Rainforests are incredible places, with a huge amount of wildlife and plants all living closely together and fighting for survival.
Now the problem in many parts of the world, rainforests are being cut down for space to be given over to all sorts of other land uses. I have no problem with some of the rainforests being cut down for other land uses. Unfortunately though in the Amazon, there is a significant issue.
Rainforests create huge quantities of rain – indeed, it is thought that with many rainforests it is thought that they create about half of the rain that falls on them. However, as the Amazon rainforest is cut back on its eastern side, the hot dry air from the outside is getting inside, and as the rainforest is cut down the rain is reducing.
At a certain point, the rainfall reduces enough that the rainforests start to switch to a Savannah ecosystem. At this point billions of tonnes of carbon would be released into the air.
What is scary, is that this it is thought that in the eastern Amazon is approaching. There is a similar fear in the Congo basin and south east Asia, though in these places it is not thought to be nearby.