Logging turned the Amazon rainforest into a carbon dioxide emitter | It is one of the key elements of global warming

According to a study published this Wednesday in the journal Nature, gMuch of the Amazon rainforest has been transformed into a CO2 emitter, due to the logging of its forests, which is why it stops capturing carbon dioxide.

Drawing on hundreds of air samples collected at various heights over the past decade, the book claims that the southeastern part of the Amazon has gone from a collection “well” to a spring. CO2 emissions, one of the main causes of global warming.

Over the past half century, plants and soils have absorbed more than 25% of CO2 emissions, while these emissions have increased by up to 50%. But the Amazon, which is home to half of the tropical rainforests and stores 450 billion tonnes of CO2 in its trees and soils, has become a source of emissions.

“Deforestation and forest degradation reduce the Amazon’s ability to act as a carbon sequestration sink,” noted the study’s authors.

Since 1970, the region’s tropical forests have been reduced by 17 percent, mainly to support pastures for cattle ranching. Forests are usually cut down by fire, which releases large amounts of CO2 and reduces the number of trees available to absorb it.

Climate change itself is also a key factor. Dry season temperatures have risen nearly three degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, triple the global average for the entire year. The combination of all these factors “calls into question the capacity of tropical forests to absorb large volumes of CO2”, underlines Scott Denning, of the University of Colorado (United States), in another article also published by Nature.

Scientists have long been concerned about the serious problem in the region, but satellite data so far has not been able to provide a clear answer, especially due to cloudiness in the region.

To analyze its consequences, the Brazilian research team collected 600 samples of CO2 and carbon monoxide, between 2010 and 2018, at altitudes of up to 4,500 meters.

According to their findings, the northwestern part of the Amazon is in equilibrium, but the east, especially during the dry season, becomes a source of emissions.

Another recent study, using a different methodology, concluded that the Amazon emitted almost 20% more CO2 between 2010 and 2019.

With the melting of the polar ice caps, the melting of the “permafrost” (layer of permanently frozen soil) the deterioration of the Amazon rainforest is one of the main “tipping points” that could lead to an irreparable change in the climate system, warn scientists.