Amazon at risk: study links the dismantling of environmental agencies with the increase in carbon emissions

O study (🇬🇧) was produced by a team of 30 scientists led by the researcher and is in the development phase preprint – when it has not yet been published in a scientific journal and evaluated by peers.

Gatti explained to Public Agency that the new research gives us two “bad news”:

First, the rainy season in the Amazon, which mainly occurs between January, February and March, was affected: in 2020, it showed a 26% drop in rainfall and an increase of 0,6ºC in temperature.

The second is that the western part of the biome, previously neutral, also became a source of CO2, mainly due to the increase in deforestation in Amazonas and fires in Roraima.

New record for deforestation in the Amazon; loss of Brazilian forests is equivalent to 6% of the country's territory and +

See highlights from Curto Green this Friday (7): Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon records a record in September – 1.455 km² – equivalent to the size of the city of São Paulo; IBGE report points out that the loss of fields and forests in Brazil in 20 years is equivalent to 6% of the territory; study points out that climate change drove high temperatures in this year's summer in the Northern Hemisphere; and Chamada Floresta+Amazônia is open for registration, the initiative seeks to strengthen and support enterprises that contribute to the creation and consolidation of environmental services that promote the conservation, recovery and sustainable use of native vegetation.

The Amazon and Cerrado were the most burned biomes in August, according to the Fire Monitor

The Amazon had 1,7 million hectares affected by fire in the month and the Cerrado 1,2 million. The Fire Monitor maps fire scars in Brazil on a monthly basis. August data for all biomes was released this Tuesday (20).

The publication concluded that the largest tropical forest in the world could be on the verge of extinction. point of no return, in which it irreversibly loses its original characteristics and ability to provide ecosystem services.

In the interview, Gatti is outraged by the current situation of the forest and its potential consequences.

“We’re not just going to lose the Amazon. It will be a calamity in Brazil, it will be the collapse of agribusiness, the increase in extreme events. A lot of people are going to die, lose everything”, alert. “People have to understand each tree as a natural air conditioner. They have to understand that the forest is not a waste of land, it is a rain and water factory.”

In order to interrupt this destructive cycle, Gatti emphasizes the need to take measures to stop the collapse: such as the immediate moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon and reforestation projects in deforested and degraded areas.

Furthermore, he argues that the management of the environmental agenda in Brazil should be seen as a matter of the State, not of the government. “The vision I have of Brazil is that of a plane heading towards the abyss. O pilotthe kamikaze, Captain Bolsonaro, taking everyone into the abyss and the people there: “what butterflies in the stomach, this piloto is good”, I told Public Agency. 

Be sure to check out the Full interview with the researcher. (Public Agency)

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The Amazon is experiencing lack of governance and destruction, and all of humanity can pay for it, says institute

Ane Alencar, director of Science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), denounces non-compliance with the law and the indiscriminate occupation of public lands, in addition to the lack of government control to contain gangs operating in the region. “There needs to be a clash of command in these areas to show that the federal government and state governments have control of the territory.”

How does deforestation in the Amazon contribute to climate change?

The role played by the planet's forests in absorbing carbon has been a key factor in preventing faster rates of climate change. In this sense, the Amazon – the largest tropical forest in the world – has a fundamental role to play. O Curto explains why protecting the Amazon from rampant deforestation is a matter of survival.

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