The Amazon Is in Trouble
A growing body of research shows the pressures on the Amazon are reaching unprecedented levels. As part of Bolsonaro’s plan to open the region to mining, logging, and farming, he has cut environmental protection budgets and also kicked Indigenous groups off their land. Tribes have long been protectors of the rainforest, and expropriating them from their land has worsened the crisis unfolding in the region while also destroying their culture.
More deforestation is fragmenting the Amazon. That could permanently alter the ecosystem, turning it into less of a rainforest and more of a savanna. Other findings show the Amazon could also be turning into a net carbon emitter, which would be terrible news given that its trees have helped blunt some of the carbon pollution from human activities around the globe. It points to the urgent need to protect the rainforest and the Indigenous groups who rely on it rather than tear it down.
