Unit 25
Environment and Ecology
The Amazon rainforest is a vast tract of largely untamed jungle that spans more than 2 million square miles in northern South America, mainly in Brazil and partly in Peru, Colombia and six other nations. As the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, the Amazon rainforest is home to millions of plants and animals. This abundance of life is vital to the survival of human societies. In addition 5
to its biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in regulating the climate, with its trees absorbing and storing millions of tons of carbon dioxide ― a key greenhouse gas that drives global climate change. Unfortunately, having existed for 50 million years, the Amazon rainforest is now under threat not only because of wildfires but also because of fires set to clear land for ranching and agriculture.
10
Over the decades, fires break out every year in the Amazon rainforest, often accidentally during the dry months of September and October. But recent satellite photographs showed that many fires in the Brazilian portion of the rainforest were set deliberately to clear land. Scientists who study the Amazon rainforest worry that deforestation could bring it to an ecological “tipping point” at which the entire ecosystem collapses. That could cripple regional economies
15
and cause the loss of many indigenous species. What’s worse, the decline of the Amazon rainforest could also affect the global climate. If the burning of vegetation released all that carbon into the atmosphere, efforts to limit climate change by cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions would become pointless. In response to rapid deforestation in the Amazon, the Brazilian government has reformed its
20
forest laws, resulting in a wide range of new regulations and policies aimed at stopping deforestation while promoting economic activities. But that doesn’t seem to be enough to stop the fires. It is time for all the residents on earth to take action to change the way we look after our planet before it is too late.
100
