Global warming and climate change is the biggest threat of destroying the Amazon Rainforest. We are quickly seeing the rainforest fade away and in the near future it could disappear forever. Scientists believe that over half of the world’s plant and animal species will go extinct within the next 25 years. More than a quarter of pharmaceutical products come from the rainforest. Without it scientists would be able to come up with cures for cancer or other diseases. The Amazon Rainforest provides 20% of the worlds oxygen and absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide.
Temperature change, drought, and forest fires are causing deforestation to the Amazon Rainforest. This is one of the world’s worst environmental disasters. The climate is changing drastically due to increased carbon dioxide being released into the air. This affects plants because they use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. With increased levels, plants have to fight for survival. It is predicted that a 2 to 8 degree celsius increase in temperature could cause the rainforest to be replaced by bare soil in the next century.
Global warming is causing plants to become drier and making them more vulnerable to forest fires. These fires destroy the wildlife and releases even more carbon into the air. If all this continues the Amazon Rainforest will become a dry desert.
~DL
It’s interesting that you mention plants having to fight for survival with increased CO2; has there been any work on CO2 levels and plant growth rates?
Great video ! I find your topic extremely interesting since I am also writing a paper on global warming effects.
I am very interested in climate change and very recently discussed the Amazonian deforestation in my World Geography class. Mankind is destroying the rainforest there for cattle grazing, and the soil is so bad from leeching that the vegetation they graze on is depleted quickly so they then move on to a new area. It almost seems feasible to pay South Americans just to leave it alone. After all, the rest of the world is at fault for creating the CO2 by burning so much coal and oil.