In 2024 alone, Peru lost 203,000 hectares of forest—a vast area roughly^{equivalent to} 80% of the state of Saarland^.¹ But why is that? 

If you look for the cause of the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, the answer is quite simple: us. 

By being human...

• keep spreading further and further,
• more and more land for housing,
• Transport routes and
• require food production and
• tap into new resources, 

we are causing more and more forests to be cut down—not just in the Amazon.

The Madre de Dios region in the Peruvian Amazon—the region where our conservation areas are located—is considered the most biodiverse place on Earth. It is home to many hectares of intact primary forest—and yet, even there, we humans have left our unmistakable mark. 

Stretching like an ugly scar across the rainforest between the Madre de Dios River and the smaller Tambopata River lies the Interoceanic Highway—a transcontinental highway 2,600 km long that connects Peru and Brazil. On the map, you can clearly see how people are spreading out along this highway (as well as along the Rio Madre de Dios, which is also a major transportation artery), how settlements and cities are emerging, and how cleared and agriculturally used areas are steadily “encroaching” further and further into the rainforest. 

The timber industry is also interested in opening up new transport routes and building roads—not through the rainforest, but right into the heart of it. The most valuable trees are felled directly by loggers, and the comparatively inexpensive tropical timber (e.g., mahogany)^{is transported} straight^out of the forest.² This selective logging often takes place illegally.

This is followed by the complete clearing of the land. Often, the remaining large trees are felled, left to dry over the summer, and months later the entire area is burned. After this so-called slash-and-burn clearing, small farmers plant some crops—usually cassava, bananas, or papayas—amidst the jumble of half-burned, fallen tree trunks, which slowly rot and serve as fertilizer for a while. 

But after just 2–3 years, the soil is depleted and no longer produces the desired yields. The land is fertilized again, grass is sown, and the following year the area is used for livestock grazing, but the cattle find hardly anything to eat, which is why this too comes to an end after just a few years. After that, the land could only be used by applying enormous amounts of fertilizer—which is hardly economically viable for the region’s farmers. So they move on and clear the next forested area, often located right next to it. 

We see and hear them regularly on the Tambopata River, even very close to our conservation areas: the roaring drills of the gold mines. The vast majority of gold mines in the region are operated illegally. Their mobile mining operations are located directly on the river and thus in public space. 

Nevertheless, their presence has serious consequences for the surrounding ecosystem and the health of the people working in the mines. Vast amounts of mercury, which is needed to extract the gold from the ground, end up in the river and poison people and animals. Yet despite the fact that the day laborers working there are constantly putting their health at risk, the lucrative business remains a draw. By Peruvian standards, the people working in the gold mines earn an extremely high income—sometimes between $50 and $200 a day! 

The gold prospectors are pushing deeper and deeper into the forest, setting up camps there, clearing the rainforest in their search for gold, and leaving behind deep^craters. In La Pampa, about 100 km west of Puerto Maldonado, the full extent of the damage becomes clear: illegal gold mining has alreadydestroyed over 70,000 hectares of rainforest there—an area nearly the size of the entire city of Hamburg.

What remains is bare earth, muddy pits, and rust-brown water holes—a wasteland contaminated with pollutants. It is unlikely that the ecosystem there will ever recover. Yet gold mining techniques that do not rely on mercury have long been available. That would at least solve part of the problem. 

The destruction of large areas of rainforest has negative consequences for the forest itself, the global climate, our livelihoods, and our daily lives—even thousands of miles away. 

The forests of the Amazon Basin are the largest contiguous rainforests on Earth. This makes them not only a massive_{carbon sink}, but also a source of their own weather —a unique water cycle that carries rain from the Atlantic Ocean up to 5,000 kilometers westward across the continent. 

A single large rainforest giant can evaporate over 700 liters of water a day, thereby^influencing both the local and global climate.⁷ The only thing that sustains this water cycle is the vast expanse of contiguous rainforests.

If more and more forest is destroyed, it will be able to produce less and less rain. A destructive cycle begins, a self-reinforcing effect: less rain leads to longer dry spells; drought is followed by heat; and this heat, combined with the lack of water, causes the rainforest to disappear even faster. In 2005, 2010, and 2015/2016, the Amazon region has already^experienced three extreme droughts. Scientists estimate that with a temperature rise of about 4 degrees Celsius and a deforestation rate of 20–25%, the Amazon rainforest^would turn into a vast steppe. 

Droughts and water shortages naturally have negative effects on local communities, which depend on the rainforest and its rivers for water and food. The quality of the air we breathe also suffers significantly as a result of deforestation. Forests not only produce the oxygen we need to live, they also filter fine particulate matter—such as heavy metals and soot particles produced by industrial and vehicle emissions—out of the atmosphere. And yes, even though it seems unbelievable, exhaust fumes emitted here reach forests in North and South America in just a few days. Everything is interconnected. 

The world’s forests and peatlands sequester enormous amounts_{of CO2} —both in their living biomass and in the soil. The Amazon alone stores enough carbon to offset 15–20 years’ worth of current human^{CO2 emissions.¹⁰} When such carbon-rich ecosystems are destroyed, they release more_CO2 than^could ever^be sequestered again within a timeframe relevant to humans11. Every tree that is felled and removed from the forest will eventually rot or be burned—whether as paper recycled seven times over or as a piece of furniture passed down through generations. A carbon stock that has built up over millennia in the forest’s biomass is thus released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide within a very short time. 10–15% of all annual emissions are^caused by deforestation and the drainage of forested^peatlands12 —a situation that must be stopped immediately.  

Tropical rainforests are home to 50–75%, and according to some estimates even 90%, of all animal and plant species on our^planet.¹³ The Madre de Dios region is considered the most biodiverse place in the world. In our protected areas in Tambopata, we have so far been able to 

• 477 Birds,
• 62 Amphibians and Reptiles and
• comprise 92 mammal species (including 48 large mammal species and 44 bat species). 

By comparison, Germany is home to only 21 species of amphibians, 15 species of reptiles, and 25 species of bats.

But this biodiversity is under threat. Worldwide, over 42,000 species are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List—that is about 28% of all assessed^species14. Nearly 40% of all tree species worldwide are now threatened with extinction, primarily due to deforestation, agriculture, and^{climate change15}. A species goes^extinct every few minutes16, and the trend is on the rise. Furthermore, the abundance of living organisms is also declining. Looking at vertebrates alone, their numbers have more than^halved compared to 197017. 

Deforestation is synonymous with habitat loss, and this is the main cause of biodiversity decline. Not only are animals driven from their habitats—highly specialized, endemic species can become completely extinct due to the loss of their specific habitat. The extinction of “just” a single plant species is often linked to the extinction of another 10 to 30 animal and plant species, as most organisms in the rainforest^{are interdependent18}. Millions of species have thus disappeared along with the forest in recent decades.

Scientists are debating whether the loss of biodiversity might actually affect us even more severely than the collapse of the global climate. The decline in genetic diversity has a direct negative impact on ecosystem functions. Agricultural systems become more vulnerable to disruptions, which in turn negatively affects our food system. Animal pollinators are^{indispensable} for more than 75% of our food crops (fruits and vegetables) as well as our agricultural crops. Without them, not only is global food production at risk, but other plant resources—such as those needed for medicines—may no longer be available to us, since the rainforest is also the world’s largest pharmacy.

We humans depend on nature and the biodiversity of intact ecosystems —whether we like it or not. Food, medicine, textiles, water, and heat are just a few of the things that nature provides us with every day, completely free of charge. So by continuing to destroy them, we are inevitably harming ourselves as well. 

The reasons why rainforests are being cleared are complex. This is not mindless destruction—often, people see deforestation or gold mining as the only and quickest way to improve their financial situation and feed their families. Very few can afford long-term investments. Furthermore, there is a lack of expertise, training, and opportunities for alternative sources of income such as ecotourism or agroforestry. 

That is exactly where our projects in Peru come in; we strive to provide as many Peruvians as possible with an alternative source of income, for example through our forest guardian program. We also see an important part of our work in fostering knowledge and understanding of the forest and its inhabitants at an early age, for example through our agroforestry project, our environmental education program WIPerú Educa, or local research grants that we award to young Peruvians. In this way, we and the team at Wilderness International Peru support the local population in better understanding the forest—and how important and worthy of protection it is. In doing so, we work very closely with surrounding communities. 

Programs such as REDD+ also help reduce deforestation. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a United Nations program that provides financial incentives to countries to protect their forests rather than clear them. This makes preserving the rainforest economically more attractive and can help reduce deforestation. At the same time, it promotes sustainable use and better monitoring of forests. The system is not perfect, and despite its many advantages, REDD+ has also faced criticism; nevertheless, it remains a key component of global forest and climate protection.

In general, it helps to educate people about structures and patterns so they can make climate-friendly decisions. Even raising awareness about more sustainable consumption choices here in Europe has a major impact on the rainforests in North and South America. In the end, everything is connected. When we’re looking for a new piece of jewelry, it makes a difference whether it’s made from recycled or newly mined gold—and where that material comes from. It makes a difference whether we buy new furniture made from tropical wood without a second thought, or choose to shop secondhand instead. 

Even small changes in our daily lives can make a big difference. This article is intended to help raise awareness about this issue. Thank you for your interest!

¹ globalforestwatch.org

²https://www.faszination-regenwald.de/info-center/zerstoerung/holzeinschlag/

³ https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6501/246/tab-pdf

⁴ https://www.geo.de/natur/soja-statt-regenwald--wir-befeuern-die-zerstoerung-des-amazonas-35991054.html

⁵ https://www.duh.de/fileadmin/user_upload/download/Projektinformation/Naturschutz/Soja/Soy_Story_Deutsch_Release_2810_komprimiert_f%C3%BCr_web.pdf

⁶ https://www.abenteuer-regenwald.de/wissen/aktuelles-aus-dem-regenwald/news/2025/goldabbau-amazonas-regenwald

⁷ Lejeune, Q., Davin, E. L., Guillod, B. P., & Seneviratne, S. I. (2014). Influence of Amazonian deforestation on the future evolution of regional surface fluxes, circulation, surface temperature, and precipitation. Climate Dynamics, 44(9–10), 2769–2786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2203-8 

⁸ https://www.regenwald-schuetzen.org/presse/der-amazonas-vom-regenwald-zur-steppe

⁹ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323341184_Amazon_Tipping_Point

¹⁰ https://www.pik-potsdam.de/de/aktuelles/nachrichten/amazonas-regenwald-auf-der-kippe-waldverlust-verstaerkt-den-klimawandel

^{11 Noon} , M.L., Goldstein, A., Ledezma, J.C., et al. (2022). Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nat Sustain 5(22), pp. 37–46 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00803-6

^{12 Friedlingstein} , P. et al. (2021). Global Carbon Budget 2021. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2022.https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022

¹³ https://www2.klett.de/sixcms/list.php?page=infothek_artikel&extra=Haack%20Weltat%20las-Online&artikel_id=108115&inhalt=klett71prod_1.c.139753.de

¹⁴ IUCN (n.d.). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved February 21, 2025, from https://www.iucnredlist.org/ 

¹⁵ More than one in three tree species worldwide is threatened with extinction - IUCN Red List. (n.d.). IUCN. https://iucn.org/press-release/202410/more-one-three-tree-species-worldwide-faces-extinction-iucn-red-list 

^{16 Bernards} , M. (December 7, 2022). Adaptation or extinction: What climate change and land use mean for biodiversity. News from Goethe University Frankfurt; Goethe University. https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/en/news-in-brief/adaptation-or-extinction-what-climate-change-and-land-use-mean-for-biodiversity/ 

¹⁷ WWF & ZSL (Zoological Society of London) Institute of Zoology. (2022). Living Planet Report 2022 – Building a nature-positive society (R. E. A. Almond, M. Grooten, D. Juffe Bignoli & T. Petersen, eds.) [Report]. WWF. https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/WWF/WWF-lpr-living-planet-report-2022-full-version-english.pdf 

¹⁸ https://www2.klett.de/sixcms/list.php?page=infothek_artikel&extra=Haack%20Weltat%20las-Online&artikel_id=108115&inhalt=klett71prod_1.c.139753.de

¹⁹ https://www.regenwald-schuetzen.org/regenwald-wissen/bedeutung-des-regenwaldes/vielfalt-im-regenwald/biodiversitaetsverlust