New research has revealed that the Amazon rainforest can no longer be relied upon to soak up carbon as it is emitting more CO2 than it is absorbing.
Analysis by the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil has found that forest fires, set alight to clear land, are now contributing a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and researchers now say that the Amazon is accelerating climate change, rather than halting it.
The study of the Amazon over the last decade showed how the landscape had changed on the planet’s largest tropical rainforest, and even without the fires, rising temperatures and subsequent droughts are adding to the problem.
“The first very bad news is that forest burning produces around three times more CO2 than the forest absorbs. The second bad news is that the places where deforestation is 30% or more show carbon emissions 10 times higher than where deforestation is lower than 20%,” said Luciana Gatti, one of the lead authors of the report.
“In the eastern part of the Amazon, which is around 30% deforested, this region emitted 10 times more carbon then in the west, which is around 11% deforested.”
“This is a huge impact, you know directly because we are emitting CO2 to the atmosphere, which is accelerating climate change but also because it is promoting changes in the dry season conditions and stress to trees that will produce even more emissions.
“This is terrible negative feedback that increases the emissions much more than we knew.”
Researchers are now concerned that the increased temperatures in Brazil, a rise of 3.07C in the hottest two months of the year, could interfere with the region’s rainfall and lead to devastating cycle of climate change in one of the world’s most important areas.
“Imagine if we could prohibit fires in the Amazon – it could be a carbon sink,” said Gatti. “But we are doing the opposite – we are accelerating climate change.”
“The worst part is we don’t use science to make decisions,” she said. “People think that converting more land to agriculture will mean more productivity, but in fact we lose productivity because of the negative impact on rain.”
