Future Prospects & Balance

Future Prospects:

The future of the Amazon rainforest appears bleak. The area is currently in an endangered state as the world attempts to deal with the current widespread deforestation and global warming. Unfortunately, the lack of regulations for an extended period of time has caused the rainforest to experience significantly more damage than other regions. This era of ignorance has led scientists to predict that if nothing is done to help preserve the environment, approximately 33% of the trees in the rainforest will be killed from a rise in global temperatures. One would believe that a slight rise in temperatures wouldn't affect the Amazon to a great extent, but research done by Britain's leading experts on the topic has concluded that a 2C temperature rise over pre-industrial levels would still lead to about 20-40% death over a period of 100 years. (1). If such damage occurs, the world would lose the Amazon's role as a huge "carbon sink". Doing so would lead to unstable temperatures around the world and cases of extreme weather. Additionally, the Amazon rainforest would be no more. It would be the Amazon savannah instead. This shift would lead to a reduction in biodiversity because the animals living in the region would be incapable of thriving under the new conditions and environment. Specifically, the world would be in danger of losing 10% of its biodiversity by 2100 if the rainforest disappears. (8)



Balance:

At this point, reversing the damage already done to the geographic area would be ineffective. Thus, scientists and politicians must work together to prevent further crisis from occurring and establish safe protocols for citizens and companies to follow so that at least a portion of the rainforest can sustain itself for future generations. In order to halt the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, regulations must be put into place that ban the two critical factors that lead to its disappearance: deforestation and global warming. To begin with, farmers who utilize the landscape of the Amazon need to refrain from using a technique called "Slash and Burn" agriculture as it removes most of the trees from a large area within a short period of time before the environment can adjust.

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Policies need to be put into place that promote sustainable agriculture that doesn't cause harm to the future of the Amazon such as "non-plowing farming." (3) Furthermore, scientists should focus on rehabilitating the species of the area in order to save the endangered ones from going completely extinct. Finally, extending the protected areas will enable more of the rainforest to be kept safe so that scientists can worry about the parts of the Amazon in the worst condition. (6.)

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