Millions of acres of rainforest were destroyed in 2018, a new report has showed.
The destruction of rainforest was not just contained to one area, or one country, it was a trend seen in several countries across the world.
The report on the destruction of rainforest throughout the world, was conducted and published by Global Forest Watch.
Who Are Global Forest Watch?
Global Forest Watch monitors rainforests, and the destruction of rainforest. They monitor rainforests by using satellite technology.
The satellite technology sends footage back of how the rainforests look: it shows what forests are being destroyed, and where these forests are being destroyed.
From a birds eye view, we can see for ourselves the destruction of the rainforest.
An Area The Size Of Belgium Destroyed
The report found that the world has lost a Belgium-sized area of primary forest last year. In other words, the world lost rainforest the size of Belgium in 2018.
A total of 3.8 million hectares of rainforest were destroyed in 2018.
The report also stated that we have lost 12 million hectares of rainforest since 2001. Something that has not only destroyed trees, but also something that has destroyed all wild animals that lived in those rainforests.
When we lose the forests, we also lose all of the animal life within that forest when it goes. Therefore, the destruction of the rainforests not only result in use losing forests, it also results in us losing wild animals.
The destruction is something which contributes to species decline, wild animals becoming endangered, and, animals becoming extinct.
When we lost vast areas of rainforest, we are also losing animal and plant species that we are not even aware of yet. Even today, we are discovering new species all of the time - even new animal species. Yet, when rainforests are destroyed, it is believed that we are causing the extinction of species that we are not even aware about: therefore, species become extinct all the time, without us even knowing about it. It is estimated that the world loses up to 200 species per day.
When we lose species in an ecosystem like the rainforest - either species we are aware of, or species that we are not aware of - then we cause that particular ecosystem to become more fragile with every species lost. As every species is linked like a chain, when we remove parts of the chain, not only do we remove one part of the chain, we end up making the other parts of the chain more fragile, and at risk of also falling off the chain. In other words, when we lose one animal from an ecosystem like the rainforest, we are at risk of making other species more vulnerable and at risk of declining themselves - especially when that particular animal, relies on other animals for their survival.
Why Are Rainforests Important?
Rainforests are important for a variety of reasons.
One of the reasons they are so important, is due to the role that they play in the stability of our planet. We often hear of climate change having a ‘tipping point’; a tipping point where if we cause temperatures to rise to a particular degree, then climate change becomes irreversible. However, we don’t often hear of the rainforests ‘tipping point’: the rainforests of the world, also have a tipping point.
The tipping point for the rainforest, would mean that the damage inflicted on the rainforest - due to deforestation and species loss - would be so bad, that it would be irreversible. A tipping point for the Amazon rainforest, would result in the Amazon rainforest becoming hostile: it would change from a luscious green forest full of life, into a sandy desert like the Savanna.
Deforestation, and climate change affecting the Amazon rainforest, could result in the Amazon rainforest becoming a desert. As a result, by losing the Amazon rainforest - either to deforestation, climate change (or likely both) - we would be losing one of the worlds most important ecosystems.
The rainforests, like the Amazon rainforest, are important to all life on earth. It is estimated that more than 20% of the worlds oxygen comes from the Amazon rainforest. By depleting the world of oxygen, we put at risk our own survival, and the survival of other animals. The trees within the Amazon rainforest are also important for all life on earth, including us, for another reason: they help absorb co2. By helping to absorb co2, trees, and forests, become important in tackling the issue of climate change. If we leave forests standing, then we have a natural, and cost-effective way of tackling climate change.
However, if we destroy forests and rainforests, then not only are we destroying the tools that absorb carbon (trees) - we are also contributing to climate change, as trees store carbon, this means that when we chop down forests (particularly rainforests), then we are contributing to climate change, because we are emitting co2 into the air by cutting down these forests. Therefore, forests are important to tackle climate change. But they have one final importance: weather stability.
The rainforests like the Amazon rainforests are important for the earth's weather stability. Without the precipitation of the rainforests, it would result in their being less rain. Less rain would harm things like crops, and our ability to grow crops. It would also result in wild animals finding it hard to survive, due to less water being available in the natural world, for their survival.
The Morality Of Saving The Rainforests
There is also a moral case for saving the world's rainforests.
Animals have a right to live on this planet too; it is their world as well as ours. Rainforests are abundant with animal life - it is estimated that the world's rainforests hold 10 million species, which include animal species.
By destroying the worlds rainforests, we destroy millions of species of animals, plants and insects in the process. The loss of this life would be devastating and immoral itself, but, it would also leave our planet more empty: with no beautiful rainforests, and no beautiful rainforest animals to go with it.
The unique and beautiful sounds of the rainforest would go silent: something which is already beginning to happen.
There is not just a moral case for saving the rainforest to help save rainforest animals; there is also the moral case of saving the rainforest to help save the tribes that exist within the rainforest today.
According to Survival - an organisation set up in the 1960s to help save tribes in the Amazon rainforest - there are 400 tribes in the Amazon rainforest. Most of these tribes have had contacted with the ‘outside world’. However, many of them haven’t. There is estimated to be 100 tribes living within the Amazon rainforest which haven’t had contact with the ‘outside world’. In other words, 1 in 4 tribes within the Amazon rainforest are uncontacted tribes.
Deforestation threats these uncontacted tribes. Deforestation threatens them because they have in the past come into collision with those who are trying destroy the rainforests - when the rainforests are destroyed, the tribes are forced out of their forest home, and often that comes with brute force.
But there is another reason why these tribes are at risk of contact with the outside world: and that is due to contracting diseases from the outside world. In the past when uncontacted tribes have came into contact with those from the outside world, it has resulted in disastrous consequences for the tribes: uncontacted tribe members have died from diseases when they have made contact with the outside world. Therefore, deforestation has deadly consequences for tribes which remain uncontacted to this day.
Countries Which Lost The Most Rainforest In 2018
Deforestation is a real problem in the Amazon, which has disastrous consequences for tribes, animals and the ecosystem as a whole. Going back to the Global Forest Watch report; the report found that Brazil was the country with the more rainforest destruction in 2018. The Amazon rainforest is found in several countries in South America - including Brazil. The study found that there was over 1.3 million hectares of Amazon rainforest destroyed in 2018.
The second country was the Democratic Republic of Congo, which saw 481, 248 hectares of rainforest destroyed last year.
The third country was Indonesia, which lost 339,888 hectares of rainforest in 2018.
Madagascar has already lost over 90% of its rainforest. The study found that last year Madagascar lost 94,785 hectares of rainforest.
Madagascar was at number 8 in the top 10 of countries which lost the most rainforest last year. Here is the full list:
Brazil
Democratic Republic of Congo
Indonesia
Columbia
Bolivia
Malaysia
Peru
Madagascar
Papua New Guinea
Cameroon
The study also monitored which countries had increased their deforestation.
It found that Ghana was the country that had seen the most increase in deforestation - Ghana had seen deforestation increase by 60% last year (and increase of 60% from the previous year, 2017).
Conclusion Of The Report
The report found that we are not doing enough to stop deforestation, and that there was a high rate of deforestation in 2018.
Not only does this threaten the rainforests, all life within the rainforests, and the stability of the ecosystems, it also preventing us to stop climate change.
We have two tipping points, 1) an ecological tipping point, 2) and a climate change tipping point. An ecological tipping point is when so much damage has been done to an ecosystem - such as the rainforest - that the damage to that ecosystem is irreversible, and therefore - the loss of biodiversity in the ecosystem is irreversible and irreplaceable. A climate change tipping point is when climate change has reached a point of it being irreversible - such as the global temperature increasing by 2 degrees is irreversible.
Preserving our biodiversity and ecosystems is equally important to tackling climate change. Preserving our rainforests is essential to tackling climate change, and keeping our climate healthy and stable. Our rainforests are disappearing, it will be humanity that determines whether these forests which have existed for millions of years stands or falls.
Sources:
https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/amazon_threats/climate_change_amazon/
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/221822/20180225/the-amazon-rainforest-is-at-a-tipping-point-research-finds.htm
http://www.geologyin.com/2014/12/what-would-happen-if-rainforests-were.html
https://www.savetheamazon.org/rainforeststats.htm
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/100-uncontacted-tribes-amazon-rainforest-peru-indonesia-jarawa-a8245651.html
https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/uncontacted-brazil
https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/uncontacted-brazil
https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/at0117
https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/data-and-research/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-of-primary-rainforests-last-year
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/25/death-by-a-thousand-cuts-vast-expanse-rainforest-lost-in-2018
