This is very important. How it is resolved, or not, will almost certainly affect the entire planet. Below are three excerpts to give you a flavor:

During a recent visit, Germany’s minister of economic cooperation and development, Gerd Müller, called protecting the Amazon a global imperative, especially given the rain forest’s vital role in absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, essential to the effort to slow global warming. And when trees are cut, burned or bulldozed, carbon dioxide goes directly back into the atmosphere.

[…]

“We’re facing the risk of runaway deforestation in the Amazon,” eight former environment ministers in Brazil wrote in a joint letter in May, arguing that Brazil needed to strengthen its environmental protection measures, not weaken them.

[…]

“Without tropical rain forests, there’s no solving the climate” issue, Mr. Müller said during an event in São Paulo.

What actions or countermeasures do you think might help mitigate this deforestation, whether by individuals (Brazilian, American, or otherwise) or the US administration? Please let me know on Twitter, using #planetarythreat, which will allow me to find your answers.