Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, defended the exploitation of the Amazon for profit in an interview during his election campaign in Porto Velho, Rondônia.

The Amazon must be preserved. Deforestation is leading to a worldwide collapse and the extinction of both flora and fauna.

Sign this petition to save this ecologically important region and protect Article 225 of Brazil's Federal Constitution: "Everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, which is a public good for the people's use and is essential for a healthy life. The Government and the community have a duty to defend and to preserve the environment for present and future generations.”

The Amazon is known as the "lungs of the world," because it is the world's main source of vegetation. It also contains the largest biodiversity of any tropical forest. This region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants and about 2,000 birds and mammals. In Brazil alone there is an estimated 96,000 to 128,000 invertebrate species. One square kilometer of the Amazon rainforest contains about 90,000 metric tons of live plants.

In addition to the threat to this biodiversity, the carbon emissions from deforestation contributes dramatically to global warming. Studies indicate that unsustainable deforestation may lead to a reduction in rainfall and, thus, a rise in temperature in the region and, consequently, the world.

We need organizations to take appropriate action to protect this precious environment from the dangers that our forests are facing.