Amazon Rainforest on the Brink of Collapse

According to new data published by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), 1,539 square miles of Amazon rainforest — five times the size of New York City — were deforested from January to June 2022.

This is the highest deforestation rate ever recorded for this six-month period, and could push the Amazon to the brink of collapse, according to experts at Greenpeace.

Forests are critically important in the fight against climate change, as they continuously absorb and store large amounts of carbon dioxide. Deforestation is a major environmental problem that leads to the massive destruction of these vital carbon sinks and the loss of local biodiversity. By clearing or burning vegetation in the Amazon rainforest — the largest rainforest in the world — to make way for crop cultivation and cattle grazing, individuals and companies are putting at serious risk what has become known as «the lungs of the planet».

83% of the world's agricultural land is used for livestock farming and the cultivation of animal feed, yet the meat and dairy products produced account for only 18% of the calories consumed by humans.

Worldwide, enough food is wasted by feeding perfectly edible crops to factory-farmed animals to feed an additional four billion people.

“Destroying the Amazon while the climate crisis rages is like taking a hammer to the air conditioning in a room that is already getting hotter,” commented. With every hectare of forest that is cleared, we push this climate-critical ecosystem closer to the brink of collapse while simultaneously threatening the rights of indigenous peoples.

Louisa Casson, Head of Forests at Greenpeace England

In the three years under President Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2021), deforestation of the Amazon increased by an average of 52.9% compared to the three years before. According to Greenpeace, Bolsonaro has put forward «radical legislative proposals» that reward land grabbing, eliminate environmental licensing requirements, undermine indigenous territories, and at the same time promote massive deforestation. «Governments and companies must stop fueling the fire and pressure Bolsonaro's government to put an end to this«, said Casson.

Brazil, however, is not the only culprit driving deforestation in the Amazon. Various countries rely on Brazilian agriculture — made possible by forest clearance — to supply products such as cocoa, beef, coffee, corn, soy, and palm oil. Although the British government announced in December 2021 that it would restrict agricultural products originating from Brazil, these measures will not end the «United Kingdom's complicity in the forest destruction that Bolsonaro considers legal«, as Greenpeace puts it.

«The deforestation law proposed by the British government would barely make a dent in this problem. We need a zero-tolerance approach to the destruction of the Amazon, or we will all pay the price«, Casson concluded.