Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years
International team of researchers also found that deforestation rose nearly four-fold in 2019
The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past decade than it absorbed, according to a startling report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world’s largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution.
From 2010 through 2019, Brazil’s Amazon basin gave off 16.6bn tonnes of CO2, while drawing down only 13.9bn tonnes, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study looked at the volume of CO2 absorbed and stored as the forest grows, against the amounts released back into the atmosphere as it has been burned down or destroyed.
“We half-expected it, but it is the first time that we have figures showing that the Brazilian Amazon has flipped, and is now a net emitter,” said co-author Jean-Pierre Wigneron, a scientist at France’s National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA). Read original full article
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Atlantis Viewpoint
Terrestrial ecosystems have been a crucial ally as the world struggles to curb CO2 emissions. Over the past half-century, plants and soil have consistently absorbed about 30% of those emissions, even as those emissions increased by 50% over that period. The Amazon basin contains about half of the world’s tropical rainforests, which are more effective at soaking up and storing carbon than other types of vegetation.
The continued destruction of the Amazon would have devastating consequences not only to the region, which is host to a significant percentage of the world’s wildlife, but globally as well. Recent studies have shown that the continent’s rainforest could tip into a much drier savannah state if a certain threshold of global heating is reached. If the region becomes a net source rather than a “sink” of CO2, tackling the climate crisis will be much harder.
For this reason, the increasing deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon is a huge problem, which has escalated greatly since Jair Bolsonaro - sworn into office in 2019 - dismissed environmental protection policies. This means humanity can no longer depend on the world’s largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution. We need to stop emissions. If we start using proven True Clean Energy methods now, then we will stop damaging people’s health and we will reduce the changing affect we are having on our planet, instead of just hoping the Amazon and other natural areas can simply clean up our mess.
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