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The Amazon rainforest has been in the news recently because of the 40,000 wildfires currently raging through the region. But where have these fires come from, and what does the planet stand to lose if the Amazon were to disappear?

It's easy to underestimate the influence of the Amazon. The entire area (roughly twice the size of India) is densely packed with photosynthesising vegetation, rapidly sucking up CO2 and pumping out oxygen. An estimated 25% of all the planet’s biological carbon is locked up in the Amazon rainforest.

Another major output of the Amazon is water – roughly 50% of the rain that falls in the region comes from water transpired by Amazonian vegetation. This rain is vital for nourishing South America’s food crops, as well as for keeping the region cooler than others similarly close to the equator, like the Sahara Desert.

With all this in mind, you can start to see why losing the Amazon would have such a profound impact on the planet’s health. So where are all these fires coming from?
Unlike here in Australia, wildfires in the Amazon are not a natural part of the ecosystem. Instead, the vast majority are deliberately set by farmers and loggers, looking to create more farmland for grazing cattle.

While this kind of deforestation is heavily regulated in Brazil, the country’s most recent president, Jair Bolsonaro, has scaled back the enforcement of these laws, leading to an 88% increase in deforestation in just the past year.

The result of this is the release of the Amazon’s carbon stores into the atmosphere, speeding up climate change. It also means less water output, leading to rising temperatures and, by some estimates, the loss of up to 70% of crops in the region. Less rain also reduces the rainforest’s ability to fight future fires, creating a feedback loop which could spell the end of the Amazon within our lifetime.

Not a super happy article this time around – but an important one!

By Daniel Bil
Brand/IT Officer, AMSA Global Health 2019
[email protected]