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Despite playing a huge role in keeping our climate in control and absorbing carbon emissions, the Amazon Rainforest continues to experience tragedies, fires, immense change almost every year. There’s the illegal logging trade, deforestation, poaching, mining, clearing of land for agribusiness, and the eradication of nearly 1 million indigenous peoples living within the rainforest. And just recently, it has been engulfed in what must have been the worst forest fires you can think of. Fires and deforestation have destroyed thousands of acres of trees and eradicated the home of the many species living in the tropical forest.
This was no accident, of course. Ever since the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, came to power, he has slashed the budget of environmental protection agencies by 95% to make way for more business-like oil and agribusiness. Bolsonaro has angered many Brazilian, both indigenous peoples and even global citizens for his actions. The Brazilian president has weakened the environmental protection agencies which has resulted in the tumultuous decline of the Amazon Rainforest.
Preserving this tropical rainforest is important as it helps control the world’s climate, absorb the carbon emissions in the world, and provide a home for plant and animal species. Moreover, wildlife conservation has become even more important.
For someone like us watching this news from the distance, we might feel helpless that we can’t do anything about this news. But there are several ways we can do to help the Amazon Rainforest and all the indigenous people living deep within this beautiful place.
Here are 7 ways we can help save the Amazon Rainforest.
1. Speak up.
It takes one voice to make a difference in the world, how much more if thousands would speak up for our wildlife! Speak up so the government will implement new laws in protecting the Amazon and stop global deforestation altogether. We need to join hand in hand to make waves and encourage more countries to join the fight to keep our forests.
2. Donate to trust or fund for the conservation of the Amazon Rainforest.
Support organizations such as the Amazon Watch or Rainforest Action Network. Your financial help to these organizations will help provide emergency relief to people directly impacted by the wildfires. This will also help local fire brigades and provide drones and supplies to the indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest.
3. Educate yourself about the Amazon Rainforest.
The lack of education is what usually drives many people to engage in illegal trade that could harm the Amazon Rainforest. Before we can share our knowledge with others, we need to start with ourselves first. Educate yourself about climate change, the importance of the Amazon Rainforest, why we should continue to protect it, and the real perils that could potentially destroy it. Arming ourselves with the knowledge about our forests will help us understand more what we should do to help.
4. Raise awareness in your community about the Amazon Rainforest.
Once you have equipped yourself with the knowledge of why we must save the Amazon Rainforest, share the word, and make sure that your community gets to be involved too. The more people know about the urgency of this matter, the more we can push the change we want for the Amazon Rainforest.
5. Reduce your wood and paper consumption.
Logging companies engage in illegal logging activities due to the demand for making wood and paper products. These include toilet paper, phone books, office paper, lawn furniture, and many others. Many trees in our forests have been logged or degraded just to supply our needs. And if there is no sustainable way to do it, we will end up losing all the trees we need to survive. You can the Amazon Rainforest by simply reducing your consumption of wood and paper products. In your own simple ways, you can reduce the pressure on our forests today. In the same way, beef is also one of the major commodities that has caused damage to the forest. Reduce your consumption of beef and other byproducts.
6. Buy some land.
There are many ways to protect the lands in the Amazon Rainforest and one way of doing that is to buy some land. Organizations like the Rainforest Trust can help you do this. You can buy acres of land so you can protect it from mining, slash and burning agribusiness, and illegal logging. When you buy some land, you will support local communities and preserve the forest land of the Amazon for the future generation. You can prevent fires that are deliberately set.
7. Support the indigenous people.
The lives of the indigenous people are the ones greatly impacted by the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. Their rights and livelihood are violated due to the irresponsibility of the government of Brazil. The president of Brazil has implemented policies that have not helped the indigenous people. By directly funding and supporting the indigenous communities, you can expose the destructive activities of corporations and help topple down corrupt government officials.
