Researchers have recently announced in a study published in the journal Science that human activities has caused a lot more damage to the Amazon rainforest than we initially thought. A whopping third of what left is affected!
A team of 35 international scientists did a study and found that almost 38% of the Amazon forest, which is 10 times the size of the UK, has been affected by humans in some way. This has resulted in carbon emissions similar to or more than those from cutting down trees.
The AIMES project, connected to a global group of researchers and scientists called ‘Future Earth’ who study maintaining healthy living conditions, produced this work.
Researchers looked really closely at data gathered by satellites and other studies that showed changes in the Amazon from 2001 to 2018. In this research, ‘degradation’ was defined as the effects humans had on forests, both short term and long term.
Degradation is different from chopping down a tree completely and replacing it with something like farming. Even if a forest has almost no trees left, the land in that area does not get changed to any other type of use.
Scientists have looked into four main reasons why forests have been damaged. These reasons are forest fires, border effects (what happens to a forest when it is next to where trees have been cut down), selective logging (like illegally cutting down trees) and very dry weather conditions. Different areas of the forest can be affected by one or more of these causes.
Jos Barlow, a Professor of conservation science from the UK and co-author of the paper said that although it’s uncertain how much effect these disturbances will have in total, what is sure is that their combined effect can be just as bad for carbon emissions and biodiversity loss as deforestation. The study also found that degradation of the Amazon has major effects on people’s lives which should be studied more closely in future.
Dr. Rachel Carmenta explains that degradation (destruction) of an area typically only benefits a few people, while the rest suffer in terms of their health, nutrition, and even the landscapes they live in. These problems are often not acknowledged which is why it’s important to have better governance with fairness in mind.
In the year 2050, it doesn’t matter if there’s less forest or more. No matter what, four bad things will still put a lot of pollution (carbon emissions) into the air.
Dr. David Lapola from the Centre for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture at Unicamp said even if all deforestation stops, climate change will still lead to forest damage and more pollution. He further added that it is important to stop deforestation so we can focus on other causes of forest damage too.
The authors suggest that we should use a monitoring system to help protect forests and stop illegal logging. The plan is called “smart forests,” which is similar to the idea of “smart cities.” Different kinds of technology plus sensors will be used to gather data that can help keep forests safe.
Dr. Lapola said that trying to stop deforestation by using public and private actions or policies won’t be enough. We need to put money into finding better, new strategies.
Researchers from all around the world recently published a study in the Science journal which looked at what causes deforestation in Amazon forests, and the consequences of them being cut down. The scientists studied many different elements such as driver’s that cause forest degradation, and potential impacts due to deforestation.
