The Future of the Brazilian Rainforest

The Amazon  rainforest has suffered years of deforestation, and since the election of the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, a dramatic year-on-year increase in the deforestation of the rainforest has occurred. The latest data shows that nearly 1,000,000 hectares of the Brazilian Amazon was lost in the first six months of 2022. Beef, soybean, and animal feed production are the main objective of this deforestation.

According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, the Amazon rainforest is now a net emitter of emissions. This is mostly a consequence of forest fires that were started intentionally to clear land for farming. As a result, Brazil is now the sixth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, and the Amazon rainforest produces more carbon than the remaining trees can absorb. What does this mean for the future of the Amazon rainforest?