rainforests do it at a fraction of the costs of new technology. All we must do is let the trees stand — jeopardized by everything from illegal logging to cattle ranching to prolonged droughts that lead to wildfires.
“For 65 million years, Amazonian forests remained relatively resilient to climatic variability,” researchers from the University of Santa Catarina in Brazil wrote in Nature.” “Now, the region is increasingly exposed to unprecedented stress from warming temperatures, extreme droughts, deforestation, and fires, even in central and remote parts of the system. As ecosystems approach a tipping point, they often lose resilience.”
The Amazon holds more than 10% of Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity and stores 15 to 20 years of global CO2 emissions. The authors said the forest contributes up to 50% of rainfall in the region and is crucial for moisture supply across South America, allowing the natural habitat and native-born peoples to flourish. But all that is at risk, impacting 40 million people, including 2.2 million Indigenous peoples with 300 ethnicities.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, deforestation has destroyed 20% of the Amazon. That equates to 300,000 square miles. Suppose we reversed that? We could reduce global CO2 emissions by 18% by 2030 — which is notable because Brazil has more forest cover than any other nation.
Between 2005 and 2012, the country cut its deforestation rates by 80%, drastically reducing its heat-trapping emissions.
However, that changed during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, occurring from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022. During this time, deforestation of the Amazon increased by 60%. That helped lead to a 12.2% increase in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, the highest in two decades, said Brazil’s Climate Observatory.
Where’s The Economic Justice?
President Lula defeated Bolsonaro, promising to end deforestation by 2030 by policing the rainforests, replanting trees, and creating an Amazon Fund to raise monies from developing countries. Norway started the reserve with $1.2 billion, and European countries and the United States added $640 million; President Biden has promised $500 million over five years, which Congress must approve.
So far, Lula has succeeded, cutting deforestation by 34% halfway through 2023. It sounds like a huge drop, but deforestation rates hit their highest levels in 15 years in 2021, losing 5,100 square miles. Lula’s actions have inspired the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia, which have expansive rainforests. The three countries contribute 58% of global land-use change emissions. Indeed, rainforests absorb 7.6 billion metric tons annually.
It hits home too. Take Walmart
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“The threat to the Amazon forest is a combination of climate change and human impact slash and burn and agriculture. The more you fragment the forest, the more vulnerable it becomes to climate change and efficient controls,” Richard Betts, a scientist with the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom, told me. “We are not past the point of no return,” but if we don’t stop deforestation, we can expect more warming — and thus more hurricanes, droughts, and coastal erosion.
Generally, the countries hardest hit by climate change represent a tiny amount of the globe’s heat-trapping emissions. Economic justice is, therefore, paramount. The most efficient and cost effective way to cut CO2 levels is through rainforest preservation — and preventing the loss of trees due to agriculture and lumbering, which lessens the probability of droughts and wildfires.
It’s good for everyone — including those living comfortably in the United States. Without the Amazon Rainforest and that defensive mechanism, global warming will singe us all.