In 2020, more than two dozen financial institutions worldwide warned Brazil’s government about the conservation of its rainforest. “We recognize the crucial role that tropical forests play in tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity and ensuring ecosystem services”, the investors wrote. It was an unprecedented warning by investors that rainforest conservation was a global issue.1
So, why are rainforests so important to the health of the planet? Furthermore, what kind of threats do they face?
What is rainforest conservation?
The world’s tropical rainforests are concentrated on the Earth’s equator. Moreover, they are an extraordinarily diverse and important habitat for plant and animal life. Yet, they are disappearing at an alarming rate due to human activity. Conservation efforts focus on increasing rainforest density in regions where they already exist.2
Why is rainforest conservation important?
Rainforests are essential for the health of our planet. They recycle large amounts of carbon dioxide in the air and turn it back into oxygen. Without them, the Earth would quickly heat up – more rapidly than it is already – and destabilize the climate’s delicate balance. That is why rainforests are referred to as the ‘lungs of the Earth’.3
Rainforests are also a source of food, medicine, and shelter for millions of people worldwide. Furthermore, they are home to most of the wild animal and plant species on the planet.4 The world’s largest tropical rainforests are found in the Amazon in South America, but they can also be found in parts of Africa and Asia.5
Given that tropical rainforests are essential to the health of our planet – and, therefore, our survival – we must conserve them.
How can rainforests be conserved?
Deforestation in the Amazon in Brazil surged to its highest level in a decade from August 2019 to July 2020. Over 11,000 square kilometers of pristine forests were destroyed in just 12 months. Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, is widely blamed for cutting funding to agencies that arrest people for illegal logging.6
To conserve rainforests, the world needs to take the issue of deforestation seriously. We also need international pressure and agreements enforced with strict penalties against deforestation. There are different conservation approaches, including lobbying governments, helping local farmers, buying parcels of rainforest land, or even working with Indigenous communities in the region. Each strategy has its own merits and disadvantages.7
What are the three biggest threats to rainforests?
The three biggest threats to rainforests are agriculture, cattle farming, and mining. In places like the Amazon rainforest, the region is home to vast soybean farms, gold and iron ore mines, and ranches holding more than 50 million cattle.
Cattle ranches account for up to 80 percent of deforested land in the Amazon. Sadly, as farmers look to clear more land for farming or raising cattle, they are prone to razing the forests to clear the land. That, in turn, can create huge wildfires and destroy large parts of the rainforest. Soybean and beef farms, which export most products to China, are also among the biggest culprits.8
The warning letter to the government of Brazil underscored the extent to which rainforest conservation has become a global issue. But it is not enough. To save rainforests, all of us have to play our part.
Sources
- Under Pressure, Brazil’s Bolsonaro Forced to Fight Deforestation. (2020). New York Times. [online] 1 Aug. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/world/americas/Brazil-amazon-deforestation-bolsonaro.html.
- Vox. 2021. How the Save the Rainforest movement gave rise to modern environmentalism. [online] Available at: <https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/16/20863152/save-the-rainforest-environmentalism-conservation> [Accessed 22 April 2021].
- BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). Why are rainforests important? – Tropical rainforest biomes – KS3 Geography Revision. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpmnb9q/revision/2.
- Rainforest Concern (2019). Why are rainforests important? [online] Rainforest Concern. Available at: https://www.rainforestconcern.org/forest-facts/why-are-rainforests-important.
- Butler, R. A. (2020). The world’s largest rainforests? [online] Mongabay. Available at: https://rainforests.mongabay.com/facts/the-worlds-largest-rainforests.html.
- Brazil’s Amazon: Deforestation “surges to a 12-year high.” (2020). BBC News. [online] 30 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-55130304.
- BBC Bitesize. (2019). Tropical rainforests – Edexcel – Revision 5 – GCSE Geography – BBC Bitesize. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwy7sg8/revision/5.
- “The Amazon Is Completely Lawless”: The Rainforest After Bolsonaro’s First Year. (2019). The New York Times. [online] 5 Dec. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/americas/amazon-fires-bolsonaro-photos.html.
