Currently, the Amazon rainforest is - literally - burning to the ground. In total, the Amazon rainforest has been burning away for three weeks now - killing every single animal in its path.
At least tens of thousands of animals have probably been killed through these forest fires. There are some pictures of injured animals who have escaped the forest fires, most of the animals, however, won’t have been as lucky. The animals which have been killed have nowhere else to run to…
Therefore, certain death awaits forest animals in the Amazon rainforest through these fires.
In normal times, an area the size of 35 football fields is destroyed of the rainforests worldwide every single minute. It is thought that there is at least one football field-size area is destroyed in the Amazon rainforest every single minute. This is not just killing animals and plant species that we know about, it is also killing animal and plant species that we have never discovered - in 2017, it was reported that 400 new species in the Amazon rainforest had been discovered in the Amazon rainforest since 2014.
Both newly discovered species and well-known species in the Amazon rainforest are at risk of extinction due to the dramatic rate at which the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed.
Why The Amazon Rainforest Is Important
The Amazon rainforest is important for many different reasons.
Here, we will look at the different reasons why the Amazon rainforest is important.
#1 Animals
The first main reason that the Amazon rainforest is important, is because the Amazon rainforest is thought to be home to millions of species of plants and animals. Many of the Amazon rainforests unique species remain undiscovered. Other undiscovered species have been lost forever and we will never know them now.
If we continue to destroy the Amazon rainforest, we will continue to destroy every animal who’s home is the Amazon rainforest - it is immoral for us to destroy millions of animals. Especially when we are destroying these animals for greed and profit. If we are to be truly enlightened and compassionate, then we preserve nature, natural wonders like the Amazon rainforest and all of the animals who live within the forest.
The Amazon rainforest is thought to be home to 20% of the world's species. In other words, almost one in four species on earth are found in the Amazon rainforest. Therefore, in losing this ecosystem, we would, at the very least, lose 20% of all life on earth. The world's rainforests as a whole, are thought to be home to half of all of the world species - and all of the world’s other rainforests face a similar threat of destruction from humans.
By destroying rainforests, we would destroy half of what is remaining of nature.
#2 Humans
It is not only animals that face being killed through the destruction of the Amazon rainforests: humans also face being killed through the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon rainforest is home to one million native Indian people. Those one million native Indian people exist in 400 different tribes throughout the Amazon rainforest. Some of these tribes have contact with the ‘outside world’, whereas, the rest are uncontacted tribes, which means that these uncontacted tribes do not have any contact with the outside world. It is estimated that there are just over 100 tribes that have no contact with the ‘outside world’ and therefore, are uncontacted tribes.
It is not only tribe people that are directly affected by the Amazon rainforest being destroyed - it would have direct implications for all of the people that rely on the Amazon rainforest to survive, and it will affect every person on earth...for reasons that we will get to soon. The Amazon basin is home to 30 million people. These 30 million people depend upon the Amazon for their water supply - if the rainforest reaches its tipping point and collapses, then that would directly impact the 30 million people who rely on the Amazon for their water.
The destruction of the Amazon rainforest does not just affect the millions of people who live within the Amazon - the destruction of the Amazon rainforest impacts all of us; every human and animal on earth. Why? The Amazon rainforest is an important ecosystem - it helps stabilize the world’s climate. If we destroy the Amazon rainforest, then it will result in our climate becoming destabilized.
The Amazon is home to one-fifth of the world's freshwater supply and is home to 20% of the world’s oxygen supply. Therefore, if we destroy the Amazon rainforest, we will deplete the world of at least 20% of oxygen and one-fifth of freshwater, with likely serious repercussions for the rest of the world. Animals and humans.
We Need The Amazon Rainforest To Survive
We need the Amazon rainforest to survive. We need all of nature to survive. Without nature and wild animals, we would not have fresh water, food or oxygen. We would not have a stable climate or weather. Therefore, we are, as reliant on the natural world as every other animal. We are not detached from it - even though we have tried to detach from the natural world, we are as much a part of nature as any other animal.
If we destroy the natural world, we destroy ourselves.
If we destroy the Amazon rainforest, then we destroy ourselves.
But beyond that, animals depend on the natural world - it is their home. And animals deserve to live on this planet just as much as we do - it is immoral for us to destroy their home and their lives.
Especially when it is a result of greed and compassion.
Our lack of compassion for animals and our greed is resulting in the Sixth Mass Extinction, and ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest dying and collapsing right before our eyes. When we witness animals breathing their last breathes, running from the forest fires, hurt and injured, that is what we, humans, have been doing for decades now to animals who live on this planet with us. Where is our compassion for the world's animals?
Collectively, humanity is lacking in its compassion for animals, and, the natural world. But if we were wise, and had a heart, more of us would stop, stop and pay attention to what our actions and greed is doing to the natural world and to the animals, and, it might help us wake up to the fact that if we keep on destroying the natural world, like we are doing with the Amazon rainforest right now, then, it is we who will be running from the fires and breathing our last breaths, only, we would have created our own downfall.
Sources:
https://www.simply-live-consciously.com/english/food-environment/clearing-of-rain-forest/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48827490
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-08-31/nearly-400-new-species-discovered-in-the-amazon-rainforest
https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon
http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/why_amazon_important/
http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/why_amazon_important/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_wildlife.html
https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/amazontribes
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/100-uncontacted-tribes-amazon-rainforest-peru-indonesia-jarawa-a8245651.html
http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/
https://amazonwatch.org/news/2019/0425-complicity-in-destruction-2
http://www.rfadventures.com/amazon_facts.htm