The Brazilian Amazon rainforest released more carbon than it stored over the last decade – with degradation a bigger cause than deforestation – according to new research.
The Brazilian Amazon rainforest released more carbon than it stored over the last decade – with degradation a bigger cause than deforestation – according to new research.
More than 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, and the new study used satellite monitoring to measure carbon storage from 2010-2019.
The study found that degradation (parts of the forest being damaged but not destroyed) accounted for three times more carbon loss than deforestation.
The research team – including INRAE, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Exeter – said large areas of rainforest were degraded or destroyed due to human activity and climate change, leading to carbon loss.
The findings, published in Nature Climate Change, also show a significant rise in deforestation in 2019 – 3.9 million hectares compared to about 1 million per year in 2017 and 2018 – possibly due to weakened environmental protection in Brazil.
Read More: University of Exeter
