Amazon Rain Forest, the lungs of the Earth, is nearly gone

Amazon rain forest is 10 million years old. It is known as the lungs of the Earth. Amazon rain forest is mainly responsible for the rainfall and protects us from global warming, is under threat of deforestation. Amazon rain forest is a home to 390 million trees, situated in Brazil. It is a nest of biodiversity. Deforestation of Amazon rain forest is in high since 2008 as per the reports from the Brazil’s space agency (Inpe).
A total of 11,088 sq km (4,281 sq miles) of rainforest were destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020. This is a 9.5% increase from the previous year.
Amazon is a carbon store as it slows down the pace of global warming. Scientists say that the activities of deforestation are high after Jair Bolsonaro becomes president in 2019. The Brazilian president has promoted many mining and agriculture activities in the Amazon rain forest.
The Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people. The latest data marked a major increase from the 7,536 sq km announced by Inpe in 2018 - the year before Mr. Bolsonaro took office.
In addition to encouraging development in the rainforest, President Bolsonaro has also cut funding to federal agencies that have the power to fine and arrest farmers and loggers breaking environmental law.
An analysis by David Sukhman, says that the scale of destruction in the Amazon rainforest is hard to comprehend.
Last year there was a silent aftermath of deforestation where huge trees had been bulldozed and would later be burned.
This is done to create fields for cattle grazing and soya cultivation - big earners for Brazil.
At the time it was said that an area of forest the size of a football pitch was cleared every single minute.
But soon that calculation was overtaken, and this year has seen the largest fires for a decade. Jair Bolsonaro, was elected on a promise of development to promote mining as well as agriculture, he described the Amazon as "a periodic table" of valuable minerals, and he resents what he sees as outside interference.
But climate scientists say the billions of trees are a vast store of carbon and, without them, the rise in global temperatures will accelerate. Results from a decade-long study of greenhouse gases over the Amazon basin appear to show around 20% of the total area has become a net source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is because of deforestation.
While trees are growing they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; dead trees release it again. Millions of trees have been lost to logging and fires in recent years.
The results of the study, which have not yet been published, have implications for the effort to combat climate change.
They suggest that the Amazon rainforest - a vital carbon store, or "sink", that slows the pace of global warming - may be turning into a carbon source faster than previously thought.
Every two weeks for the past 10 years, a team of scientists led by Prof Luciana Gatti, a researcher at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), has been measuring greenhouse gases by flying aircraft fitted with sensors over different parts of the Amazon basin.
It seems like unhealthy for our survival. This is our duty to protect the lungs of our Mother Earth from deforestation.