When will the Amazon hit a tipping point?
Scientists say climate change, deforestation and fires
could cause the world’s largest rainforest to dry out. The
big question is how soon that might happen. Seen from a
monitoring tower above the treetops near Manaus, in the
Brazilian Amazon, the rainforest canopy stretches to the
horizon as an endless sea of green. It looks like a rich and
healthy ecosystem, but appearances are deceiving. This
rainforest — which holds 16,000 separate tree species — is
slowly drying out.
Over the past century, the average temperature in the
forest has risen by 1-1.5 ºC. In some parts, the dry season
has expanded during the past 50 years, from four months to
almost five. Severe droughts have hit three times since 2005.
That’s all driving a shift in vegetation. In 2018, a study reported
that trees that do best in moist conditions, such as tropical
legumes from the genus Inga, are dying. Those adapted to
drier climes, such as the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa),
are thriving.
At the same time, large parts of the Amazon, the world’s
largest rainforest, are being cut down and burnt. Tree clearing
has already shrunk the forest by around 15% from its 1970s
extent of more than 6 million square kilometres; in Brazil,
which contains more than half the forest, more than 19%
has disappeared. Last year, deforestation in Brazil spiked
by around 30% to almost 10,000 km2
, the largest loss in a
decade. And in August 2019, videos of wildfires in the Amazon
made international headlines. The number of fires that month
was the highest for any August since an extreme drought in
2010.
(www.nature.com, 25.02.2020. Adaptado.)
O cartum ilustra que o aumento de temperatura, também
citado no texto,
