The Amazon rainforest plays a massive role in the planet's future regarding climate change. The rainforest creates a cooling effect because its trees channel heat into the atmosphere. It also protects the Earth from greenhouse gasses by storing 150 to 200 billion tons of carbon.
The health of the Amazon is vital to all life on Earth because it releases 20 billion tons of water into the atmosphere each day, playing a pivotal role in the planet’s water cycle. But unfortunately, the Amazon is under threat from deforestation.
"Despite some important conservation successes, the Amazon faces greater threats than ever before. We need to act fast to protect this life-sustaining treasure for the millions of species and people that depend on it,” Sarah Hutchinson, the World Wildlife Foundation’s Chief Latin American Advisor, said on its website.
Even though the situation in the Amazon seems dire, there was some great news to come out of the rainforest recently. Brazil, home to 60% of the rainforest, announced that it reduced deforestation by 50% from 2022 to 2023.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva via Sala de Medios - Intendencia de Montevideo/Wikimedia Commons
The change came after the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who stepped up enforcement in the area, slowing forest clearing by ranchers and farmers. In 2023, Brazil lost 1,989 square miles of rainforest, compared to 2022, when there was a drop of 3,963 square miles.
Under the country’s previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon had reached a 15-year high. The Bolsonaro administration weakened environmental protection while allowing development by farmers and land grabbers who felt maligned by the country’s environmental laws.
“The effort of reversing the curve of growth has been reached. That is a fact: we reversed the curve; deforestation isn’t increasing,” João Paulo Capobianco, the Environment Ministry’s executive secretary, said during a presentation.
The big problem with protecting the Amazon is that it is an important economic resource for Latin America as it’s a major source of agri-food exports to the European Union. Cattle ranching for the production of beef sold to the U.S. and China is also a major cause of deforestation, as is soybean production.
The trees of the Amazon rainforest. via Amauri Aguiar/Flickr
Deforestation not only prevents future carbon sequester but it undoes past gains. After the tree is cut down, most of the carbon sequestered by the tree is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.
Land use change, principally deforestation, contributes to up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The fight to save the Amazon is a long battle, and the good news is that a tremendous amount of progress has been made in reducing deforestation over the past 20-plus years. In the late 1990s, over 20,000 square miles of Brazillian rainforest were destroyed every year, about ten times the amount lost in 2023.
President Lula believes that there is a bright future for the Amazon and has pledged to achieve zero deforestation by the end of the decade. He calls it the “Amazon dream.”
“The Amazon can be whatever we want it to be: an Amazon with greener cities, with cleaner air, with mercury-free rivers and forests that are left standing; an Amazon with food on the table, dignified jobs and public services that are available to all; an Amazon with healthier children, well-received migrants [and] Indigenous people who are respected,” Lula said at a rainforest summit.
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President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.