By: Cindy Dice
The Amazon rainforest is an important part of the South American ecosystem because it’s home to a wide variety of wildlife as well as to the indigenous people and provides oxygen. This independent ecosystem creates its own weather patterns and influences nearby climates of adjacent areas. However, with the recent fires that have been raging over the forest, the once prosperous ecosystem is experiencing a rapid decline.
According to PHYS ORG, most of the fires that have been ignited in the forest are man-made. One reason why is “slash-and-burn” agriculture where farmers chop down the trees and set them on fire to speed up the deforestation process which makes room for crops and livestock. The leftover ash spread along the forest floor is rich in nutrients which allows the crops and food for livestock to thrive.
While making space for crop fields and livestock seems ideal, deforestation only benefits the farmers who manage these fields. Not only does the slash-and-burn method damage the home to millions of organisms and indigenous people but the method has also been destroying the natural balance of the ecosystem. Rising temperatures due to climate change are also harming the Amazon because of the severe lack of trees absorbing carbon dioxide which traps heat in the atmosphere causing the ecosystem’s natural weather patterns are becoming abnormal and erratic.
According to National Geographic, within the span of fifty years about 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed from deforestation and that percentage will continue to rise. Only 6% of the Earth’s land surface is covered in tropical rainforest. While ash from fire is rich in nutrients, it’s difficult for crops and other plant life to regenerate is quickly as forests are torn apart. To make matters worse, the pressure from the tree trucks that are stacked on top of the soil causes damage by compacting it which in turn results in an inhospitable environment for plants to grow.
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