Amazon deforestation linked to terrible droughtA new report from Brazil’s space institute sugg

Amazon deforestation linked to terrible droughtA new report from Brazil’s space institute suggests that the rainforest may be damaged to the point where its crucial role in regulating the regional climate is breaking down. Southern Brazil is surviving a terrible drought at the moment that has now been linked to this process, and water scarcity is causing rising social and economic problems which we have already reported on at http://tinyurl.com/pehu72r and http://tinyurl.com/qylabjz.The destruction of the forest by logging and burning has picked up in recent months after a slowdown earlier in the year, and as it continues apace effects on the regional climate and more extreme weather events are likely to worsen. The study was a review paper drawing on over 200 other papers, summarising the current state of knowledge on the inter relationship between forests and climate.The study claims that problems are more serious than had been realised up until now, partly due to the fragmentation of knowledge caused by the current trend towards overspecialisation in science. With the pressure to publish and the need to keep up with one’s field, finding time to poke around outside it in a way that makes for good synergies is increasingly difficult. Indeed, last year James Lovelock admitted that he couldn’t have done what he did in the current academic environment. General papers such as this provide a useful overview tying together threads from many separate disciplines. The report suggests that the inbalance of the ecosystem is leaving the “vegetation-climate equilibrium teetering on the brink of the abyss” , which if a tipping point is reached (almost impossible to predict in advance) could turn the Amazon rainforest into a much direr semi desertic savannah. The consequences would be dire, as the rainforest channels rain down rivers and recycles moisture by evaporation and rainfall, spreading the rainfall that lands in the hills of Peru and Venezuela throughout densely populated Brazil. As the forest is destroyed, the transpiration of the trees goes down, meaning less moisture in the air to form rain giving clouds. Studies predicted this outcome over 20 years back, and now the chickens seem to be coming in to roost, as modelling turns into reality before our eyes.The authors call for an all out effort to halt deforestation and start planting before the consequences become irreversible. The drought is still ongoing and Sao Paolo’s reservoir storage is now down to 5% capacity.LozImage credit: Eric Pheterson -- source link

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