Forest disappears

Deforestation of vital trees

The Coronavirus also shows us unmistakably: If we destroy the habitats and the diversity of species, we destroy in the long run our own health. Whether in Australia, the Amazon or Indonesia: If we humans over exploit nature and especially the forests, the natural balance is in danger. And then pandemics like Corona can arise.

TRAVEL & PLANT is committed to sustainable reforestation and biodiversity worldwide.

TODAY’S REALITY IS VERY SERIOUS

Every minute of every day, forested land with a dimension of 35 football fields is being obliterated. That amounts to 13 million hectares of forest lost each year.

Current figures show that 2.254 square kilometers of rainforest were cut down in Brazil alone in July 2019. (Special report on climate change, Zeit online from 08.August 2019)

Update: July 2020

Another month of sad records for the Amazon rainforest. There were 6,803 fires in the Amazon region in July. An increase of 28 percent compared to the previous month. On July 30 alone, the Amazon basin was burned more than 1,000 times – the last time it had burned that many times in just one day was 15 years ago. For the analysis, the national Brazilian space agency Inpe evaluates satellite images of the DETER system (Real-Time Deforestation Detection System) in real time.

The situation is also devastating inside nature reserves – fires here have increased by more than 50 percent compared to the previous month. The reason for the fires is largely illegal fire clearance. Although this type of land reclamation was temporarily banned by decree, such regulations are only effective if they are enforced. (Source: WWF Newsletter of August 04, 2020)