“Nightmare scenario”: The Amazon rainforest now releases more carbon dioxide than it absorbs

First time, partly Amazon rainforest Due to deforestation, more carbon dioxide is released than it can absorb climate change, A new study confirmed.

The world’s largest tropical rain forest used to be a carbon sink-it absorbs more carbon dioxide than it releases-but this study, Published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, Found that parts of the Amazon River are driving a climate crisis.

“We need these carbon sinks, and we count on them,” said John Smalls, a professor in the Department of Biology at Queen’s University and chair of Canadian Environmental Change Research. “When one of the carbon sinks can become a carbon source, it will be a nightmare, and we must now reduce more greenhouse gas emissions.”

Although he described the study as incredibly worrying, he praised the impressively detailed work that showed how parts of the Amazon rainforest can accelerate climate change due to deforestation, mining, and agriculture. .

“We know that deforestation and burning of forests will lead to climate change,” he said. “But this study also shows an indirect effect-forests that have not been cut down… the remaining trees still have physiological stress. It affects their carbon sinks much less efficiently.”

According to this study, most of the emissions are caused by man-made fires (in order to clear the land for agriculture). But it also found that even without fires or deforestation, high temperatures and droughts can cause some forests to become sources of carbon dioxide instead of sinks.

To collect this information, scientists from the National Institute of Space Research in Brazil fly small planes over four major locations in Brazil’s forests every few weeks to measure carbon dioxide levels over a nine-year period.

3:40Amazon forest fire: it tells us about deforestation

Researchers have found that certain areas of the tropical rainforest are becoming “steadily increasing carbon sources.” Approximately 30% of the forest in the eastern Amazon is deforested, and its carbon dioxide emissions are 10 times that of the western region. The deforestation rate in the western region is about 11%.

“This carbon sink seems to be decreasing,” the study said. “In the past 40 years, the eastern part of the Amazon has suffered more deforestation, warming and water stress than the western part, especially during the dry season, with the strongest trend in the southeast.”

Amazon rainforest, Covers an area of ​​6.9 million square kilometers (About 40% of South America), home to thousands of tree and plant species and drainage ditches 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide From the atmosphere every year.

It is considered one of them The planet’s best defense against climate change.

1:27Drone footage shows the extent of partial damage to the Amazon rainforest after wildfires

But research shows that Amazon now emits more than 1 billion metric tons of emissions per year—researchers say this number may continue to increase.

Another 2020 study published in the journal Science Advances It is discovered that the entire Amazon rainforest, not just a part of it, may soon become a net carbon source rather than a carbon sink-this may happen in 2050 or earlier.

The continued destruction of the rainforest has caused a rough 17% of tropical rainforest will be destroyed In the past 50 years, thousands of animals have been exposed to a high risk of extinction.

“Amazon is absolutely under siege,” said Kerry Bowman, professor of bioethics and global health at the University of Toronto. “The situation is very serious for all of us. It has short-term and long-term effects on the health and well-being of the entire planet, including you and me.”

In Brazil, since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, deforestation has surged and reached 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.

Bowman said that what is happening in the Amazon may cause large-scale climate change on a global scale, and even affect the weather in North America.

“We need our politicians to continue to put more pressure on the Brazilian government to protect and stabilize the Amazon. “The government of every country, including Canada, must take responsibility.“

Smol agreed, adding that the research released on Wednesday showed that we are at a tipping point and need to act quickly.

“We are sleepwalking to disaster,” Small said. “And you can connect what happened in the Amazon with Canada, you just have to go west and see if a forest fire is happening,” he said.

-Documents from Reuters.