As the sun rose over the Amazon, so did we – to see for ourselves what’s at stake here, in the battle to save the most biodiverse sanctuary on the planet.
Our pilot, Raphael Montenegro, pilots police helicopters.
Every day he witnesses the increasing number of blemishes on nature’s masterpiece.
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Mark Austin was shown areas of deforestation by police helicopter pilot Raphael Montenegro
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The Amazon is 1.4 billion acres of dense forest, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forest
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Manaus is a city of two million people in the middle of the Amazon rainforest
While flying over the breathtaking canopy of the Amazon rainforest, Raphael points out squares of land razed to the ground – the work of farmers and loggers. All of it is completely illegal, but little is done to stop it.
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It is environmental vandalism where the vandals have the blessing of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a president who cares little for his country’s land.
Although Brazil has vowed to work towards carbon neutrality by 2050, Mr Bolsonaro’s track record includes rallying against environmental enforcement, at a time where environmental agencies’ budgets are already at a crippling low.
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The Amazon River is the second-longest river on Earth after the Nile
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The rainforest is one enormous carbon store
Scientists here in Manaus fear that if things continue as they are, within a few generations the Amazon may not exist at all.
The rainforest below us is one enormous carbon store, holding the equivalent of almost 12 years of global emissions at current rates.
But as more trees are felled – and tens of billions already have been – it means less rainfall, higher temperatures, more drought.
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The rainforest covers much of north-western Brazil and extends into other South American countries
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The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, famed for its biodiversity
The Amazon rainforest we picture in our mind’s eye as a wet and wonderous place packed with thousands of species of wildlife and fauna – could all be replaced by a vast dry savannah land.
And as we headed back, we saw another snapshot of a rainforest crying for help.
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Amazon deforestation warnings hit record levels
Tributaries into the Black River – which flows directly into the Amazon – covered in an oily film, its pollution laid bare to see.
Raphael says witnessing this is heart-breaking – but the Amazon rainforest is too vital not to fight for.
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