A new report reveals that escalating demands for minerals, biofuels, and pulp are driving rainforests like the Amazon closer to ecological collapse.
Mining activities have a larger environmental impact than previously thought
May 20, 2026
07:48 pm
What's the storyA new report has warned that the Amazon and similar rainforests are nearing a breaking point due to increased resource extraction.
The study highlights how fresh demands for critical minerals, biofuels, and pulp: used in fast fashion, processed food, and packaging, are worsening existing pressures from cattle ranching, monocrops, oil drilling, and logging.
Need for minerals, biofuels and pulp adding to pressures from ranching, monocrops, oil and logging, analysis finds
Reports on the health and vitality of the Amazon — often dubbed as Earth’s lungs — have been grim for years. Record drought has…
At least 15 per cent of the Amazon has already been lost, and further destruction could unleash widespread rainforest dieback…
Organized crime and illicit economies emerged in 2025 as major drivers worsening deforestation across the Amazon region in South…
Scientists say the findings should not obscure the devastation wrought by deforestation
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached
