Thursday 6 December 2007

"The importance of the Amazon forest for the globe's climate cannot be underplayed," said report author Dan Nepstad, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Centre in Massachusetts.

The report, The Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse, reveals the dramatic consequences faced by climate change in the Amazon - for both the environment and people living in South America.

"The Amazon forest is not only essential for cooling the world's temperature but it is also a large source of freshwater that influences some of the great ocean currents," explained Nepstad.

"On top of that it's a massive store of carbon," he added.

Amazon deforestation

Deforestation in the Amazon could release 55.5 to 96.9 billion tons of CO₂ from 2007 to 2030.

This means more than two years of global greenhouse gas emissions if 96.9 billion tons are released. In addition, the destruction of the Amazon would also do away with one of the key stabilizers of the global climate system.

The report shows that current trends in agriculture and livestock expansion, as well as fire, drought, and logging could clear or severely damage 55% of the Amazon rainforest by 2030.


Drought and fire

Climate change is initiating and speeding up the vicious circle: already today carbon from forest conversion to cattle pastures and agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon is seeping into the atmosphere at a rate of 0.2 to 0.3 billion tons per year. This number can double when severe drought increases forest fires.

By the end of the century global warming is in fact likely to reduce rainfall in the Amazon by more than 20%, especially in the eastern Amazon. This would lead to an increase in local temperatures of more than 2°C, and perhaps by as much as 80°C, during the second half of the century.


Developed countries can give a lifeline

"The Amazon is on a knife edge due to the dual threats of deforestation and climate change," said Beatrix Richards, head of forests at WWF-UK.

"But developed countries have a key role to play in throwing a lifeline to forests around the world. At the international negotiations currently underway in Bali governments must agree a process which results in ambitious global emission reduction targets beyond the current phase of Kyoto which ends in 2012. Crucially this must include a strategy to reduce emissions from forests and help break the cycle of deforestation," she said.

WWF solutions, UN hopes

At the UN climate change talks reducing emissions from deforestation will be high up on the agenda. WWF is promoting solutions in the Amazon such as minimizing the negative impacts from cattle ranching and infrastructure projects, and rapidly expanding the existing network of protected areas.

The Amazon forests store 90-140 billion tons of carbon, equivalent to 9-14 years of current global, annual human induced carbon emissions.