What if the amazon rainforest was completely destroyed?

What if the amazon rainforest was completely destroyed?

The Amazon rainforest is located in 9 different countries, but the majority (about 60%) is in Brazil. The rest are in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname (which is technically an overseas territory).

The Amazon biome is defined as the area covered mainly by dense tropical rainforests, with relatively small inclusions of several other vegetation types such as savannahs, floodplain forests, grasslands, swamps, bamboos, and palm groves.

Tropical forests are often called the lungs of the planet for their role in absorbing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and producing oxygen, which all animals depend on for survival. Tropical forests also stabilize the climate, harbor an incredible amount of wild plants and animals, and produce nutritious rainfall all over the world.

Covering 1.4 billion acres (56.7 million hectares), the Amazon Rainforest stretches across nine South American countries and is home to about 10 percent of the world's animal species. At the heart of the region is the mighty Amazon River, a 483-kilometer wide tributary that sends up to 14.2 billion cubic meters of water every day to the Atlantic Ocean. The rainforest came to life about 10 million years ago, when the river started to flow east. Today, it is home to a wide range of plants and animals, as well as several ecosystems, including forests and savannahs. The Amazon currently represents more than half of the remaining tropical forests on the planet.

It is estimated that about 20% of the Amazon has been lost since the mid-1970s. Although conservation efforts have helped stem deforestation caused by mechanized agriculture, the boom in soybean logging and clearing of trees for cattle grazing, experts say the destruction continues. In the event of climate change, higher temperatures will reduce rainfall, cause drought and encourage the rainforest to cope with fires, and you have a recipe that could destroy up to 85% of the Amazon as we know it. That would be a bad thing not only for the regions of South America that depend on the forest for its rainfall but also for people around the world.

This is how the forest generates rain: Plants release moisture through their leaves as a vapor that enters the atmosphere and forms clouds that produce precipitation. If the trees and plants are destroyed, it means that the area around which the rainforest is located - a region that relies on water from the Amazon to 70% of its economic activity - the risk of s' dry. Researchers at Princeton University have also discovered that tropical forest dieback will significantly reduce precipitation for the northwestern coastal region of North America and reduce by approximately 50% the amount of snow affected in the Sierra. Nevada. It's less water for the people who live there, not to mention the animals and the crops they eat.

Rainforest trees also help to remove harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to oxygen. Fewer trees equal more gas than experts believe is causing global warming.

If the impact on the environment is not enough, think about what the loss of rainforest could do for your immediate well-being. The Amazon currently produces up to 25% of the plants used in modern medicines.