{"id":189274,"date":"2021-07-26T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=189274"},"modified":"2021-07-20T08:51:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T07:51:32","slug":"biggest-story-in-the-world-right-now-humanity-has-flipped-amazon-from-carbon-sink-to-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/07\/biggest-story-in-the-world-right-now-humanity-has-flipped-amazon-from-carbon-sink-to-source\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Biggest Story in the World Right Now’: Humanity Has Flipped Amazon from Carbon Sink to Source"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recent research has elevated concerns about the Amazon putting more CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than it absorbs, but the new findings, published in the journal <\/em>Nature, were presented as a “first” by scientists and climate reporters. <\/em>They “show that the uncertain future is happening now.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Even with a decree banning fires, flames and clouds of smoke were seen near the city of Novo Progresso, in southern Par\u00e1, Brazil, on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Ernesto Carri\u00e7o\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

14 Jul 2021 – <\/em>Following years of warnings<\/strong> and mounting fears among scientists, “terrifying<\/a>” research revealed Wednesday that climate change and deforestation<\/a> have turned parts of the Amazon basin, a crucial “sink,” into a source of planet-heating carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

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Though recent research has elevated<\/a> concerns about the Amazon putting more CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than it absorbs, the new findings, published in the journal Nature<\/em>, were presented<\/a> as a “first” by scientists and climate reporters.<\/p>\n

From 2010 to 2018, researchers for the new study\u2014led by Luciana Gatti of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research\u2014conducted “vertical profiling measurements” of carbon dioxide and monoxide a few miles above the tree canopy at four sites in Amazonia.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that “Southeastern Amazonia, in particular, acts as a net carbon source” and “total carbon emissions are greater in eastern Amazonia than in the western part.” The former, they noted, has been “subjected to more deforestation, warming, and moisture stress” than the latter in recent decades.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/elliemaeohagan\/status\/1415339421201805313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1415339421201805313%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2021%2F07%2F14%2Fbiggest-story-world-right-now-humanity-has-flipped-amazon-carbon-sink-source<\/p>\n

As The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> Wednesday:<\/p>\n

In an accompanying article in Nature<\/em>, Scott Denning, a professor in the department of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, wrote that the paper’s “atmospheric profiles show that the uncertain future is happening now.”<\/p>\n

In an emailed response to questions, Dr. Denning praised the new study as the first real large-scale measurement\u2014from various altitudes across thousands of kilometers and remote sectors\u2014of the phenomenon, an advance beyond the traditional measurement at forest sites. The results show “that warming and deforestation in eastern Amazonia have reversed the carbon sink at regional scale and that the change is actually showing up in atmospheric CO2,” he wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gatti told<\/a> The Guardian<\/em> that “the first very bad news is that forest-burning produces around three times more CO2 than the forest absorbs. The second bad news is that the places where deforestation is 30% or more show carbon emissions 10 times higher than where deforestation is lower than 20%.”<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper\u2014which noted the role of emissions from deliberately set fires for beef and soy production as well as the global criticism<\/a> that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has faced for encouraging the soaring<\/a> deforestation:<\/p>\n

Fewer trees meant less rain and higher temperatures, making the dry season even worse for the remaining forest, she said: “We have a very negative loop that makes the forest more susceptible to uncontrolled fires.”<\/p>\n

Much of the timber, beef, and soy from the Amazon is exported from Brazil. “We need a global agreement to save the Amazon,” Gatti said. European nations have said they will block an E.U. trade deal with Brazil<\/a> and other countries unless Bolsonaro agrees to do more to tackle Amazonian destruction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The study comes after a March analysis<\/a>, published in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change<\/em>, that took into account not only CO2 but also methane, nitrous oxide, black carbon, biogenic volatile organic compounds, aerosols, evapotranspiration<\/a>, and albedo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new findings also follow an April study<\/a>, published in Nature Climate Change<\/em>, that focused on Brazil, which is home to the majority of the incredibly biodiverse and threatened<\/a> rainforest that spans nine countries.<\/p>\n

Comparing that research to Wednesday’s, Denning said that “they’re complementary studies with radically different methods that come to very similar conclusions.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Amazon rainforest is emitting a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.\u201d #FaceTheClimateEmergency<\/a> #EcologicalBreakdown<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/vmhHNbU3Gz<\/a><\/p>\n

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 14, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n