As you likely know, here at Byron Bay Skincare we have long believed in the importance of tree planting to help offset (some) of the impact of deforestation, the leading cause of climate change. More recently the impact of such deforestation has been more apparent than ever, here in our own backyard of Australia and globally.
The Amazon is Burning
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering over 5.5 million square kilometres, spanning across South America.
According to National Geographic, its home to around 500 indigenous Amerindian tribes, and it is believed that around fifty of these tribes have never had contact with the outside world.
The Amazon plays an imperative role in reducing the effects of climate change. It is made up of immensely dense canopies of vegetation. So dense in fact, that when it rains, it takes around 10 minutes for the water to reach the ground.
Acting as the Earth’s lungs, the rich vegetation of the Amazon, absorbs carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and then produces essential oxygen.
Last month it was reported that the ‘Earth’s lungs' were burning.
Scientific American reported the country’s National Institute for Space Research detected 30,901 fires, and for a short time, devastating images of the precious eco-system hit mainstream media. News regarding the catastrophe came late with many feeling that reporters did not bring justice to the catastrophe.
News of the event has died down, and we no longer see the devastating effects on our news channels, the Amazon is (still) burning.
Disastrous Environmental Consequences
The Amazon produces 20% of our oxygen in the atmosphere. The destruction of this essential resource will rapidly accelerate, the already dire impact of globing warming, increasing the Earth’s temperature.
With temperatures rising and growing risk of drought, fires of this magnitude and devastation, are very much a reality.
The consequences are monumental:
- To flora and fauna – many species of which, are only found in the Amazon, with animals being burned alive and displaced with their natural habitat no longer being safe, or existing at all.
- To the people of the Amazon, with increased fires risking human life, homes and the health of people.
- To the world, with the carbon dioxide and other chemicals emitted by fires in the Amazon, accelerating greenhouse gases.
Regeneration is essential
The Amazon doesn’t have the ability to survive big fires and importantly, to regenerate after the blaze has stopped.
An article by Truth Out explains that part of this is because trees in the Amazon have thin bark that heats up immensely during prolonged fire and damages the internal cells, eventually killing the tree. Once the tree dies, the carbon stored in their trunks, branches and leaves, is released into our atmosphere.
The Amazon desperately needs our help
As a global community, we need to rally behind the Amazon and help in any way that we can, to protect and regenerate the Earth’s lungs.
We are reallocating our Seed The Change pledge, of one tree panted for each product sold, to the One Tree Planted Amazon initiative.
The initiative is focused on Peru, which is covered by 60% of the Amazon, specifically the Madre de Dios region.
The mission is to restore and protect a “buffer zone” in a high-risk area between Tambopata National Reserve, Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, and the city of Puerto Maldonado.
This area has been recognised as high risk due to unsustainable agricultural practises that are detrimentally contributing to deforestation and degradation.
Planting trees here will help:
- conserve habitat for the Jaguar
- conserve habitat for hundreds of species living in the protected areas
- provide sustainable livelihoods for local people
- importantly, breathe some extra life back into one of the planet’s most critical biome
By purchasing any Byron Bay Skincare product, you will be supporting the regeneration of one of the world’s most precious and essential resources, as well as contributing to the protection of the Amazons people, flora and fauna.