The dreaded rainforest shift

News: A study was conducted in which vertical profiling measurements of the air above the Amazon rainforest was done over a period of nearly one decade.

The study shows that major portions of the Amazon rainforest have shifted from a carbon sink to a carbon source. Recent deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest- up 22% in one year, is at the highest level in nearly two decades.

What are the main results of the study and the reason for the shift?

The study shows the eastern Amazon rainforest has become a significant source of carbon emissions, competing with cars, trains, planes, and power plants.

-Multiple factors behind this shift from carbon sink to carbon emitter are global warming, deforestation,   and fire all happening in the eastern Amazon.

Western Amazon is also facing pressure from logging, agriculture, and mining, extending deeper into the forest. Therefore, it will soon look like eastern Amazon.

What are the impacts seen?

This shift has severe planet-wide negative implications.

The temperatures across the southeastern Amazon have risen dramatically in comparison to the western part of the rainforest.

Transpiration of around 20 billion tons of water was used to evaporate per day in the region. This huge flow of vapor into the atmosphere was also called invisible flying rivers. Due to deforestation, this is hampered.

– The release of water vapor into the air and circulation of water and weather patterns throughout the globe is also impacted.

What is the way forward?

Due to the inter-connectedness of all ecosystems, it is one of the most important roles for humans to act as caretakers and protectors of natural systems.

The neoliberal capitalism’s politics of growth at any cost, destroying ecosystems along the way, must be stopped through youth participation.

Brazil is a signatory to CoP26 to end deforestation by 2030. It should keep its promise and an anti-environmental stance should be shed away.