Amazon rainforest fires
Amazon rainforest fires

What if the luscious Amazon rainforest was lost forever?

The Amazon rainforest has more plant and animal species than any terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.

The Amazon rainforest creates 20% of the Earth’s oxygen and is the home to 30% of the planet’s species. It also holds the secret to treating some of the deadly diseases. The wild fire that is burning down the rain forest, if not controlled would be disastrous and the consequences would be felt worldwide.

Recently, the massive forest fires have become a major threat to the existence of the Amazon rainforest and is also a part of a much bigger problem, apart from the harmful effect of farming, mining and logging that have increased deforestation rate per minute. If we do not do anything to stop this, we would eventually lose ‘the lungs of our planet,’ eventually losing the battle against climate change.

Amazon Rainforest, is a large tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America and covering an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). Comprising about 40 percent of Brazil’s total area, it is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. This lush, green pack stores 86 billion tonnes of carbon which otherwise would be polluting our atmosphere. Since this place is so important for humans, we should be doing everything in our power to protect this area, but we don’t do enough!

Since 1978, an estimated 750,000 square kilometers of rainforests has been destroyed! All credit goes to us humans! If this trend continues, the amazon rainforest could disappear in 100 years. How bad would the disappearance be for us?

We would be losing a large amount of our planet’s biodiversity. The Amazon rainforest has more plant and animal species than any terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.

So, if we destroy Amazon, we’ll be destroying all that diversity too, wiping out an entire ecosystem as well. Soon, we would realise how much we’d been relying on Amazon’s resources for food and medicines.

You would be surprised to know that hundred of prescribed medicines, from your herbal tea to the full-fledged cancer fighting drugs available in the market are made from products obtained from the Amazon rainforests! These are products from the surface alone, and there is more to explore. Scientists believe they have only known and studied less than 5% of the plants in the rainforest for potential medicinal benefits. Without these rainforest we might also lose essential medicine that are yet to be invented to treat diseases.

The greatest problem humankind would face with the disappearance of the rainforest would be a faster pace of climate change. If the Amazon rainforest continue to wither and die, it will stop being a source of oxygen, instead will give out carbon which fuels climate change.

Presently the amazon already has a natural stockpile of carbon reserves. Imagine we woke up tomorrow morning and found that Amazon was completely destroyed, especially by fire, all the carbon from the burning and the trees would remain floating in the atmosphere. Some experts believe if this happens, we would lose the battle against climate change.

But the scenario, now is not that bad, there is still hope for Amazon. Reaserchers, through earlier studies have proved that tropical rainforest may be able to survive human-caused destruction. Even without human support a rainforest can start growing if it has enough seedlings. This growth can only take place if the rainforest is not under constant attack.

What can you do to help?

Reduce the amount of paper you use,choose renewable energy products wherever you can. Maybe if we all work together, we can restore this beautiful rainforest back to its former glory.

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