page_title: Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest
section_title: Impacts
hierarchical_section_title: Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest / Impacts
caption_attribution_description: Brigadas indígenas do Prevfogo/Ibama combatem incêndio florestal na Terra Indígena Porquinhos, no Maranhão Foto: Felipe Werneck/Ibama
context_page_description: The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering an area of 5,500,000 km². It represents over half of the planet's rainforests, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60%, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and France.
  The cattle sector of the Brazilian Amazon, incentivized by the international beef and leather trades, has been responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the region, or about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the world's largest single driver of deforestation. The vast majority of agricultural activity resulting in deforestation was subsidized by government tax revenue. By 1995, 70% of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970 had been converted to cattle ranching.
context_section_description: Deforestation and loss of biodiversity have led to high risks of irreversible changes to the Amazon's tropical forests. It has been suggested by modeling studies that the deforestation may be approaching a "tipping point", after which large-scale "savannization" or desertification of the Amazon will take place, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, due to a self-perpetuating collapse of the region's biodiversity and ecosystems. Research suggests this tipping point will be reached at about 20-25% deforestation (hence 3% to 8% more than the 17% deforestation already reached in 2018). Since the 17% deforestation has been reached in a period of just 50 years, it is clear that we are very near to this "point of no return". In order to retain high biodiversity and reduce the impact of deforestation, research supports a threshold of 40% forest cover in the Amazon.
caption: Amazon rainforest fire in Brazil's indigenous territory in 2017
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D750", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.11", "Image DateTime": "2017:09:26 20:28:21", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "348", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "20968", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "21096", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10502", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3200", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:09:26 20:28:21", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:09:26 20:28:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTime": "72", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "72", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "72", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2996", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "20936", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}