A football pitch of rainforest lost each minute

The Amazon rainforest is home to 360 billion trees and one in 10 of the Earth’s known animal species. Its dense canopy and winding rivers cover 5.5 million sq km of South America. And, now, this rich ecosystem is being torn down at a rate of one football pitch every minute.

According to the Brazilian space agency, INPE, deforestation has accelerated by 29.5% in just 12 months, reaching its highest rate since 2008. Between August 2018 and July 2019, almost 10,000 sq km of rainforest was lost.

While it sprawls into eight countries, the majority of the Amazon lies in Brazil, where it covers an area half the size of Europe. This puts it at the mercy of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, whose commitment to development over conservation has drawn comparisons with Donald Trump.

Nicknamed “Captain Chainsaw”, Bolsonaro’s government stands accused of undoing years of work to protect the rainforest. Since he was elected in January, convictions for environmental crimes have plummeted. Land-grabbers, miners, loggers and agribusiness have capitalised as officials turn a blind eye.

The situation worsened in August, when vast areas of the rainforest were engulfed in fires. Many of the blazes had been deliberately started on so-called “fire days” by groups of farmers, who wanted to use the land to graze cattle. The number of fires has risen 85% since last year.

Often called the “lungs of the planet”, the Amazon rainforest absorbs millions of tons of carbon dioxide every year and produces around 6% of the oxygen we breathe.

The recurrent fires are a particular concern for the global fight against the climate crisis. Trees in a humid forest like the Amazon have not evolved to cope with fires. Once they have burned, the forests hold 25% less carbon even after three decades of regrowth.

“Contrary to what Brazilians think, the Amazon is not their property, it belongs to all of us,” said Al Gore, former US vice-president, in 1989 when he was a senator. Three decades later, his words are more poignant and contentious than ever.

Who really owns the Amazon?

Jewel of the Earth

Brazil, says Bolsonaro, citing national sovereignty: the principle that every state can decide its own affairs without interference. When Emmanuel Macron offered an aid package to protect the Amazon, Bolsonaro declined it. As president of a colonised nation, he understands the risks of being indebted to wealthier rivals who use economic muscle to get their own way. These concerns should not be dismissed out of hand.

But the state of the Amazon is a test case for many future battles to come. “The climate crisis will strain the usefulness of seemingly simple concepts — like national sovereignty,” writes Quinta Jurecic in The New York Times. From the burning rainforests to the melting ices of Greenland, we will have to reimagine the ownership of the natural world as something global — belonging to everyone and no one — in order to survive.