Why do we protect the rainforest?
You are not the only one asking. And the answer is simple: the Earth has no borders.
The Amazon rainforest does not produce oxygen just for Ecuador — it influences the climate of the entire planet, including ours.
By protecting the Amazon, we ultimately also protect our Ore Mountains, Beskids, and Šumava… It is a bit like watering your neighbour's tree. In the end, it casts shade on your yard too.
Protecting nature at home is right. But it is not enough.
It is natural to ask why we should help thousands of kilometres away when our own forests are in crisis. But nature does not follow national borders. The climate is one interconnected system. The Amazon rainforest is the climatic backbone of the Earth. It influences temperature, air currents, water cycles, and weather thousands of kilometres away. Its regeneration is felt by the world around us too — it just may not be immediately visible.
The Amazon rainforest:
- stores a huge amount of CO₂
- influences the global climate and rainfall
- has exceptionally rich biodiversity
When it disappears, the impacts are felt not only by South America, but by the whole world.
What does this mean for us?
Climate change caused by deforestation is making itself felt here as well:
- longer periods of drought
- extreme weather fluctuations
- weakening of Czech forests (bark beetle, dying trees)
- loss of biodiversity
So when the rainforest disappears, our forests weaken too.
We need to do both — protect Czech nature and the planet's key ecosystems. Because without a stable climate, even the best-cared-for landscape does not stand a chance.