Brazilian authorities this month announced a drop in the rate of Amazon deforestation for the third year in a row. Approximately 11,224 square kilometers of forest were lost between August 2006 and July 2007, down from 14,039 square kilometers during the previous 12-month period. However, threats against the Amazon are numerous and increasing in intensity, leading major environmental organizations to believe that this recent upward trend may be short-lived. According to the WWF, a global conservation organization, logging, livestock expansion and worsening drought could result in the disappearance of 55 percent of the Amazon rainforest by 2030.
Amazon Deforestation (square kilometers lost per year)
Source: EarthTrends 2007, using data from MONGABAY.COM
Goal of Zero Deforestation
The Brazilian government has set a goal of zero deforestation, but with last year's forest losses equivalent to an area roughly the size of Jamaica, there is still much to be achieved. The Brazilian Environment Ministry attributes some of last year's improvements to increased enforcement of environmental regulations, but it is likely that the recent drop in market prices for soybeans and meat are also responsible. As demand for these products inevitably rises over coming decades, pressures on the rainforest from agriculture and livestock will increase accordingly.
Climate Change Poses Major Threat
The Amazon rainforest is intimately linked to the world's climate. Its many trees act as giant consumers of heat, absorbing half of the solar energy cast upon their leaves, and also serve as a significant carbon reservoir. Through deforestation, much of this stored carbon is released into the atmosphere, further contributing to global climate change. If the WWF's prediction holds true, Amazon deforestation will have released 15-26 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere by 2030, equivalent to 1.5 to 2.6 years of current global carbon emissions. The WWF also estimates that global warming will reduce rainfall in eastern Amazonia and increase temperatures in the Amazon by more than two degrees Celcius, causing existing rainforest to dry out and give way to savanna-like vegetation.
The global importance of the Amazon ecosystem cannot be underestimated. It contains one-fifth of the world's fresh water and roughly 30 percent of the world's plant and animal species, although many remain undiscovered. One-fifth of the Amazon has already been cut down, and preventing further loss will require tough and innovative policies in Brazil as well as coordinated international action on climate change.
Above photo from tauntingpanda via Flickr
RELATED LINKS:
The Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse (WWF 2007)
Human Pressure on the Brazilian Amazon Rainforests (WRI 2006)
Center for International Forestry Research
NASA Earth Observatory Reference: Tropical Deforestation
EarthTrends
Deforestation data and statistics
"Fragmenting Forests: The Loss of Large Frontier Forests"
"Forest Certification and the Path to Sustainable Forest Management"
