A study reveals the worrying CO2 balance of the Amazon rainforest in recent years. Researchers fear that the “change could become irreversible”.
Frankfurt / Brasilia – In the past decade, the Amazon rainforest has emitted almost 20 percent more CO2 into the atmosphere than it absorbed. According to a study published on Thursday (April 29th, 2021) in the journal “Nature Climate Change”. To this end, the study compared the amount of CO2 absorbed with the carbon dioxide released by slash and burn and destruction.
The figures show “that the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has tilted and is now a net emitter,” explains Jean-Pierre Wigneron of the French National Institute for Agronomic Research (Inra). “We don’t know at what point this change could become irreversible.”
Amazon rainforest in Brazil: Increasing destruction from fires and lumberjacks
In the years 2010 to 2019, the Amazon rainforest stored around 13.9 billion tons of CO2, but released 16.6 billion tons. The study also revealed the increasing destruction from slash-and-burn operations and lumberjacks. The extent of deforestation in 2019 increased from one million hectares to 3.9 million compared to previous years – a land area on the scale of the Netherlands.
The Inra sees Brazilian politics as a possible reason. With the inauguration of right-wing extremist President Jair Bolsonaro in January 2019, environmental protection measures lost their importance, the research institute announced.
Brazil worries: Climate change needs intact ecosystems
In order to combat climate change and counteract increasing C02 emissions, intact ecosystems are needed. In 2019 alone, more than 40 billion tons of CO2 were emitted. Over the past 50 years, plants and soils have absorbed around 30 percent and the oceans more than 20 percent of these emissions. The tropical rainforest in particular absorbs a lot of CO2. Around half of these forests are in the Amazon basin. (David Suárez Caspar with afp)
