Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts

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🗞️ Driving the news: The Amazon rainforest lost over 4.6 million hectares of primary tropical forest in 2024 — more than double the annual average from the past decade and the highest figure since records began in 2002, according to Global Forest Watch
• Fires, exacerbated by climate change and El Niño, caused 60% of the destruction, overwhelming environmental protections, particularly in Brazil, Bolivia, and Guyana

🔭 The context: President Lula da Silva has significantly reduced illegal deforestation in Brazil through renewed environmental enforcement
• However, extreme drought and heat — the worst in 70 years — triggered uncontrollable fires, revealing the limitations of policy against escalating climate extremes
• In contrast, Bolivia saw a 586% spike over its decade average, driven by deregulatory policies that incentivized land clearing and fire use

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The Amazon is a critical global carbon sink and biodiversity hotspot
• The rising rate of fire-driven forest loss and degradation threatens its capacity to regulate climate, protect species, and support regional rainfall patterns
• With degradation now surpassing outright deforestation in vegetation loss, the biome risks entering a self-perpetuating decline that could push it beyond ecological recovery

⏭️ What's next: Scientists and environmental groups are calling for urgent international support, including fire prevention funding, restoration aid, and trade pressure to reduce deforestation-linked commodities
• Without coordinated global and regional efforts, the Amazon may reach a tipping point, accelerating global climate feedback loops and biodiversity loss

💬 One quote: “What burns today is not only forest — it is also the hope that nature alone will heal,” — the article’s author, Rhett Ayers Butler, warning of the Amazon’s diminishing resilience

📈 One stat: Bolivia experienced a 586% increase in primary forest loss in 2024 compared to its 10-year average

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