"In the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, deforestation rose in 2015 for the first time in nearly a decade, to nearly two million acres from August 2015 to July 2016. That is a jump from about 1.5 million acres a year earlier and just over 1.2 million acres the year before that, according to estimates by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research."

[...]

"Now, a new study by an environmental advocacy group points to fresh indications of large-scale forest-clearing by Bolivian and Brazilian farmers who trade soybeans with Cargill.

That organization, Washington-based Mighty Earth, used satellite imaging and supply-chain mapping information from the Stockholm Environment Institute, an environmental think tank, to identify deforestation in Brazil where two American-based food giants, Cargill and Bunge, are the only known agricultural traders. The supply-chain mapping by the environmental institute uses customs, shipment and storage data, as well as production data from Brazilian municipalities to trace agricultural exports back to producers."

[...]

"The reports of fresh deforestation come despite a landmark deal signed three years ago by Cargill and other companies that included a target of “eliminating deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities like palm oil, soy and beef products by 2020.” Experts at the time said the deadline, laid out in the New York Declaration of Forests, would require companies to start straightaway to make their sourcing more sustainable."

Source and further reading (and I really reccomend reading the rest of the aricle): 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/business/energy-environment/deforestation-brazil-bolivia-south-america.html?_r=1

No one cares about the ongoing destruction of biodiversity and unique ecosystems and landscapes? :-/

Poison Ivy has the right idea, humanity needs culling.

Brazilian here. I do care, but our government is pretty terrible and I don't know if they even care about this stuff honestly. It's pretty sad :(

At least our Atlantic Forest seems to be recovering quite a bit lately, at least that's what I've read some time ago. Fun fact, there are actually parts of that forest close to where I live, and I constantly see toucans flying around in my backyard, cool stuff.

If you read the article, you'll see Brazil actually made a lot of progress in regards to protecting the rainforest in the last decade, but in the past couple of years they've "relapsed". I wonder if it's due to the ongoing economic difficulties.

The least people should do is avoid companies that source food that is based on agriculture that destroys the rainforests. Burger King for instance (which you should avoid not only due to this heh) source the soy that is fed to their livestock from rainforest areas and it is most certainly not farmed in a sustainable way...

Havnt you heard?

Riseing sea levels, global warming, even this deforrestation.... all fake news.
Trump says so, so it must be true. /s

The rich big companys just dont care.
And theres nothing the little man can do to stop it.

Just make sure if your buying a house in the near future, its a few levels above sea levels :p

Sure there is. Vote with your wallet. The next car you buy should be electric. Don't buy food that is based on destoying the rainforests. I'm optimistic for the future because I know change can happen. We managed to stop using CFC gases when we found out they were destroying the ozone layer. We stopped using leaded gasoline. Global CO2 emissions have been stable in the last couple years as opposed to an explosive growth in the years previous to that.

Very sad stuff. But what can we do about it?

The economy could have something to do with it, but honestly I don't think that's the main reason for this. I think it has more to do with a lack of surveillance/control of the affected areas than anything else. Only having laws is worthless if they're not being enforced to people (This is actually a pretty common problem around here).

Btw, the Burger King thing sucks, seeing as I go there often (It's miles better than McDonald's). Oh well, one more reason to get fit lol.

That is true. For now, I'm just 17 years old and I live on the opposite side of the globe (in Norway) so doing something directly is nigh impossible, but I hope I can at least do something by informing people and avoiding such companies myself.  Every movement starts on the bottom, and hey, maybe if enough people ditch Burger King, they'll reevaluate and improve. Let your friends know, and maybe they'll let their non-mutual friends know. All of a sudden, we've set a small ball rolling. (Okay, I realize I'm getting hopelessly hopeful here . But it's just because I don't want people to feel like their actions don't matter. They do. But if each individual thinks "what I do doesn't matter in the big picture", then no one will do anything. And that won't help at all.)