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© Reuters.File photo: Carlos Roberto Sanqueta, professor of forestry engineering at the Federal University of Paraná, botanist Edilson Consuelo de Oliveira, and Rioterra plant nursery worker Juciney Pinheiro dos Santos inspect the Amazon rainforest in Itapua
Author: Stephen Eisenhammer and Oliver Griffin
São Paulo/Bogotá (Reuters)-More than 10,000 species of plants and animals are at high risk of extinction due to the destruction of the Amazon (NASDAQ:) rainforest-According to the draft, 35% of them have been felled or degraded. Published on Wednesday The landmark scientific report.
The report is produced by the Amazon Science Group (SPA) and brings together 200 scientists from around the world on the world’s largest tropical rain forest. This is the most detailed assessment of the state of the forest to date, both of which clarify the important role of the Amazon in the global climate and the major risks it faces.
The report said it was “critical” to reduce deforestation and forest degradation to zero in less than a decade, and called for large-scale restoration of damaged areas.
The tropical rain forest is an important fortress against climate change, whether it is the carbon it absorbs or the carbon it stores.
According to the report, the soil and vegetation of the Amazon contain about 200 billion tons of carbon, which is more than five times the annual global carbon dioxide emissions.
The report added that, in addition, the continued destruction caused by human disturbance of the Amazon River puts more than 8,000 endemic plants and 2,300 species of animals at high risk of extinction.
Professor Mercedes Bustamante of the University of Brasilia said in a statement issued by the SPA that science has shown that due to multiple crises such as climate change and declining biodiversity, mankind is facing potential insecurity. Catastrophic risk of reversal.
“The window of opportunity to change this trajectory is very narrow,” Bustamante said. “The fate of Amazon is critical to resolving the global crisis.”
In Brazil, since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, deforestation has surged, reaching its highest level in 12 years last year, sparking international protests from foreign governments and the public.
Bolsonaro called for mining and agriculture in the Amazon protected area and weakened environmental law enforcement agencies. Environmentalists and scientists said this directly led to an increase in damage.
A week ago, neighbouring Colombia reported that deforestation in 2020 increased by 8% from the previous year, reaching 171,685 hectares (424,000 acres), of which nearly 64% of the damage occurred in the country’s Amazon.
According to the report, 18% of the original area of the Amazon basin has been deforested-mainly for agriculture and illegal timber. Another 17% is degraded.
Such damage may threaten the ability of rainforests to act as carbon sinks and cause potentially devastating consequences for global climate change.
Another study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday showed that based on measurements of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide collected from above the tropical rainforest between 2010 and 2018, parts of the Amazon emit more carbon than they absorb.
The lead author, Luciana Gatti, a scientist at the Brazilian Inpe Space Research Institute, said that the increase in carbon emissions in the southeastern Amazon, where deforestation is severe, is not only the result of fires and direct damage, but also the death of trees due to severe drought and drought. The rate has risen. Higher temperatures have become more common.
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