Urge South America to say no to the Amazon destroying Trans-Amazonian railway

  • by: Michael Taylor
  • recipient: President of Peru, Ollanta Humala, president of Bolivia Evo Morales and the president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff

The Amazon is under a new threat.
A threat more real and more tangible than ever before.
A threat that could bring the forest and its wildlife to its knees.
A threat that has implications for our planet, and for us all.

As outlined on the WWF website

http://www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon
The amazon – home to 40,000 plant species, 3,000 freshwater fish species and more than 370 types of reptile.
It is one of Earth's last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins, and home to thousands of birds and butterflies. Tree-dwelling species include southern two-toed sloths, pygmy marmosets, saddleback and emperor tamarins, and Goeldi's monkeys. The diversity of the region is beautiful, as it is staggering.
Culturally diverse, More than 30 million people, including 350 indigenous and ethnic groups, live in the Amazon and depend on it for agriculture, clothing and traditional medicines.
The Amazon, all 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, represents half of the planet's remaining tropical forests. With such a huge repository of trees, the rainforest plays a huge role in reducing pollutant and CO2 levels

Yet, despite its importance to our ecosystem, and all who dwell in it, the Amazon is under a new threat.

China has unveiled plans for a railway track that would span South America from coast to coast. Cutting through Peru, Bolivia and Brazil the 5,300km train line would run from Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s Pacific coast and would be responsible for the destruction of swaths of dense forest and swamps.
This project will open access to previously remote regions, bringing with it deforestation, the inevitable flow of migrant workers, mafias and cattle ranchers creating a perfect storm of pressures upon the forest and her peoples.

This pressure, on an already fragile eco-system may push some of the more critically endangered species over the edge. As outlined in the Guardian 

The Amazon's endangered species

Tree ocelot
These thick-furred nocturnal cats live in trees. Road building and the expansion of farming are expected to substantially reduce their numbers.
Hoary-throated spinetail
Land clearance for cattle ranching and soy production in the Amazon basin is expected to devastate the last 5,000 of these critically endangered birds.
White-cheeked spider monkey
Major highways fragment the territories they occupy and many populations are threatened by agriculture, soy bean plantations and the roads that service them.
Rio Branco antbird
Critically endangered by deforestation
Brazilian tapir
Already extinct in parts of Brazil and under threat elsewhere in the region.
Yellow-headed poison frog
Forest fires, logging and agriculture are major threats.

Species that have already suffered due to mans short sightedness and greed, now may be wiped out completely.

Can we allow this to happen? Can we sit back and carry on with our daily lives knowing that not only do we risk losing more species to the annals of school textbooks and museums - where the lessons they carry will be ignored as we continue to destroy our planet? Can we afford to allow this to happen? The future of our planet is literally in the balance; there is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet.

With such a huge repository of trees, the rainforest plays a huge role in reducing pollutant levels and CO2 levels. The trees take in carbon dioxide (CO2), which is released by burning fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas - and is a major driver for global climate change. They then release oxygen.
The rain forests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate. Deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.

I cannot allow this to happen, and I know you feel the same. The good news is we can do something, we are not helpless and we will not stop until we win. We have no choice.

Right now Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on a tour of South America unveiling his plans for his railway and other trade deals. It may be to late to stop him from speaking to the leaders of South America, but we can pressure its leaders to not allow the railway to cut through their countries - effectively wiping out huge parts of the Amazon, along with millions of plant and animal species, not to mention the indigenous people.

To the president of Peru, Ollanta Humala, president of Bolivia Evo Morales and the president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff: we implore you, we urge you to say no to China, so no to the railway and say yes to the Amazon and yes to earth.

Human greed cannot steamroll our rights to a healthy living and thriving planet, the rights of the indiginous people of the Amazon and her wildlife.

Do not allow the trans-Amazonian railway to cut through your country and destroy the Amazon and its inhabitants.

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