Climate change has been devastating for Earth and all its inhabitants in recent times. One significant contributor to that is deforestation, the act of removing large amounts of trees/forests in order to use that land for human use. According to the USDA, it is often said that trees are the lungs of the Earth and that is significant because of the ability forests have to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen (O2) into the atmosphere.
The Amazon rainforest plays a vital role in providing the ecological services and sustaining life on Earth, as it stores over 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide and is home to over 10% of known species on the planet as well as having over 1.5 million indigenous people reside in the rainforest. As shown from NASA's Earth Observatory, about 17% of the Amazon rainforest has been lost due to deforestation and wildfires.
Over the past decade, indigenous communities have taken their grievances to the courts to win back the rights of their lands. The Brazilian supreme court voted to uphold the rights of the traditional lands of the Xokleng tribe after they were removed from their ancestral lands. The significance of this legal ruling is that it represents the resistance indigenous tribes continue to go through to protect not only their land, but their ways of life.
Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color around the world are more likely to live in areas that are vulnerable to pollution, flooding, and displacement brought on by deforestation and climate change intensification. In the United States, these same communities often lack the proper political representation to defend themselves against land exploitation and environmental neglect.