Rainforest Under Threat: Expansion & Loss

The Green Lungs Under Siege

How expansion, agriculture & logging threaten our forest

The Amazon is the planet’s lung, converting sunlight into life, regulating rain, and cooling climates. It is a hotspot of biodiversity, maintaining life and resilience against climate changes. But human expansion, agriculture, logging, and settlement push ever deeper into what should be wild, turning vibrant forest into cleared land, degraded soil, and emptiness.

From 1985 to 2023, over 88 million hectares of Amazon forest were lost to agriculture, mining, cattle ranching, and other land uses. Illegal and legal deforestation in Ecuador and neighboring areas are part of this wave. If expansion continues unchecked, the Amazon will reach a tipping point. This would be reached if the forest area in the Amazon became too small to generate enough rain to sustain itself. Then, the remaining forest would dry out due to insufficient rainfall, and the forest would disappear irreversibly. This is not some distant threat. It’s happening now.

Amazon approaches Tipping Point: Alarming Surge in Destruction

Since 1970 the Amazon lost about 17% of its rainforest area

Mining in the Amazon has increased more than tenfold over the past 40 years

Excessive meat and dairy consumption drives demand for cattle ranching in the Amazon, accounting for 80% of current deforestation

Forest ecosystems are losing resilience and nearing collapse thresholds

Scientists warn the Amazon may soon reach an irreversible tipping point

The Engines of Destruction

Cattle grazing on deforested pasture on a farm in the Amazon rainforest at dusk

The Amazon is under siege from all sides. Expansion of settlements and infrastructure. Roads, small communities, and land grabbing push the forest edges outward, fragmenting what was once intact wilderness. Agriculture and ranching follow swiftly behind, with cattle pastures and monocultures replacing living forest soil. Between 2017 and 2022, cattle ranching alone caused the majority of deforestation in Amazon regions. Logging, both legal and illegal, accelerates the damage, cutting access corridors and degrading forest structure, paving the way for further encroachment. Beyond clear-cutting, forest degradation through edge effects, selective logging, and fragmentation silently destroys the forest’s carbon stocks. Each road carved is a wound deeper into the forest’s heart.

Why Loss of the Green Lungs Hurts All of Us

Rainforest canopy perspective showing diversity of green foliage and sunlight filtering through leaves

Tropical forests cover only 2% of Earth’s land but host around 50% of global biodiversity, essential to halt mass extinction.
Deforestation releases vast amounts of stored carbon, accelerating global warming.
Rainforest trees regulate global rainfall, cycling water through the atmosphere and ensuring rain thousands of kilometres away.
Indigenous communities lose their life support system, the forest providing water, food, identity, and ancient medicinal knowledge.
Humanity loses the chance to discover nature-based solutions such as new medicines, antibiotics, and biotechnological innovations

Our Defense Strategy

We protect critical buffer zones close to human expansion zones. Once secured, we declare these lands protected, enforce boundaries through** indigenous guardianship**, and monitor any incursions. We support rewilding and restoration to rebuild ecological resilience where previous human activities have weakened the forest. For this, we rely on factual ecological evidence and ancestral knowledge, prioritizing species that matter most. Every 10 m² you sponsor helps strengthen the forest against deforestation.

What You Can Do

Every 10 m² you sponsor becomes a node in the protection network. You can visit the land, meet field scientists and Indigenous guardians, and watch species you help save. You become part of a community that says: not a single life lost without resistance.