MP Calls for Protection of the Amazon Rainforest

POLITICAL OPINION - This item has been submitted on behalf of Martyn Day MP, Scottish Nationalist Party.A petition, spearheaded by SNP MP Martyn Day, is calling for greater protection of the Amazon rainforest.

Martyn Day, SNP MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, has initiated a petition urging the UK government to encourage the Brazilian Government to protect forest land and end large-scale deforestation, to prevent nearly half of the Amazon rainforest from collapsing and that these irreversible consequences for the Amazon and the planet are avoided.

The petition highlights that Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and makes up half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests, home to about three million species of plants and animals and 1.6 million indigenous people.

The petition notes that the forest is the world’s largest natural carbon sinks, absorbing and storing an amount of carbon equivalent to 15 to 20 years of global CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.

Martyn Day MP is calling for greater protection of the Amazon rainforest.

The petitioners argue that the continued deforestation of the Amazon is contributing to the forest’s inability to recover from droughts, fires and landslides.

Martyn Day said: “The deforestation of the Amazon is a considerable environmental threat to us all and it is contributing to the forest’s inability to recover from drought, fire and landslides. “It is crucial that we act fast to protect the Amazon rainforest for the future of millions of species and our planet.”