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by 2030, 27% of trees in the rain forest will be gone!

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The Amazon Rain Forest Is Nearly Gone. We Went to the Front Lines to See If It Could Be Saved

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Colonization and environmental vandalism created a crisis in the Amazon that could have alarming consequences for climate change.

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This is what would happen if the rain forest was gone for good!

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What If the Amazon Rainforest Is Completely Destroyed?

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Climate change and industrial activity are wiping out large sections of the world's largest rainforest.

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This is what will happen if the whole rain forest is gone and how we would be affected.

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Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to rainforests worldwide. Over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s, and every second, more than one hectare of tropical forests is destroyed or drastically degrade. What happens when the rainforest disappears?

The air over deforested area are average 3-5 degrees Celsius (37-41°F) hotter than in the forested protected area that adjoins it;

The dry season is lengthening which makes the forests more susceptible to fires;

Deforestation creates a giant change to the water and energy balance. A typical large Amazon tree releases around 500 liters of water a day into the atmosphere;

Millions of animal and plant species are lost including western gorillas, orangutans, and forest elephants. The losses of large animals like woolly spider monkeys, tapirs and toucans leads to the loss of hardwood trees where 95% of all trees rely on animals to disperse seeds. Eighty percent of Earth's land animals and plants live in forests, and it means the killing of life on earth;

Massive soil erosion and coastal flooding are triggered. Trees retain water and create topsoil;

Deforestation produces new habitats for Anopheles darlingi mosquitoes and have caused malaria epidemics in South America. Viral and parasitic infections (arboviruses, malaria, the leishmaniases, Chagas Disease and schistosomiasis) have been directly or indirectly influenced by loss of natural tropical forests;

The home of indigenous tribes is destroyed and their culture and knowledge lost forever.

Nature and endangered species can be saved and bounce back with our help. Nature can regenerate itself, if we give it the opportunity. Give it space, but lend an important hand where we can. With a tipping point looming, the stakes are immensely high for the Amazon, the Congo Basin, Borneo and the rest of forest on earth. The forests and much of their biodiversity could, with the right assistance, still recover and be protected. Become a friend of Nature and join us to protect our living planet and all its inhabitants.

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Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to rainforests worldwide. Over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s, and every second, more than one hectare of tropical forests is destroyed or drastically degrade. What happens when the rainforest disappears?

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This tells how the rain forest releases 20% of oxygen into our atmosphere and how forest fires can affect it.

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Victor Moriyama-Greenpeace Brazil-EPA-EFE-Shutterstock.com

Metaphorically speaking, the vast tropical rainforest in South America's Amazon River basin is often called the "lungs of the planet." Some people claim that the Amazon Rainforest alone is responsible for 20 percent of Earth's oxygen, but is this really true? As the region experiences more fires in 2019 than it has seen in almost a decade, some people are wondering what would happen to Earth's oxygen supply if the whole of the Amazon were to burn away. Would Earth actually lose 20 percent of its oxygen, or are there other, more-foreboding surprises that would await us instead?

The short answer is no, Earth would not lose 20 percent of its oxygen if the Amazon Rainforest were lost. Many of us learned at school that plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, and thus it seems reasonable to think that one of the largest visible regions of photosynthesis on the planet might just be Earth's prime oxygen factory. However, relationships between tropical forests and oxygen are a little more complicated. Sure, growing plants produce oxygen, and tropical rainforests are huge contributors, but it is important to remember that dead and rotting plants-as well as burning plants-consume oxygen to release carbon dioxide as a by-product during decomposition and combustion. Often the ratio between a plant producing oxygen in life and consuming oxygen in death is 1:1, so many atmospheric scientists don't see the Amazon, Earth's rainforests, or even Earth's forests as a whole as net oxygen producers, at least in any appreciable sense, because all plants die sooner or later.

Earth's excess oxygen-that is, the stuff that makes up about 21 percent of Earth's atmosphere-comes from marine algae. Marine algae bloom in the oceans, sitting on the surface and taking advantage of the nutrients that are stirred up in seawater and pulling in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While algae live, they use carbon dioxide to grow, and they release oxygen into the atmosphere. However, when they die, algae do not decompose on the ocean surface, so they do not draw from the atmosphere the same amount of oxygen that they produced in life. Instead, algae sink. Some dead algae consume oxygen dissolved in seawater and largely or completely decompose as they sink, releasing the carbon stored in their bodies into the water. However, others sink deep enough fast enough that they fall below the ocean's oxygenated layers before they decompose in earnest. They land on the ocean floor mostly intact, so the carbon in their bodies stays put. Over millions of years, this process results in a net oxygen gain in Earth's atmosphere.

Even though burning the Amazon won't have an appreciable effect on oxygen levels, burning will add enormous amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which will further strengthen global warming and produce more severe climate changes. And there are other very serious long-term consequences to destroying Earth's most biodiverse region. Burning away the Amazon would condemn millions of living species to extinction and destroy their habitats. Many of these plants, animals, and other forms of life haven't even been identified by science yet. It is thought that consumption of the whole of the Amazon by fire would change the region from a thick multilayered forest to a savanna composed of scattered trees and tall grasses. While this change might appeal to livestock grazers and farmers (at least for a few years, until the nutrients of the rainforest's thin soil are exhausted), it will put a jaw-dropping dent into the planet's biodiversity. Although some hardy plants and animals would survive to become part of this new ecosystem, millions (possibly tens of millions) of species of insects and other invertebrates and thousands of species of plants and vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, and native and migrating birds) would not.

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What Happens to Earth If the Amazon Rainforest Is Completely Burned?

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Plants produce oxygen through photosynthesis. What happens when we take away Earth's largest visible photosynthesis factory?

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We lost 17% of the Rain forest and an another 17% are degrading as we speak.

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This is our sad truth of what year the rain forest will be gone if we don't do something

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Half of rainforests already destroyed

In 2000, half of the world's rainforest had been wiped out. If we continue the rate of destruction, the rainforests will be gone at the end of the century, according to NASA.

Rainforests disappearing at double speed in just 15 years

The rate of tropical deforestation has almost doubled in 15 years. 2016 was the worst year ever with a total loss of tropical forest of 16.9 million hectares. 2017 was slightly "better" with 15.8 million hectares lost. An area almost the size of the state of Washington.

Not only rainforest is being cut down

On top of the disappearing rainforests, other types of forests are also being destroyed. In 2016, a world record of 30 million hectares of forests worldwide disappeared. That's an area the size of Italy or Norway.

2017 just missed the record with a total loss of 29.4 million hectares.

1 BILLION hectares of forests cut down

In just 40 years, 1 billion hectares of forests have been cut down worldwide. That's an area bigger than China.

Causes of the destruction of forests

The general reason for cutting down the world's forest: The increasing world population and expanding consumer economy.

The world population is growing by 215,000 people a day and the number of consumers grows by 350,000 people a day.

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Half of rainforests already destroyedIn 2000, half of the world's rainforest had been wiped out. If we continue the rate of destruction, the rainforests w...

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How to save our Rain Forest

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7 Steps You Can Take to Help Save the Amazon Rainforest

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Seven steps you can take to help save the Amazon and the world’s rainforests. How to reduce your resource consumption and support rainforest communities.

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How to protect our Rain forest and save it

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10 Things You Can Do To Save The Rainforest - Rainforest Foundation US

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What can you do to save the rainforest? It turns out quite a bit, even if you don't live near one! What we consume, support with time and money, and lend our voices to have far-reaching impacts.

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How kids like us can help save the rain forest and make a difference.

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You don't have to be big to make a big impact! Here are some great ways that kids can help save rainforests.

Sign up for useful tips to green your life and protect our planet.

1. Ask your parents to buy foods-like bananas and coffee-that are grown in a sustainable way-In a way that is safe for the environment, for wildlife, and for people.

2. Do a class project to learn more about rainforests and the plants and animals that live there. Create a skit, write a story, or decorate your classroom to look like a real rainforest. Use our coloring pages to get you started.

3. Have a bake sale, garage sale, or school fundraiser to raise money to donate to an organization that works to conserve rainforests.

4. Read about other children who live in and near the rainforest; see how they and their families depend on the plants and animals in the rainforest.

5. Tell your friends and family about how important the rainforests are, or ask your teacher to teach your class more about rainforests.

6. Use less paper-re-use paper instead of throwing it out. Cut it up to use as a notepad, or recycle the paper you use. Ask your parents and teacher about how they recycle their paper.

7. Ask your school to buy environmentally friendly paper.

8. Write a letter and post on social media (with an @ mention) to thank organizations and companies that are working to protect the rainforest.

9. Look at a map of the world with your parents or teacher, and point out the places where rainforests exist.

10. Look around your home for things you use or eat that originate in the rainforest; Think about how many things that we use every day originate in the rainforest, and how it would affect you if they were no longer around.

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10 Easy Ways Kids Can Help Save Rainforests

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Here are some great ways that kids can help save rainforests. You don't have to be big to make a big impact!