---
title: "Scientists Warn Of “Cascading System Collapse” in Amazon Rainforest"
description: "With the Amazon Rainforest burning away and sequestered carbon being released, the global environment is rapidly approaching the point of no return."
date: "2019-08-23"
modified: "2019-08-23"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/system-collapse-amazon-rainforest"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "amazon rainforest"
  - "climate change"
  - "environment"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Warn Of “Cascading System Collapse” in Amazon Rainforest

![With the Amazon Rainforest burning away and sequestered carbon being released, the global environment is rapidly approaching the point of no return.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/system-collapse-amazon-rainforest.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Alzenir Ferreira de Souza\</em\>*

## Hell World

As the Amazon Rainforest [continues to burn](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/fire-amazon-rainforest-space>) as a result of cut-and-burn deforestation practices, we steadily approach the point of no return.

Over the last 50 years, about 20 percent of the rainforest has been burned or cut away, [according to *The Intercept*](<https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/>). As the current fires rage on and the [policies that led to them](<https://www.vox.com/2019/8/22/20828297/amazon-rainforest-fire-bolsonaro-brazil-populism>) continue to exist, another 20 percent — that's 300,000 square miles — could soon be gone as well. At that point, scientists warn of a "cascading system collapse," in which the Amazon begins to completely crumble, and release a [planet-devastating amount](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hothouse-earth-paris-agreement>) of stored carbon in the process.

## Time Bomb

The Amazon rainforest used to be a major carbon sink, meaning a place that kept vast stores of sequestered carbon from entering and heating the atmosphere.

But *The Intercept* reports that the rainforest has already been [devastated by deforestation](<https://futurism.com/illegal-logging-is-depleting-the-amazon-rainforest-29-faster-than-last-year>) to the point that the remaining forest no longer makes up for the amount of carbon that's already been released.

## Last Breath

If more gets chopped or burned away, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to a "doomsday bomb," to quote *The Intercept*, that would not only lead to the crumbling of the rest of the forest, but potentially also planet-wide environmental destruction.

"His project for the Amazon is agribusiness," Francisco Umanari, an indigenous Apurinã chief told *The Intercept* about president Bolsonoro's environmentally dangerous policies. "Unless he is stopped, he'll run over our rights and allow a giant invasion of the forest. The land grabs are not new, but it's become a question of life and death."

**READ MORE:** [Rainforest On Fire](<https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/>) \[*The Intercept*\]

**More on the Amazon:** *[Bad News: The Amazon Might Be Past the Point of Saving](<https://futurism.com/amazon-rainforest-deforestation-crisis-point>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)