Emissions from Amazon deforestation to rise as loggers move deeper into the rainforest

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Emissions from Amazon deforestation to rise as loggers move deeper into the rainforest
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
July 31, 2009

Emissions from Amazon deforestation are growing as developers move deeper into old-growth forest areas where carbon density is higher, report scientists writing in Geophysical Research Letters.

Analyzing deforestation data from 2001 through 2007, a team of researchers from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University found the aboveground biomass lost per unit of forest cleared increased from 183 to 201 metric tons per hectare over the period, largely the result of moving from drier "transition" forests in the southern Amazon to wetter "rainforests" closer to the heart of the basin. Worrying, the scientists note that remaining unprotected forests harbor still higher levels of biomass — an average 231 metric tons per hectare — suggesting that future clearing will have an increasingly significant impact on climate.

Deforestation accounts for more than half of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 20 percent of total emissions worldwide, a share larger than all the world's cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships combined.

Deforestation in the Brazil has declined sharply since peaking in 2004. For the 2008-2009 year, forest loss is expected to be the lowest since annual recording keeping began 20 years ago.

Last year Brazil announced a plan to reduce emissions from deforestation by 70 percent from a 1996-2005 baseline. It expects industrialized nations to help pay for the cost of forest protection.

Loarie, S. R., G. P. Asner, and C. B. Field (2009), Boosted carbon emissions from Amazon deforestation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L14810, doi:10.1029/2009GL037526.

CITATION:
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com (July 31, 2009). Emissions from Amazon deforestation to rise as loggers move deeper into the rainforest. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0731-brazil.html

Tags:
brazil amazon rainforests forests carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions latin america deforestation south america green environment carbon sequestration primary forests old growth forests

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