Researchers at the University of Leeds in Britain published new research Tuesday — World Rainforest Day — showing that massive swaths of the eastern Amazon are at risk of severe drying by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.
Analyzing the results of 38 known Amazon climate models, researchers found that large quantities of carbon dioxide would be released from the forest into the atmosphere as a result of drying, exacerbating the greenhouse gas effect and further fueling climate change.
Severe droughts in the Amazon would also adversely affect the rainforest’s water cycle, biodiversity, and Indigenous peoples who live there.
“People in Brazil and across the globe are rightly concerned about what the future holds for the Amazon, and its valuable store of carbon and biodiversity,” said study lead author Jessica Baker of the School of Earth and the Environment at Leeds University. “The Amazon is at risk from the twin threats of deforestation and climate change.”
“This new study sheds light on how the Amazon climate is likely to change under an extreme […]
The whole world needs the Amazon because it can absorb more CO2 than any other place in the world. We cannot afford to loose it for any reason, especially just for capitalistic profits; loosing it is not worth any profits from destroying it.