Deforestation harms climate less than other types of Amazon degradation, study finds
Adds Brazil government's comment in paragraph 15
By Jake Spring
SAO PAULO, Aug 5 (Reuters) -Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came into office in 2023 pledging to tackle deforestation in the Amazon and restore his country as a climate leader after years of intense destruction in the world's largest rainforest under predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula's commitment to end deforestation by 2030 is on track with tighter enforcement helping to cut deforestation rates by more than half, according to government figures. But a new study indicates that deforestation alone accounts for a only fraction of climate damage involving the Amazon.
Logging, forest burning and other forms of human-caused degradation, along with natural disturbances to the Amazon ecosystem, are releasing more climate-warming carbon dioxide than clear-cut deforestation, the study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed.
The study, which used data obtained from airborne laser scanning of the Amazon region for a more precise accounting of the changes in the rainforest than satellite imagery provides, found that human-caused degradation and natural disturbances accounted for 83% of the carbon emissions, with 17% loss from deforestation.
Forests have a natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide, but some atmospheric measurements in recent years indicate that the Amazon has been releasing more carbon than it has been absorbing because of deforestation and degradation, the researchers said.
The Amazon absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide that is stored in its lush vegetation. But when trees are destroyed, they release that greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere.
The research underscores the damage being done to the forest by fires after a drought that has made the region a tinderbox.
The techniques used in the research give an unprecedented level of detail on forest degradation in the region of Brazil where destruction is most rampant, according to study lead author Ovidiu Csillik, a remote-sensing specialist at Wake Forest University in the United States.
Deforestation is easily detectable on normal satellite images, while degradation is more difficult, Csillik said.
Planes took laser readings that gave a three-dimensional picture of the forest that is so detailed it can detect an individual tree dying, Csillik added.
Csillik said he was surprised to see that wind storms were also causing large emissions and extensive damage to the forest, knocking down large numbers of trees.
The study supports the argument that the government under Lula may be overly focused on deforestation, scientists not involved in the study told Reuters.
"The government thinks if we reduce deforestation, we also reduce degradation," said Erika Berenguer, a tropical ecologist at University of Oxford and Lancaster University in England.
"That's scientifically incorrect, and that's what this paper is also showing," said Berenguer, who was not involved in the study.
In a statement, Brazil’s Environment Ministry said it was taking a variety of efforts to control degradation and fires, including 3,000 federal firefighters in the region and 405 million reais made available for state-level firefighting efforts.
More than 140 countries, including Brazil, in 2021 signed a global pledge to end not only deforestation but also other forms of degradation by the end of this decade.
But because degradation has so many diverse causes, it is far more complex to monitor and police, said Manoela Machado, a fire expert at Woodwell Climate Research Center in the United States.
Climate change is making combating fires more complicated, she said.
"Fires can escape their intended boundaries and invade forest areas if fuel is dry enough to allow fires to spread, which is becoming increasingly common due to heatwaves and severe droughts caused by climate change," Machado said.
Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Will Dunham and Stephen Coates
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
