The Amazon does not need exaggerated claims

A nonprofit deck that called the Amazon rainforest “the lungs of the Earth” ended up on my desk. “You will lose donors with this claim,” I told the founder. Here’s why.

Somebody once said that “the Amazon produces a large amount of the air we breathe.”

People kept repeating it and putting it in their fundraising materials.

The problem is: it’s not true.

Here’s the bigger picture:

• Most of the O₂ in our atmosphere accumulated over hundreds of millions of years.
• Compared with this, the amount produced yearly is teeny-tiny: around 0.05%.
• Approximately half is produced on land and half in the ocean. But plants, animals and microbes consume almost all of it again. So net production is close to zero.
• The Amazon produces roughly 6–9% of the O₂ produced each year – and consumes almost all of it within its own ecosystem.
• Atmospheric oxygen is actually decreasing slightly, mainly because of fossil-fuel combustion.

Does this make the Amazon less important? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It is an enormous carbon store. It supports extraordinary biodiversity. It is home to Indigenous and local communities. It helps stabilise rainfall across the continent. And on and on...

The Amazon does not need exaggerated claims to be worth protecting.

Check your facts. Get to the bottom of things. Your case for donors and investors will become much stronger.