” Amazon a critical point biodiversity the ongoing threat of land conversion and climate change“. The first sentence of a report warning of the “true” state of one of the areas of greatest environmental and ecological importance on the planet. The result is dramatic: “More than half of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed or degraded“The future scares scientists who want to stop the world”anthropogenic disturbances“To prevent one of the last “environmental protection areas” in the world from collapsing.
Amazon rainforest loses 50 to 200 million tons of carbon per year due to degradationAccording to research published in the journal ‘Science’. Researchers have mainly deforestationbut there other effects That they destroyed the Amazon too.
The deterioration caused timber extraction (in most cases illegally and largely for acquiring farmland), but also fires And extreme droughts (intensified by human-induced climate change), hence the so-called ‘coastal effect‘ refers to changes recorded in areas adjacent to deforested areas.
The degraded area already reaches about 2.5 million square kilometers, which is almost five times the surface of Spain. and 38% of Amazon. Meanwhile, deforested land covers 1.1 million square kilometers, twice that of Spain and 17% of the area.
All this shows that More than half of the Amazon forests (55% of the total) have already been destroyed or degradedaccording to researchers.
human-induced changes
” anthropogenic changes The scientists warn that deforestation is widely documented in the Amazon, but degradation is not that great, and that ” huge impact on biodiversity and carbon storage”.
“Most analyzes of changes in land use and Amazonian forest cover have focused on the causes and effects of deforestation,” they note. “However, anthropogenic disturbances are causing degradation of the remaining Amazon rainforest and threatening its future,” they add.
Extreme droughts, for example, have intensified due to human-induced climate change.. The study synthesizes information about disturbances that lead to Amazon rainforest degradation, including their causes and effects, possible future extensions, and some of the interventions needed to stop them.
“Disasters can cause as much loss of biodiversity as deforestation, and forests degraded by fire and logging can provide up to 34% reduction in evapotranspiration during the dry season, causing as much biodiversity loss as deforestation in human-displaced lands. unequal socioeconomic burdensmainly for forest dwellers”, the report underlines.
This agricultural expansion And wood demand“While generating material benefits for a limited set of regional and global actors, the burdens span a wide range of scales and social groups, from nearby forest dwellers to urban inhabitants of the Andes,” denounces the scientists, who appear to be the main drivers of disturbances.
Promote a ‘smart forest’ model
The worst is that Projections for 2050 show that the four main upheavals will continue to be “a major threat and source of carbon runoff to the atmosphere, regardless of deforestation trajectories.”.
The authors note that some disturbances, such as edge effects, can be addressed by stopping deforestation. But others, such as limiting the increase in extreme drought”additional precautionsincluding global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions“.
Stopping the degradation will also require “interacting with a range of supporting actors, operationalizing effective monitoring of different disturbances (using satellite imagery combined with surface laser scanning), and improving policy frameworks such as REDD+, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. due to deforestation and degradation and sustainable forest management.
Policies to address degradation should be integrated with efforts to prevent deforestation, and innovative measures Addressing the disturbances plaguing the Amazon rainforest,” concludes the authors.
Because the increase in degradation and deforestation is a vicious circle that increased carbon in the atmosphere reduces precipitation.
In fact, the authors have already noticed a change in the vegetation of the Amazon: Trees native to humid climates are disappearing in favor of species that are resistant to dry climates..
“Unless there is a sudden change in trend, In 15 years Amazon will emit more CO2 than it absorbs“Warn researchers suggesting models”smart forest“, by installing devices to monitor deterioration, particularly the selective removal of wood.
Reference work: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8622
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