The lungs of the planet are

dying:
How to save the Amazon rainforest.

Esther Santiago Casares

October 2018

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 Table of contents
-General introduction to understanding climate change 4
-Description: what is happening in Amazon rainforest? 4-5
-Causes and examples to understand the problem 6-8
-What are the reasons? 7
-Who are involved? Where? 7-8
- Solutions, barriers and difficulties. 8-9
- Personal opinion and conclusion 9-10
- References 10-11

The Amazon, threatened (Getty)

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"Destroying tropical rainforests for money is like using a
Renaissance masterpiece to make fire to prepare food.”

E.O. Wilson, biologist.

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 A global problem
Our actions never were as decisive as they are today. Every gesture and every
decision counts, making the difference between life and death. Our planet is
consumed, and with it we. Not everyone recognizes the seriousness of the facts,
but every second that passes we are destroying our own history, murdering all
the beauty we have been given.

This September 10, the headlines remind us once again of all the damage we
are doing. In this case the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres,
politician, physical engineer and Portuguese professor. Climate change moving
faster than we are,' he says. He warns of the dizzying speed at which we are
destroying our resources and of the consequences it could have. In addition to
the above, he seriously argues that in the not too distant future, 2020, we will not
be able to stop the destructive passage of human beings.
He points out as the main cause the little or no coordination between the
political community, in which a stable and realistic agreement is needed in the
face of the dramatic situation. It calls for an agent conference in New York,
because the UN is negotiating ineffectively with all the points it should be dealing
with.
Each of our senses can perceive what is happening. Our eyes see storms and
hurricanes out of place, our touch perceives the scorching heat in seasons in
which it does not correspond. Our lungs wear out in the toxic air, which reminds
us of what we are doing.
The disappearance of reefs, corals and ecosystems is alarming, despite the
treaties of the Paris Climate Summit, we cannot repair all the damage already
done. So says Professor Peter F. Sale, of the University of Windsor (Canada),
during the well- known Goldschmidt meeting in Prague, where we found the best
geochemists in the world. Global warming is a fact, as is the presence of acid in
our oceans. In fact, experts recognize that if we had zero greenhouse gas
emissions right now, it would take three decades for them to recover. A halving of
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is proposed in Paría. This will not be
effective because by that year most corals will have disappeared.

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 Deforestation of the Amazon
Following an alarming news I have done this work. The victory of the ultra-
right Bolsonaro in Brazil points to a clear danger for the Amazon.

First of all, the problem is that between 1985 and 2017 the Amazon forest lost
71 million hectares. Deforestation in the Amazon is the subject of my work. To
begin with we need to know what it is, so it is a process caused by human beings
destroying forest structures without taking the environment into account. The
main reasons are usually economic, with the timber industry or the need for land
for purposes such as agriculture, livestock, industrialization, urbanization or
mining (among the most prominent). The place where deforestation occurs are
forests and jungles, in this case the Amazon rainforest.

Here we have a map that shows the extent of the Amazon as well as the
affected areas until 2016. The south as we observe is the most damaged area,
however it extends more and more. The most alarming point is the appearance
of large quantities of carbon dioxide; produced by soil erosion and converting the
affected lands of little or no production. By destroying the vegetation we are
preventing the large CO2 absorptions provided by the Amazon rainforest, one of
the fundamental places to help the planet.

According to the University of Leeds (England), in 1990 absorbed about two

billion tons of carbon, halved in 2015. Since 1980, there has been a one-third
increase in the disappearance of trees, causing climate change to spread more
rapidly.

Map extracted from IPAM, published in the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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 Classification of the main causes and evolution
The causes of the problem in the case of the Amazon rainforest have their
origin in economic and commercial motives based on the cultivation of
soybeans and the

expansion of territories for the livestock industry, as Greenpeace points out in

a detailed analysis of the reasons for this massive destruction. Another reason
for this forest destruction is the existence of hydroelectric plans that seek to take
advantage of the great potential of the rivers (especially in Brazil). This threatens
not only the fauna and flora, but also the biodiversity of the affected places as
well as the alteration of the way of life of the numerous tribes that are still
conserved on the banks of the Amazon.

Pie chart on causes of deforestation

Data from Holly Gibbs (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Data from Mongabay

Therefore, what we eat in our diets is related to what happens, because

without our demand there would not be so much need to exploit these areas. It is
very difficult to make the whole of humanity aware that going to the biggest meat
industries leads to the disappearance of the Earth's lung, which continues to
drown slowly. Even in our country, Spain, we have some of the companies that
use Amazonian wood for their purposes. One example is that a shipment was
found on November 15, 2017 to Galicia (Vigo) with wood from the Amazon to be
used in construction. Another cause

is also the massive burning of forests as a form of deforestation, for example

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 in 2005 there were 226,000 sources of fire in Brazil.

Evolution after deforestation

However, there are also political causes. Fraud, corruption and the minimal
presence of serious environmental policies mean that the practices that occur on
a daily basis are not regulated. This problem is aggravated by the news I have
chosen about Bolsonaro's presidency. On the one hand, it will close the Ministry
of Environment and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Resources
(which was in charge of regulating actions in the Amazon jungle) and it will also
dissolve the Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity Conservation, which fined
those who did not respect environmental policies (even though these were
insufficient). And as we know, restriction whose absence is not punishable, does
not restrict.
This threatens the 145 indigenous peoples, all the living beings that have been
living in this habitat for millions of years. The Minister of Agriculture, Nabhan
Garcia, aims to destroy the remaining 4,777,000 square kilometers of the
Amazon rainforest by expanding industries interested in exploiting the area. If we
analyze Nabhan Garcia, we discover that he owns territories located in Mato
Grosso do Sul dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans and corn. As we can see
on this map, the territory in red is the most affected area and belongs to Mato
Grosso:

‘ Map of Mato Grosso

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 On the other hand, society also plays an essential role since it is in charge of
electing political representatives or, in the absence of help, denouncing the facts
in the street. It is expected that as a result of the negative policies of climate
change (as happened with Trump) the demonstrations against the presidency will
begin. The resistance of the tribes must also be highlighted, it must be taken into
account that they are destroying the place where they live.

Consequences, alternatives and solutions

The result of the exploitation has consequences that affect all possible areas.
The increase of CO2, the invasion of indigenous territories or exploitation of
workers in the process of deforestation, the disappearance of plant and animal
species, destroying ecosystems and altering the natural cycle of the planet.

An example:

Annual CO2 emissions in teragrams (1m tonnes) of forest fires (dark green) and deforestation (light
green)
in the

Amazon from 2003 to 2015. Source: Aragão (2018)

The solutions we can offer are divided into two main types: policies with legal
measures, social measures through awareness and denunciation. However we
will see that both sides are equally important, they cannot exist without each
other.
In the first place, legal measures could be obligatory for a Ministry of the
Environment and funds explicitly dedicated to its objectives. It is not possible to
play with the economic means that allow us to implement the measures. The
ministry's workers must be people trained in the subject: we are talking about a
problem that could affect the whole world, we cannot afford people incapable of

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 solving situations. There is a need for anthropological and social studies of tribes,
as well as government assistance in returning them to their homes. Legislation
based on measures against climate change and not on the economic benefits of
the companies they exploit. The creation of protected areas gradually, as it would
be very difficult in a matter of days to complete the process. Improve the care of
those areas that have been affected, trying to find scientifically a more fertile
territory in which to recompose vegetation to absorb CO2 that no longer absorbs
the Amazon rainforest. In addition to the above, periodically review whether the
measures to prevent fraud are complied with.
Social measures should promote education based on care for the
environment, to make future generations aware of the seriousness of the
problem. On the other hand, to reduce the number of meat products that we
consume so that the industry loses strength and stops exploiting soy cultivation.
A very important measure is to look at which politiconas we vote for, as we may
be committing the greatest murder in history. If a politician does not talk about
climate change we must be suspicious, his speeches must be focused on the
environment in balance with other issues.
We are talking about a project of the human race that affects everyone.
Animals, plants, cities, rivers, mountains, health. Everything is involved with
the cause, we will all suffer the consequences.
We must understand that planet Earth is a system that works through balance.

Ecosystems are related to each other, even if they are on opposite sides. If we
create we modify the conditions of a place, the result will affect how the domino
effect affects other living beings. Every time the Amazon rainforest is destroyed
thousands of species are affected. The people who depend on this vast territory
lose their lives, their homes and their crops. The rest of the world also suffers:
global warming would become unstoppable, our air would become increasingly
impure, Antarctica would melt faster and our cities would begin to disappear. We
all lose.
Just as the human body does not survive without its lung, the planet does not
survive without the Amazon rainforest. With the passage of time we could not
breathe, it would be uninhabitable to live here. We need to stop. We need to
think.
To sum up, I would like to leave a phrase that made me overthink on our

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 actions:
"We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible.

And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher,
to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count
these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps
we've just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we've barely begun. And that
our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies
above us.We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as
individuals but as a species.” (Interestellar, 2014).

References
-SACCONE, Valeria. Ganó Bolsonaro, pierde la Amazonia: todo lo que esta
victoria implica para el planeta, El Confidencial [online]. 7 november 2018.
Avaliable: https://www.elconfidencial.com/mundo/2018-10-29/gana-bolsonaro-
pierde-amazonia-planeta_1636847/ [consultation: 9 de noviembre de 2018].

-MCGRATH, Matt ’Climate change moving faster than we are, 'BBC news. 10
S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 O n l i n e : h t t p s : / / w w w. b b c . c o . u k / n e w s / s c i e n c e -
environment-45471410.

-ALONSO, José Amestoy. El Planeta Tierra en peligro: Calentamiento Global,

Cambio Climático, Soluciones. Editorial Club Universitario, 2013.

-MARTINO, Diego. Deforestación en la Amazonía: principales factores de

presión y perspectivas. Revista del Sur, 2007, vol. 169, no 1, p. 3-20.

-HERAS HERNÁNDEZ, Francisco, 2018. Cambio Climático: Tan Lejos, Tan

Cerca. Ambienta. Madrid: Secretaría General Técnica Ministerio de Agricultura,
Pesca y Alimentación Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica, vol 10, no.124, pp.
58-67. ISSN 1577-9491.

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 -FONSECA CHINCHILLA, Diego, 2016. Cambio Climático: El Individuo
Cuenta. Revista De La Universidad De Costa Rica. Costa Rica: vol. 26, no. 1,
pp. 63-69. ISSN 1409-2441.

-TED, 2015. Santiago Tascón. ¿Cuales son los límites de nuestro planeta?
On: Youtube [video online]. 9 jun. 2015 [consultation : 10 de diciembre de
2018]. Avaliable in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7JeQxqma4.

-Data IPAM observatory. Disponible en: http://ipam.org.br/glossario/the-

brazilian-climate-observatory/
-Amazonas. On: Greenpeace [online]. Avaliable: https://es.greenpeace.org/
es/trabajamos-en/bosques/amazonas/ [consultation : 10 de noviembre de 2018].

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