Climate Change: Deforestation Will Kill Amazon Rainforest By 2064, Says Expert

It is no secret that climate change is slowly, but steadily killing our planet. And now, a new study has revealed that this climate change will be the death of South America¡¯s Amazon rainforest by the year 2064.

Reuters

This is according to one Robert Walker, a professor of geography at the University of Florida. According to him, the Amazon stands on the a ¡®tipping point¡¯ due to disturbances caused by human activities for which, he says, we all are responsible.

Walker believes that the lush, green Amazon will turn into a dry open area with grasses and shrubs susceptible to burning.

He revealed in the study, ¡°It is doubtful that the Amazonian forest will remain resilient to changes in the regional hydroclimate. The biggest concern involves the intensification of drought-based tree mortality stemming from the synergies of fire, deforestation, and logging. The development of Amazonia now lies on a collision course not only with the interests of conservation but also with the welfare of the very people it is meant to benefit.¡±

The collapse in environmental governance

He speaks about how there has been a massive collapse in the environmental governance of Brazil and Amazonian nations, thus giving a rise to public concerns for the future of the forest.

He says, ¡°These concerns ¨C recently intensified by Amazonian fires in the summer of 2019 ¨Chave put the focus on regional climate changes capable of inducing a ¡®tipping point¡¯ beyond which the moist forest transitions to a tropical savanna.¡±

Reuters

Extended periods of droughts

He also spoke about how frequent spells of drought that occur due to global warming are severely affecting vulnerable tree species in the Amazon, due to lack of water and extreme heat. This also impacts the trees' function of turning carbon dioxide into oxygen.

And in the year 2005, 2010 and 2015, studies have shown how carbon dioxide absorption dropped due to extreme temperatures in those years. According to Walker, this could become the new normal, if dry seasons continue to stretch longer.

Earlier, the return period of serious drought offered canopies adequate time to recover from fire, but extended periods of drought or dry season has taken away this easement, and this according to Walker is the start of the end of a forests¡¯ life.

He explains, ¡°A forest cannot survive if its canopy needs more than four years to recover from a yearly event. In fact, southern Amazonia can expect to reach a tipping point sometime before 2064 at the current rate of dry-season lengthening. By then, the return cycle of severe drought will have dipped below the time needed for the canopy to recover, at which point the forested landscape, denuded by fire, will be permanently invaded by flammable grasses and shrubs.¡±

Anthropocene Era

Walker also talks about the Anthropocene era which he regards as a geological epoch where humanity permanently changed the planet. He revealed how the Amazonian environment has been resilient to massive swings of climate change that can be tracked over millions of years.

Reuters

In fact, temperatures in those times were warmer than what it¡¯s witnessing today, and it still remained strong. Although there was some effect on the Basin¡¯s rim to the south and east which is now known as the arc of deforestation.

¡°Will the Anth?ropocene act with greater force, triggering a tipping point transgression at basin scale? Whatever the answer, the evidence is indisputable that Amazonia¡¯s climate is now changing.¡±