What Would Happen Without the Amazonian Rainforest?

One of the main issues, in this area, is the deforestation. The deforestation in this country keeps growing because the government does not act toward it. Since 1978, more than 1 million square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest has been deforested and more than 43 million hectares of the forest has been destroyed between 2004 and 2017.

The main causes that lead to the deforestation were that 63% because of the pasture, 12% small scale agriculture and 9% because of the fire. As we understand that 63% of the space made by the deforestation will be given to pasture and ranch, we can understand that the meat consumption worldwide is leading to increasing deforestation globally, but mainly in the Amazonian Forest. (World Wild Fund for Nature, 2020). To help reduce this deforestation, the worldwide population should start reducing their meat intakes. This would help to reduce the percentage of space used for the pasture.  This change would create a more sustainable lifestyle for the population and would lead to a decrease in deforestation. A great documentary that depicts the drastic effects that eating meat has on our planet is Cowspiracy, on Netflix (Films and Media, 2014).   

In Brazil, the main issue is the desforestation.  We chose this problem because if the deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest keeps going at this rate, in 50 years there it could be completely gone (Mayer 2020). The effects of such tragedy would be lethal to millions of living species and their habitat (Rafferty). Not only would ecosystems be disturbed but also, the average global temperature of earth would rise up from 0.25°C. Furthermore, the seven million square kilometers where is situated the Amazonian rainforest would be inhabitable. Also, rainfall worldwide would be 25% lower which would cause extreme drought and wildfires and could lead to agricultural problems worldwide. As well as forcing people to move because of the lack of water sources (The Brazilian Report 2019). Overall, ongoing deforestation of the Amazonian forest could cause the increase of the global temperature worldwide, worldwide drought and wildfires and the extinction of millions of species.  

This video describes the consequences the earth would suffer if the Amazon were to disappear. Every minute in the Amazonian rainforest, the equivalent of three football fields are being destroyed.  If no one takes actions to stop the disastrous murder of our forest, the Amazonian rainforest will disappear. It is said that the Amazonian rainforest could disappear in the next 100 years if actions are not taken. Moreover, without the Amazon, our chances at winning our battle against climate change is almost impossible. The Amazonian rainforest is important because it store 86 billion tons of carbon that would be released in the air if the forest were to disappear. Without the Amazonian rainforest, we would be destroying a huge part of the planet’s biodiversity as well as an entire ecosystem. The Amazonian rainforest is also necessary because we rely on its resources for food and medicine. Therefore, if it were destroyed, we would not be able to give necessary medicaments to people suffering from diseases, such as cancer. But most importantly, the amazon is one of the main sources of oxygen, without it, climate change would be at a faster pace. Overall, destroying the Amazonian rainforest would have huge impacts on biodiversity, climate change and medicine, it is why we need to take care of it and start protecting it.