Cattle graze in an area burned out by one of many human-made fires.

Joao Laet/AFP via Getty Images

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.7, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4, W.6-8.7, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: Time, Continuity, and Change • People, Places, and Environments • Global Connections

GEO QUEST

Climate Map

Saving the Amazon

One of the world’s most diverse ecosystems is at risk of drying out. But individual efforts and cooperation between governments can still protect it.

April 12, 2021

By Mary Kate Frank

All About Climate Change

Watch a video about what causes climate change and how it affects the planet.

Norbert Wu/Minden Pictures

Massive human-made blazes endanger wildlife such as the golden-headed lion tamarin, an animal that exists only in the Amazon.

It began simply as a seed—actually, many seeds, planted in the earth. But from these seeds Omar Tello started what might seem an impossible quest: to bring new life to the Amazon rainforest.

Tello lives in Ecuador, one of the eight South American countries that are home to the rainforest. Since he was a child, he has watched as most of the trees around him were cut down for homes, crops, and areas for cattle to graze.

The destruction has been even greater in Brazil, where the majority of the rainforest is located. There, farmers have been setting tens of thousands of illegal blazes annually to clear land. The smoke from the fires can darken the skies thousands of miles away.

The combination of human-made fires and deforestation, in addition to climate change, is having a devastating effect on the Amazon, experts say.

Over the past 40 years, Tello has regrown his own small patch of the Amazon from seeds and tree cuttings. Today, he is also working with other small landowners and conservation groups to do the same. It’s a small step. But its purpose, to save the Amazon, will affect the whole planet.

From Drenched to Dry

One of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, the Amazon is home to 1 in 10 known plant and animal species on Earth. The rainforest also helps protect the planet from climate change. Its trees absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂), a heat-trapping gas that would otherwise enter the atmosphere and raise Earth’s temperature.

But over the past 20 years, the atmosphere above the Amazon has been drying out. Rising levels of greenhouse gases, along with the fires and deforestation, have made the Amazon region warmer.

In the rainforest, trees draw water from the soil and then release it as vapor that cools the air and forms clouds. Clouds produce rain. But as temperatures have increased, plants have needed more water—while the soil has had less moisture to give them.

Meanwhile, as people clear land in the Amazon, the trees they chop down release stored CO₂ into the atmosphere. Fires produce soot, which increases global warming. And whatever takes the place of rainforest— typically livestock and crops—results in more greenhouse gases. All of this further raises temperatures—and increases the need for more water.

If these patterns continue, parts of the Amazon won’t be able to generate enough rainfall to survive, says biologist Thomas Lovejoy.

Once that happens, “the vegetation will convert to savanna, with immense loss of biodiversity,” he says. As trees die off, huge amounts of CO₂ will be released into the atmosphere. And the 30 million people who live in the Amazon rainforest—including Indigenous groups—will be severely impacted.

Reversing Course

Saving the Amazon will require cooperation among South American countries. They could manage the Amazon collectively and create plans for sustainable development there, says Lovejoy.

The rest of the world can contribute by helping fund the projects. Creating a better quality of life for people living in the Amazon will give them less reason to destroy it for profit, he notes.

Ultimately, it will take individuals like Omar Tello—many of them—to pull Earth’s most important rainforest back from the brink.

A Drying Amazon

This map shows the severity of drought conditions in the Amazon rainforest. Many of the zones of heaviest drought (marked as exceptional in the key) fall within the Amazon’s most heavily deforested areas. Study the map, then answer the questions below.

Climate Map
A climate map provides information about an area’s climate—weather patterns that prevail over a region for a period of time. Usually, colors are used to indicate average temperatures (highs or lows), precipitation (rain and snow), drought, or other atmospheric conditions. This climate map of the Amazon indicates drought levels.