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The Amazon is in crisis as forests are threatened by deforestation, fires, and degradation; surface water has been lost; and rivers are increasingly disconnected and polluted. This immense pressure—if not slowed or stopped—will irreversibly damage the Amazon and the overall planet in the very near future.
Climate change, deforestation and other human threats are driving the rainforest towards a tipping point of sustainability. Researchers are racing to chart the Amazon’s future.
Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rain forests because these forests are home to much of the world’s biodiversity. In the Amazon alone, around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mainly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.
Deforestation escalated after the construction of highways penetrating deep into the forest, such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway in 1972. Challenges arose in parts of the Amazon where poor soil conditions made plantation-based agriculture unprofitable.
The expansion of soy, cattle and other commodities is taking place through deforestation and the loss of native forests. That is the main problem. That doesn’t mean that food production systems cannot expand.
‘Forest loss’ or ‘tree loss’ captures two fundamental impacts on forest cover: deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation is the complete removal of trees for the conversion of forest to another land use such as agriculture, mining, or towns and cities.
About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years, and losses recently have been on the rise. The organization Amazon Conservation reports that...