Recent analysis shows that in some parts of the Amazon rainforest, wildfires in February exceeded average levels by a factor of five, with Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of Brazil’s Climate Observatory, even cautioning dramatically that “we are losing the Amazon rainforest.”
The post Innovative conservation action urgently needed in the Amazon appeared first on Green Prophet.
Acai fruit needs conservation
While efforts to curb illegal deforestation in Brazil are bearing fruit – the South American giant slashed forest loss by 36% last year – alarming signs continue to emerge concerning one of our planet’s most important biomes. Recent analysis shows that in some parts of the Amazon rainforest, wildfires in February exceeded average levels by a factor of five, with Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of Brazil’s Climate Observatory, even cautioning dramatically that “we are losing the Amazon rainforest.”
The fires, experts have warned, are being fuelled by deforestation and extreme drought exacerbated by the return of El Niño but ultimately resulting from climate change – an ecological plague which will only worsen should the Amazon be lost as a carbon sink. Earlier this year, scientists published a study warning that this vital rainforest is approaching a tipping point, notably concluding that nearly half of the ‘planet’s lungs’ could be threatened by mid-century in the absence of significant intervention to address the interconnected menaces of climate change, drought and deforestation.
The Amazon is too important to fail
Given its significant, irreplaceable contribution to our planet, the Amazon simply cannot be lost. Spanning nearly seven million square kilometres – roughly the surface area of Australia – the South American rainforest’s monumental size allows it to act as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. According to University of Sao Paulo scientist and deforestation researcher Carlos Nobre, the Amazon stores over 150 billion metric tons of CO2– half of which is absorbed by its trees, which represent some 20% of vegetation-captured carbon globally.
Concerningly, deforestation and wildfires are releasing significant amounts of its stored carbon back into the atmosphere, with the Amazon now a net emitter of CO2. Beyond its climate warming impact, this release of carbon is triggering more intense droughts, creating a vicious cycle that threatens to degrade the Amazon into a Savanna-like grassland habitat if action is not taken—with devastating consequences for the environment, including rain cycle disruption spanning the wider region, widespread animal and plant biodiversity loss, and the inability to meet the Paris Agreement’s global warming and emissions reductions targets.
New conservation model for fight ahead
Under these circumstances, dramatic action will be needed to turn the tide. This gargantuan undertaking must notably involve a new breed of forest conservation projects that take into account the needs and economic realities of local communities, such as the Mejuruá Project, highlighted in a recent opinion article penned by Rubens Barbosa, former Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. and to the U.K.
Noting that conservation efforts incorporating this social, community-focused model remain in short supply, Barbosa has qualified Me
