Amazon rainforest under massive loggingTwo-thirds of the rainforests on the planet are being destroyed by humans, a study found that the ecosystem is on the verge of facing a major crisis.
According to CBS, the Norwegian Rainforest Association (RFN) released a report on the 9th (local time), which is 36, which is one-third of the 14.5 million ㎢ area of rainforest covering about 13% of the earth’s surface. Only% said it was not damaged.
A study by RFN from 2002 to 2019 found that 34% of all rainforests have completely disappeared and 30% are devastating. The combined area of the two amounts to about 9.5 million square kilometers.
In particular, the size of the rainforest that has disappeared since 2002 was found to be larger than that of French territory, RFN added.
“It is good news that the rainforest half the size of continental Europe is still fully maintained, but the rest is completely damaged or increasingly being destroyed,” said report author Anners Krogg.
“Humans are cutting down trees and breaking thicker forests into smaller and smaller pieces,” he said. “It is undermining the ability of rainforests to store carbon, cool the planet, make it rain, and provide habitat.”
“The world relies on rainforests to do this,” he stressed.
70% of the Earth’s rainforest is distributed in South America such as Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Papua New Guinea in Asia, and Democratic Congo in Africa.
The rainforest has become a palm oil production farmThe researchers pointed out that’human consumption’ has led to this result.
In addition to farming, human activities such as energy use, international trade, soybean and palm oil cultivation, and the livestock and mining industries have been the greatest threat to the rainforest over the past half century.
In particular, the US is highly dependent on forest products such as palm oil, rubber and cocoa, and the raw materials for these products are often cultivated on illegally harvested land.
The RFN stressed that rainforests provide shelter for more than half of the planet’s life and absorb more carbon than any other ecosystem, and are critical to slowing down the pace of global warming.
Krogg also warned that the ecosystem of the rainforest damaged by human hands is at a crossroads. “The ecosystem is suffering from constant and persistent abuse because of the endless human desire for land and resources.”
In particular, he warned that the loss of the rainforest could put the world on the brink of an infectious disease pandemic again. “Deforestation will undermine nature’s innate viral protection and push the world into the danger of the emergence of new pathogens that animals can transfer to humans.
He added that the world should set the preservation of rainforests as a top priority as it suffered a new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) pandemic.
“We hope that the United Nations will come up with concrete measures to preserve the unspoilt rainforest at upcoming climate and biodiversity conferences,” Krog said.
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