More than a third of the Amazon rainforest may have been degraded by human activity and drought, according to a scientific study published yesterday, Thursday in the journal Science, prompting calls for legislation to protect the vital ecosystem that is at risk.
The damage caused to this forest, which spans nine countries, is significantly greater than previously observed, according to researchers, mainly from the State University of Campinas (Universidade Estadual de Campinas).
In their research, they analyze the consequences of fires, forest exploitation, drought, and changes affecting habitats on the forest edge.
In addition to drought, these phenomena degraded at least 5.5% of the remaining forests that make up the Amazon ecosystem, or 364,748 square kilometers between 2001 and 2018, according to the study.
If the effects of drought are included, the degraded area represents 2.5 million square kilometers, or 38% of the remaining forests that make up the Amazon ecosystem.
“Extreme drought is becoming increasingly common in the Amazon due to changes in land use practices and human-induced climate change, which affects tree mortality, the number of fires, and carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere,” the scientists note.
“Forest fires intensified during the years of drought,” they add, warning of the dangers posed by “large-scale fires” in the future.
Scientists at Lafayette University in Louisiana, USA, and other institutions are calling for action in their separate study on the consequences of human activity on the Amazon ecosystem, which is also published in the journal Science.
“The changes happened too quickly for Amazonian species, populations, and ecosystems to adapt,” they argue.
“The laws to prevent the worst consequences are well known and must be enacted immediately,” they note.
“The loss of the Amazon is the loss of the biosphere, and if we don't act, we are at risk,” they conclude.
