The Amazon forest area is shrinking
The Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, covers an area of 6.3 million km2, spread across nine countries. It accounts for more than 10% of the world's biodiversity and plays a very important role in the fight against climate change due to its ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
However, the forest area has been significantly reduced, combined with drought and record forest fires in recent times, causing a significant reduction in the amount of CO2 absorbed. Many scientific reports have pointed out the link between the shrinking of the forest area, climate change, and deforestation caused by humans.
According to the research organisation RAISG, which includes many scientists and non-governmental organisations, deforestation — mainly for mining and agricultural purposes — has reduced the Amazon's vegetation cover by 12.5% in the 1985-2023 period, equivalent to 88 million hectares of forest spanning Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
Ms. Sandra Rio Caceres, an expert from the Peruvian Institute of the Common Interest who contributed to the above study, said that the shrinking of forest area has caused more CO2 to accumulate in the atmosphere, disrupting the climate ecosystem and hydrological cycle, thereby clearly affecting the rising temperature. Ms. Caceres believes that the loss of forests in the Amazon is directly related to the severe drought and forest fires in many countries in the South American region.
According to the research organisation RAISG, which includes many scientists and non-governmental organisations, deforestation — mainly for mining and agricultural purposes — has reduced the Amazon's vegetation cover by 12.5% in the 1985-2023 period, equivalent to 88 million hectares of forest spanning Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
World Weather Attribution (WWA), an organisation specialising in assessing the impact of climate change on extreme weather patterns around the world, also said that climate change is increasing the risk and severity of forest fires in the Amazon and the Pantanal tropical wetlands in the south, causing large amounts of CO2 to be released into the atmosphere. The recent forest fires in these two areas are considered the worst in nearly 20 years.
According to experts, drought has caused water levels in some rivers in the Amazon to drop to their lowest levels in decades, threatening the lives of about 47 million people living along the rivers, while making forest fires spread and difficult to control.
More seriously, a scientific study published in the journal Nature warns that the Amazon rainforest is facing a series of pressures that could cause the giant ecosystem to collapse after 2050. Deforestation, drought, fires and rising temperatures have eroded the resilience of the Amazon. Scientists warn that this could cause a so-called “tipping point”, pushing this important ecosystem into irreversible negative change in the coming decades.
In the above study, the international team of scientists estimate that about 47% of the Amazon forest area will be under pressure by 2050, which could lead to a widespread ecosystem change. This would cause the important Amazon ecosystem to not only stop absorbing but even release the stored CO2, thereby accelerating global warming and worsening the impacts of climate change.
Researchers used information from computer models, along with real-world observations and evidence of changes going back thousands of years, to describe the complexity of the forest system and identify its main drivers.
They then analysed these stressors, including global warming, annual rainfall, the length of the dry season, and deforestation, to see how they might individually or collectively lead to large-scale ecosystem disruption. Scientists warn that by 2050, the Amazon could face unprecedented water shortages.
Efforts to protect the “green lung”
Faced with the alarming state of the Amazon, countries in the region and the international community are stepping up efforts to prevent deforestation and limit the area of forest destroyed. Brazil's Amazon Fund for sustainable rainforest developmen (also known as the Amazon Fund) has just received 640 million USD in a recent donation.
Ms. Tereza Campello, Director of the Socio-environmental Division of the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) — the agency managing the Amazon Fund, said that the valuable amount was donated by developed countries including the US, UK, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and other countries in the European Union (EU). The 500 million USD that the US pledged to support the fund over a period of 5 years still needs to be approved by the country's National Congress.
The Amazon Fund was established in 2008, including non-refundable investments, to serve the monitoring, prevention, and combating of deforestation as well as to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon forest in Brazil. Among the projects supported by the fund is an international police cooperation centre in the city of Manaus, northern Brazil, to enhance coordination among Amazon basin countries in forest management, exploitation and crime suppression.
During a visit to the Pantanal wetlands, which border the Amazon and are the site of many forest fires, Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed a fire control policy that prohibits the burning of forests or native vegetation for agricultural or other purposes. This effort has been highly appreciated by the international community, especially environmental groups.
Mr. Silva called for greater flexibility and stepped up the fight against criminal organisations that are destroying the Amazon. The Brazilian president pledged to restore the environmental quality of South America's largest country after years of increased deforestation; and pledged to eradicate this situation by 2030.
At the signing ceremony in Brasilia on the provision of 318 million real (58.7 million USD) to strengthen national security in the Amazon region, President Lula da Silva emphasised that before never in the history of Brazil has the implementation of special measures to protect the "green lung" attracted such great attention as it does now. This amount of money is part of a plan launched a year ago with a total budget of 1.2 billion real (221 million USD).
Since President Lula da Silva took office in early 2023, deforestation in the Amazon in Brazil has dropped to its lowest level. Brazil's encouraging achievements have been recognised by the world and more and more countries are contributing to the Amazon Fund.
