Amazon rainforest to reach critical point

What is now a giant tropical forest could become a vast savannah, with significant consequences on its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, leading to an even more accelerated global warming rate.

The research, resulting from 25 years of satellite data (1991-2016), shows that we should take more seriously the alarming matter of the Amazon rainforest’s health, with 75 per cent of the trees losing resilience due to the everlasting cycle of fires, droughts and deforestation.

Despite the critical point is not yet exactly known (though estimated in matter of decades), the consequences for both humanity and biodiversity are expected to be "devastating".

"The trees are losing health and could be approaching a tipping point - basically, a mass loss of trees.

"The Amazon stores lots of carbon and all of that would be released into the atmosphere, which would then further contribute to increasing temperatures and have future effects on global mean temperatures," explained Dr. Chris Boulton, University of Exeter.

As almost a fifth of the rainforest has already disappeared, stopping deforestation could be a part of the solution, scientists say.

"Deforestation and climate change are likely to be the main drivers of this decline," Prof. Niklas Boers of PIK and the Technical University of Munich also commented.

"These latest findings are consistent with the accumulating evidence that the twin pressures of climate change and human exploitation of tropical forests are endangering the world's largest rainforest, which is home to one out of every 10 species known to science," added Dr. Bonnie Waring of the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and Environment, Imperial College London.

The study was conducted by the University of Exeter, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

 

Source: bbc.com