Climate change could turn Amazon forest into a carbon source: Scientists
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2022
FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Climate change could turn Amazon forest into a carbon source: Scientists

Environment

TBS Report
13 January, 2020, 12:05 pm
Last modified: 13 January, 2020, 12:07 pm

Related News

  • G7 reaches agreements on phasing out coal
  • PM Hasina urges development partners to help implement Delta Plan
  • Ethiopia's ‘false banana’ could solve climate change induced food shortages: Study
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan
  • In sharp switch, Australia votes for climate action

Climate change could turn Amazon forest into a carbon source: Scientists

The study comes after what is the world's largest tropical forest hit headlines over the summer, as scenes of raging wildfires fires and deforestation shocked the world

TBS Report
13 January, 2020, 12:05 pm
Last modified: 13 January, 2020, 12:07 pm
A burning tract of Amazon jungle is seen while as it is being cleared by loggers and farmers in Porto Velho, Brazil August 23, 2019/ Reuters
A burning tract of Amazon jungle is seen while as it is being cleared by loggers and farmers in Porto Velho, Brazil August 23, 2019/ Reuters

Climate change will likely intensify fires in the Amazon rainforest, which could turn it from a carbon sink into a carbon source, scientists have warned, reports Newsweek.

Some 16 percent of the forest in the southern Brazilian Amazon may burn by 2050 "as the climate becomes drier and hotter in the next few decades," according to the authors of a study published in the journal Science Advances. That amounts to global warming doubling the area burned by wildfires in this region in the next three decades, they fear.

The authors of the paper used regional climate projections to create a model to predict the future of wildfires in the southern Brazilian Amazon. The area they looked at covered 192 million hectares in the driest part of the forest. Of that, 72 percent featured native forests, while deforested area were mainly used for cattle ranches, followed by mechanised agriculture.

The study comes after what is the world's largest tropical forest hit headlines over the summer, as scenes of raging wildfires fires and deforestation shocked the world.

Data suggests the carbon dioxide which has already been released into the atmosphere has likely already doomed the region to "substantial warming and drying," which will in turn likely intensify fires, the authors said.

The team explained deforestation declined by 70 percent in the Amazon between 2004 and 2014, preventing the equivalent of 12 percent of global annual global carbon dioxide emissions from being released. Despite that, forest fires have gotten bigger thanks to human activities and extreme weather, and are sending up more carbon into the atmosphere.

Changing temperature and rainfall levels in the forest could push the forest into a new low-biomass state, the researchers said. The burning would likely in turn spew large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and speed up global warming, they warned.

"Ignoring this potentially large source of GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions to the atmosphere may restrict our ability to mitigate climate change and, consequently, undermine effective conservation of Amazon forests," the authors wrote.

However, the researchers also provided a glimmer of hope. If new deforestation is avoided, net greenhouse gas emissions released by fires could be cut in half, and fires prevented from spreading to protected areas and indiginous lands, they believe. Besides, getting the levels of global greenhouse gas emissions down to almost zero may cut the risk of severe droughts, which are linked to wildfires. Up to 30 percent of the forest could be saved from being burned, and greenhouse gas emissions released by fires reduced by 56 percent.

"Wildfires, exacerbated by extreme weather events and land use, threaten to change the Amazon from a net carbon sink to a net carbon source," scientists wrote. "Aggressive efforts to eliminate ignition sources and suppress wildfires will be critical to conserve southern Amazon forests," they said.

Co-author Paulo Brando, assistant professor at the UCI department of earth system science, told Newsweek: "The major surprise was that even if our society sharply reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, there will likely be consequences for fires in the Amazon no matter what, but especially if we keep deforestation business as usual.

"The other surprise was the increased vulnerability of protected forests to fire in the near future. During decades, those forests' main protection against fire was the moist, humid microclimatic underneath the thick canopies. But with climate change, our model projects those canopies to become thinner, allowing dryness to take down that protection."

Brando said the main limitation of the study was the challenge of projecting future deforestation rates, as policy and economic decisions across the globe can "rapidly" change them.

Carlos Nobre, the National Secretary for Research and Development Policy in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil and an expert in climate change and the Amazon rainforest, told Newsweek the authors used a "state-of-the-art" model in their study.

But he pointed out that the work did not deal with the fact there was higher than average rainfall and floods in 2009 and 2012.

"What impact would that have in diminishing the increased vulnerability of the forests to fires in the future if one would see not only an increase of extreme droughts, but also an alternation of increased severity of droughts and floods?" he asked.

He went on: "This year we had a peak of fires, burned forest areas and deforestation, but it was not a drought year. It [the study] highlights the impact of human induced fires and the need to eliminate most of those.

"On the time scale of decades, it also shows that continued climate change will make the Amazon a net carbon source, if we failed to cut deforestation and the use of fires in agriculture and cattle ranching."

Professor Bruno De Faria, of Brazil's Federal Institute of Technology North of Minas Gerais, told Newsweek: "the article looks only until 2050 and we know that the biggest changes are likely to occur after 2050."

Amazon fire / climate change / carbon

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Dr Zahid Hussain. Illustration: TBS
    The economics of remittance subsidy
  • Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a photo in Tokyo on May 24. ZHANG XIAOYOU - POOL/GETTY IMAGES/Foreign Policy
    The Quad looks west
  • India likely to export around 6 lakh tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh
    India likely to export around 6 lakh tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Ashuganj power project impacting land fertility, biodiversity: Study
  • Photo: Bloomberg
    Crocodiles are losing their teeth, 'angling' is to blame
  • CVF emerges as legitimate voice under Bangladesh's presidency: PM
    CVF emerges as legitimate voice under Bangladesh's presidency: PM
  • Representational Image. Photo: Collected
    Rain drenches Dhaka, showers likely in parts of country
  • Environment protection laws are not enforced properly: Experts
    Environment protection laws are not enforced properly: Experts
  • Once a raging river and source of livelihood for hundreds of people in the Noagaon city, the River Tulshiganga is dead at present. The photo was taken from Adam Durgapur village recently. Photo: TBS
    Tulsiganga: The demise of a river

Related News

  • G7 reaches agreements on phasing out coal
  • PM Hasina urges development partners to help implement Delta Plan
  • Ethiopia's ‘false banana’ could solve climate change induced food shortages: Study
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan
  • In sharp switch, Australia votes for climate action

Features

The taboo of dining out alone

The taboo of dining out alone

9h | Food
The perfect time for newborn photography is between the first five and 14 days when a baby’s bones are the most malleable for posing. Photo: Courtesy

Is there a market for newborn photography in the country? Studio Picturerific says yes

9h | Panorama
Pakistan finds itself in political turmoil again as Imran Khan pushes for immediate general elections. Photo: Reuters

Supreme Court of Pakistan: Now a candle in the dark

10h | Analysis
Indulge in Momium’s guilt-free dips and spreads

Indulge in Momium’s guilt-free dips and spreads

10h | Food

More Videos from TBS

Fear of food crisis sets across the globe

Fear of food crisis sets across the globe

5h | Videos
Is Mushfiq refraining from self-destructive shots?

Is Mushfiq refraining from self-destructive shots?

5h | Videos
Kanak is ahead of everyone in Guinness Book

Kanak is ahead of everyone in Guinness Book

10h | Videos
What should your CV cover letter look like?

What should your CV cover letter look like?

12h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

3
Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards
NBR

Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards

4
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

Misfit Technologies: A Singaporean startup rooted firmly in Bangladesh

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
Illustration: TBS
Banking

Let taka slide

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab