The Amazon rainforest plays a major role in the global climate system. It stores huge amounts of carbon, absorbs carbon dioxide, produces water vapour, helps generate rainfall, cools the regional climate, supports biodiversity and influences weather patterns across South America and beyond.

The Amazon connects climate, water, biodiversity and human livelihoods. When the forest is healthy, it helps slow climate change. When it is cleared, burned or degraded, it can release stored carbon and weaken the natural systems that regulate climate.

For a broader explanation of climate science, greenhouse gases, effects and solutions, visit our main guide on climate change and global warming.

Amazon Rainforest and Climate Change at a Glance

Why Is the Amazon Important for Climate Change?

The Amazon is important for climate change because it acts as a vast carbon store, a natural cooling system and a major driver of the regional water cycle. Its forests absorb carbon dioxide, release water vapour, support rainfall and maintain ecological balance across one of the largest tropical forest regions on Earth.

The Amazon does not only affect the land within the forest. It influences river systems, agriculture, rainfall, biodiversity, Indigenous communities and climate conditions across large parts of South America.

1. The Amazon Stores Huge Amounts of Carbon

One of the most important climate functions of the Amazon rainforest is carbon storage. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store carbon in their trunks, branches, leaves, roots and surrounding soils.

WWF estimates that Amazon rainforests contain about 150 to 200 billion tons of carbon. This makes the Amazon one of the most important natural carbon stores on Earth.

When forests are cleared or burned, the carbon stored in trees and soils is released into the atmosphere, mainly as carbon dioxide. This adds to greenhouse gas concentration and contributes to global warming.

Why carbon storage matters

• It keeps carbon out of the atmosphere.
• It helps slow the buildup of greenhouse gases.
• It supports global climate regulation.
• It makes forest protection an important climate solution.
• It links biodiversity conservation with climate action.

2. The Amazon Absorbs Carbon Dioxide

The Amazon rainforest absorbs carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. During this process, trees use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to produce food and grow. Carbon becomes stored in plant tissues, while oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

This is why forests are often called carbon sinks. A carbon sink is a natural or human-made system that absorbs more carbon than it releases.

However, the Amazon’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide is not unlimited. Drought, fire, deforestation, degradation and rising temperatures can weaken the forest’s carbon sink capacity. In some damaged areas, forests may release more carbon than they absorb.

What weakens the Amazon carbon sink?

• Deforestation and land clearing.
• Forest fires and repeated burning.
• Drought and heat stress.
• Forest fragmentation.
• Illegal logging and degradation.
• Climate change impacts on rainfall and temperature.

3. The Amazon Helps Generate Rainfall

The Amazon rainforest plays a major role in the water cycle. Trees absorb water from the soil and release water vapour into the atmosphere through a process called transpiration. Together with evaporation from land and water surfaces, this process is called evapotranspiration.

This water vapour helps form clouds and rainfall. In this way, the Amazon acts like a giant biological pump that moves moisture through the atmosphere.

Rainfall generated by the Amazon supports rivers, forests, agriculture and human communities. Moisture from the Amazon can also influence rainfall in other parts of South America.

Why rainfall generation is important

• It keeps the rainforest humid and productive.
• It supports agriculture in nearby regions.
• It maintains river flow and freshwater availability.
• It reduces drought risk in forested landscapes.
• It links forest conservation with water security.

4. The Amazon Cools the Regional Climate

The Amazon helps cool the regional climate through shade, moisture and evapotranspiration. Forests release water vapour, and this process uses heat energy from the environment. As a result, forested areas are often cooler and more humid than cleared lands.

When forests are removed, the land surface becomes hotter and drier. Croplands, pastures and degraded lands usually do not recycle moisture as effectively as dense tropical forests.

How forests cool the environment

• Tree cover provides shade.
• Evapotranspiration releases moisture and cools the air.
• Forest soils retain more water.
• Dense vegetation reduces surface heating.
• Healthy forests maintain humid microclimates.

5. Biodiversity Strengthens Amazon Climate Resilience

The Amazon rainforest supports exceptional biodiversity. This diversity helps maintain ecological functions such as pollination, seed dispersal, nutrient cycling, soil protection and forest regeneration.

For this article, the key point is that biodiversity supports resilience. Diverse forests are often better able to recover from disturbances such as drought, pests, storms and disease. When biodiversity declines, the forest becomes more vulnerable to degradation and may lose part of its climate-regulating capacity.

For a broader explanation of Amazon biodiversity and wildlife, read the complete Amazon Rainforest guide.

6. Deforestation Turns the Amazon from Climate Helper to Climate Risk

Deforestation is one of the greatest threats to the Amazon’s climate role. Forests are cleared for agriculture, cattle ranching, roads, mining, logging, settlements and other land uses.

When trees are cut, burned or left to decay, stored carbon is released into the atmosphere. At the same time, the land loses its ability to absorb carbon dioxide and recycle moisture.

WWF UK reports that an estimated 18 percent of Amazon forests have already been converted to other uses, while another 17 percent have been degraded. This level of disturbance creates serious risks for climate, biodiversity and rainfall stability.

How deforestation affects climate

• It releases stored carbon into the atmosphere.
• It reduces future carbon absorption.
• It lowers evapotranspiration and rainfall recycling.
• It increases local temperature and dryness.
• It makes forests more vulnerable to fire.
• It fragments habitats and reduces biodiversity.

7. Fires and Droughts Weaken the Amazon

Fires are not a natural part of many dense Amazon rainforest systems in the same way they are in some savannas or dry forests. Many Amazon fires are linked to land clearing, agricultural burning, drought conditions and forest degradation.

Drought makes forests drier and more flammable. When fires enter a tropical forest, they can kill trees, damage soils, reduce biodiversity and release large amounts of carbon.

Repeated fires can push forests into a degraded state. Damaged forests may become more open, hotter and drier, making them more likely to burn again.

Read more: Carbon Emissions from Forest Fires.

8. Climate Change Can Push the Amazon Toward a Tipping Point

A climate tipping point is a critical threshold where a system changes in a major and potentially difficult-to-reverse way. Scientists are concerned that continued deforestation, warming and drying could push parts of the Amazon toward a degraded state.

If large areas of the Amazon lose enough forest cover and rainfall recycling, some regions could become drier and less able to support dense rainforest. This process is sometimes described as Amazon dieback or savannization.

This would not only harm biodiversity. It would also release carbon, reduce rainfall, weaken the forest’s cooling effect and affect communities that depend on the forest.

9. Recent Climate Concerns in the Amazon

Recent climate concerns in the Amazon are linked to the combined effects of deforestation, drought, extreme heat, forest degradation and fire. These pressures do not act separately. They reinforce each other and can reduce the forest’s ability to store carbon and recycle rainfall.

During severe droughts, trees experience water stress and become more likely to die. Dead and weakened trees store less carbon and increase the amount of dry biomass available for fire. Fires then damage surviving vegetation, reduce biodiversity and release more carbon into the atmosphere.

Forest degradation is also important. An area may still appear forested, but selective logging, repeated burning and edge effects can reduce canopy cover, increase heat and lower ecological resilience. Such degraded forests may absorb less carbon than intact forests.

These concerns make Amazon conservation urgent. Protecting intact forests, restoring degraded areas and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are necessary to maintain the Amazon’s role in climate regulation.

Why the Amazon Matters Beyond South America

The Amazon is located in South America, but its importance is global. It stores carbon that affects the global atmosphere, supports biodiversity of international importance and influences climate systems beyond national borders.

Protecting the Amazon is connected to climate action, biodiversity protection, water security, human rights, sustainable development and global environmental stability.

How Can the Amazon Be Protected?

Protecting the Amazon requires action at local, national and global levels. Forest conservation must reduce deforestation while also supporting Indigenous communities, local livelihoods and sustainable development.

Important actions to protect the Amazon

• Stop illegal deforestation: Strong monitoring and enforcement are needed to prevent illegal land clearing.
• Support Indigenous land rights: Indigenous territories often play a major role in forest protection.
• Restore degraded forests: Reforestation and natural regeneration can rebuild carbon storage and biodiversity.
• Promote sustainable agriculture: Farming should expand productivity without clearing more forest.
• Control fires: Fire prevention and rapid response systems can reduce forest damage.
• Reduce demand for forest-risk products: Supply chains should avoid products linked to deforestation.
• Support climate action: Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions lowers heat and drought pressure on the forest.

Amazon Rainforest: Quick Facts

Exam-Ready Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

MCQs on the Amazon Rainforest and Climate Change

1. What is one major climate role of the Amazon rainforest?

   1. Storing carbon
   2. Producing plastic
   3. Increasing desertification
   4. Removing all rainfall

2. How does the Amazon absorb carbon dioxide?

   1. Through photosynthesis
   2. Through volcanic eruptions
   3. Through ocean tides
   4. Through industrial cooling

3. What happens when Amazon forests are cut or burned?

   1. Stored carbon is released into the atmosphere
   2. Rainfall always increases
   3. Biodiversity becomes stronger
   4. The forest becomes colder forever

4. What process helps the Amazon release water vapour into the atmosphere?

   1. Transpiration
   2. Combustion
   3. Mining
   4. Freezing

5. Which of the following is a major threat to the Amazon?

   1. Deforestation
   2. Forest restoration
   3. Indigenous forest protection
   4. Reduced illegal logging

Answers

1. a) Storing carbon
2. a) Through photosynthesis
3. a) Stored carbon is released into the atmosphere
4. a) Transpiration
5. a) Deforestation

References and Further Reading

• WWF: The Amazon Rainforest
• WWF UK: The Amazon
• WWF Global: About the Amazon
• NASA/JPL: Tropical Forests’ Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide is Waning
• NASA: Amazon Drought Leaves Long Legacy of Damage
• IPCC AR6: Tropical Forests
• UNEP: Forests