Picture this: you're reading this article, maybe sipping your coffee or on your way to work. In the minute it takes to get to the end of this piece, the world will have lost rainforest land equivalent to 10 football (soccer) fields. It’s hard to wrap your head around, isn’t it? But that’s the stark reality. The world’s tropical rainforests are the lungs of our planet, but they’re being pushed to a point of no return. 

The Amazon: More Than Just a Rainforest
The Amazon is more than a stretch of green on a map. It’s the beating heart of our planet’s climate system — storing billions of tons of carbon, regulating rainfall from the Andes to the Midwest, and helping keep the planet’s temperature in check. Unfortunately, we know that one of the most effective ways to combat climate change is to protect the world’s rainforests, including the world’s largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon. It is home to over 45 million people, many of whom are Indigenous and local communities whose traditions, stories, and ways of life are rooted in the forest.

But today, it is under threat — from deforestation, industrial exploitation, and a lack of political will. Scientists now warn we are approaching a tipping point — a moment when the rainforest could suffer irreversible damage, turning into a drier savannah-like ecosystem with devastating consequences for the global climate.

Here’s what’s happening — and what we can all do to stop it.

Why Global Citizen Launched “Protect the Amazon”
In November 2025, the world’s eyes will turn to Belém, Brazil — a city at the edge of the Amazon — as it hosts COP30, the UN’s annual climate summit. It’s a once-in-a-generation chance for leaders to come face to face with the forest they’ve made so many promises to protect.

It’s also symbolic. COP30 will be held a decade after the Paris Agreement, where the world’s nations promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support vulnerable countries to adapt to the effects of climate change.

But ten years after the historic agreement, we’re still falling short. Emissions are rising. Forests are falling. And the 1.5°C target — the line between a livable and an unlivable planet — is slipping away. 

COP30 offers a powerful opportunity to change course. 

To take advantage of this moment, Global Citizen launched Protect the Amazon, a global mobilization and advocacy campaign driving action in the lead-up to COP30. We’re leveraging major cultural moments, political convenings, and citizen-led mobilization to build pressure for climate commitments — from governments, financial institutions, and corporations. 

These efforts will culminate in the Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia, the first-of-its-kind impact concert in Belém during COP30, that will harness the power of culture to spotlight the Amazon and drive millions of citizens to action. Global Citizen Festival: Amazonia will also be one of the most sustainable and lowest impact large-scale events ever to take place in South America.

What We’re Asking For
We’re asking for commitments totalling at least $1 billion in new investments from wealthy countries, philanthropies, companies, and major financial institutions to protect and restore the Amazon. These funds will support existing financial mechanisms like the Amazon Fund and the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC).

We’re also mobilizing the private sector to invest in community-based solutions. This includes supporting the Equitable Earth Coalition, which directs climate finance directly to forest communities leading conservation efforts on the ground, as well as supporting projects from campaign partner Re:wild, which works with communities across the Amazon to restore forests, and advance sustainable development. 

Finally, we're advocating for something that often gets overlooked: land rights.

Indigenous peoples and local communities are the most effective stewards of nature, consistently protecting forests and biodiversity across generations. But without formal rights to their lands, they often lack the power and autonomy needed to continue this protection, and are left vulnerable to displacement, exploitation, and violence. Recognizing and strengthening their rights is one of the most impactful ways to protect forests and to ensure long-term climate resilience.

We're calling on governments across the Amazon Basin — including Brazil — to accelerate the process of recognizing and demarcating Indigenous territories in line with international human rights standards. This includes rejecting harmful policies like the "Marco Temporal" thesis, which threatens to roll back hard-won land rights, and ensuring that Indigenous peoples and local communities are allowed to meaningfully participate in decision-making, including at international policy negotiations like COP30.

What Can Global Citizens Do?
At a time when forests are nearing a point of no return, frontline communities are bearing the brunt of climate impacts, and renewable energy remains inaccessible, the stakes have never been higher. 

COP30 must be a turning point.

As Global Citizens, we can take action — by raising our voices, applying pressure where it counts, and standing in solidarity with the communities on the front lines of climate change.

This isn’t just about Amazon. It’s about food security, clean air, safe water, and a livable future — especially for the generations coming after us.

The clock is ticking. But there’s still time to choose a different path.

We know the problem. We have the solutions. Now, we need the will to act. We can Protect the Amazon, and take action now to create change tomorrow.