Why Amazon and other rainforests are under threat
What's the story
A new report has warned that the Amazon and similar rainforests are nearing a breaking point due to increased resource extraction. The study highlights how fresh demands for critical minerals, biofuels, and pulp: used in fast fashion, processed food, and packaging, are worsening existing pressures from cattle ranching, monocrops, oil drilling, and logging. Mining activities have a larger environmental impact than previously thought due to secondary effects like water pollution and infrastructure development.
Environmental impact
Urgent need to reduce forest-derived products
The report, commissioned by Rainforest Foundation Norway and produced by Dutch research organization Profundo, highlights an urgent need to replace and reduce the use of forest-derived products. This is in light of the growing commodity trends threatening forests in the Amazon, Congo basin, and Southeast Asia. These activities are weakening their ability to regulate temperature, store carbon, recycle water, and provide habitat for wildlife.
Major threats
Compounded threats to rainforests
The study identifies cattle ranching, agriculture, and gold mining as the biggest threats to these rainforests. All three activities are expected to continue expanding in the future. The authors emphasize that extractive threats from energy, mining, and e-commerce should be viewed together as a compounded assault on global forests. "It creates a pressure that the rainforests cannot withstand," said Ingrid Turgen of Rainforest Foundation Norway.
Ranching
Ranching's impact
The Brazilian government's forecast of a 10.2% increase in beef production is likely to cause at least 57,000 sq km of deforestation by 2034. This could be much higher if the current trend of shifting ranching to the Amazon continues. Global meat production is also expected to rise by 13% over the same period, driven by population growth.
Gold mining impact
Gold mining's effect on forests
Open-pit goldmines already cover 1.9 million hectares of the Amazon biome, a figure that's likely to rise due to projected demand for jewelry (43% of gold use), technology (7%), and ingots held by investors and central banks. The report finds a clear correlation between gold prices and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon caused by gold mining. On current trends, this is expected to cause an additional 375 sq km of deforestation by 2028.
Fossil fuels
Fossil fuel exploration in the Amazon rainforest
Fossil fuels are also increasingly contributing to rainforest destruction, both directly through drilling and indirectly through global heating. The Amazon is one of the fastest-growing fossil fuel frontiers with exploration and extraction activities in Brazil, Suriname, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. Nearly one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas reserves discovered between 2022-2024 were located in South American rainforest and offshore areas.
DRC approval
Critical minerals mining
Last year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approved the exploration of 52 new oil blocks covering 1.24 million sq km in the Cuvette Centrale peatlands. This area is known as the world's largest terrestrial carbon sink and a highly biodiverse critical ecosystem. The report also highlights mining for critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt used in batteries and other technologies needed for cleaner energy transition, as another source of stress on forests.