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Podcast: The Climate Question
Episode: Why does the Amazon matter?
Description: The Amazon is probably the most famous rainforest on Earth. It’s home to Indigenous communities, one of the world's biggest rivers and a diversity of plant and animal life found nowhere else. But it’s also a region rich in sought-after resources — gold, iron ore, bauxite, coffee and rubber — and vast areas of forest have been cleared for cattle and soy production.
Scientists warn that deforestation and climate change are drying the region, fuelling fires, and risking a dangerous tipping point when the rainforest can no longer sustain itself and begins to release more carbon than it absorbs.
This wee...