Amazon warning from COP27

Launched at the UN climate summit, COP27, our latest Living Amazon Report reveals that deforestation is pushing the region to the point of no return – with catastrophic consequences for people and the planet. The report, which outlines the current health of the Amazon, calls for urgent measures to protect 80% of the rainforest by 2025 – a move called 80×25.

The report shows that without this urgent action, the rainforest could reach a point of no return, beyond which it will become irreversibly damaged.

Despite the warnings from the Science Panel for the Amazon at COP26 that the rainforest faced this critical tipping point, a year on, deforestation is accelerating. A staggering 18% of Amazon rainforests have been lost – mostly to conversion for cattle ranching – and a further 17% are highly degraded.

Although it covers just 1% of the planet’s surface, the Amazon is home to a remarkable 10% of known biodiversity. There are also around 30 million people living in the region – including 350 Indigenous groups that depend directly on the ecosystem for their survival.

But the catastrophic effects are further reaching. The latest science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – also revealed at COP27 – shows that Earth’s natural systems play a critical role in regulating the earth’s climate, absorbing over half of human-related carbon dioxide emissions in the last decade.

Healthy nature is a vital ally in the fight against climate change, and not only is it being pushed to its limits, but we’re losing it.

The Amazon rainforest alone stores a massive 150-200 billion tonnes of carbon in its vegetation and soil, and its loss would seriously threaten the possibility of limiting the global temperature increase to the critical 1.5°C, the report warns.

A different future is possible – but only if action is taken now. Preserving 80% of the Amazon will require the creation of more protected areas and the safeguarding of Indigenous territories. It will also need governments, businesses and financiers to tackle the causes of deforestation.

”Meeting the 80×25 goal is part of a global effort to transition to an ecologically healthy Amazon”, says Kurt Holle, WWF’s Amazon Coordination Unit. “This requires a shift towards social equity, inclusive economic development, and global responsibility.”

The Amazon is a vital place for life on this planet – and in the face of a changing climate, it’s never been more urgent to protect it.