Resource demands that include mining, agriculture, and hydropower have combined with illegal logging and incursions into protected areas to create intense ecological pressures on tropical rainforests. This increasing peril has already manifested in measurable ways. For example, the dry season is now longer in some parts of the Amazon, and more drought-tolerant tree species are starting to appear. Continued loss of tree coverage in any tropical forest can alter water cycles in ways that could lead to further degradation. However, there is hope that global recognition of these problems and discovery of locally grounded solutions can halt or reverse them.
National Geographic is interested in supporting storytelling projects that highlight ecosystem-scale stories and solutions-oriented attempts to mitigate or reverse human impacts.