Brazil’s Amazon now emits more carbon than it can sequester

The impact of deforestation on the Amazon is not a story. This effect, in addition to the accelerated warming caused by this region, has generated new glitch: In certain places of that great region More carbon dioxide than is absorbed. This is accelerating global climate change.

The revelation comes from the scientific journal natureWho published the research The Amazon as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change, in mid-July. “It is home to the largest tropical forest on Earth and has proven to be a major carbon sink in recent decades. But This tank appears to be in declineSummarizes the introduction to the report.

For the study, in which 19 researchers participated, about 600 vertical plane measurements of concentrations of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas) in the Earth’s lower atmosphere were made, at four different locations. Places in that region between 2010 and 2018. “We found that total carbon emissions are higher in the eastern part than in the western part”.

They explained that this occurred primarily as a result of spatial differences in fire carbon monoxide emissions. “Over the past 40 years, the eastern Amazon has been subjected to more deforestation, warming and water stress than the western part,” they noted. This is the way in that area Forest fires increase.

So they add, Tree mortality increased and photosynthesis decreased (A process that allows the dioxide to be converted into organic compounds.)

The Brazilian government encourages a An initiative to form an alliance to protect the environment with the private sector, which has not found any interest so far. They assert that it is the president’s strategy Jair Bolsonaro To wash his image because of the questions he receives from his administration.

The revelation in Nature is connected to another published in the same journal in 2015, which was based on 30 years of research. There it was revealed that the ability of the Amazon to absorb carbon dioxide showed a long-term declining trend of carbon accumulation.

A little later, in 2018, Science Advances noted that certain parts of Rainforest turned into savannah (Areas with few trees that crack and harden in times of drought.)

In a note published by the newspaper New York timesLuciana Gatti, one of the scientists who conducted the research, noted that she stopped this study from eating beef when she realized that much of the land cleared in the affected areas is used for livestock. “Would you like to lose the Amazon for your lunch?”asked himself. The answer is still pending.