In order to expand agriculture and stimulate a sagging economy, the Brazilian government eased environmental laws which allowed large tracts of rainforest to be cut down or burned. In three to five sentences, construct a potential chain of consequences for what can happen as a result of this kind of deforestation. The chain does not have to be linear (i. e., five steps in a row), but can have several branches, one for each different potential consequence. Your chain should include at least four steps, including the original event.