Amazon Rainforest Releasing More Greenhouse Gases Than It Absorbs, Study Suggests

For years now, there have been mounting concerns regarding the rising temperatures, drought, and deforestation which are reducing the capacity of the world¡¯s largest rainforest to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Reuters

A new study suggests that Amazon rainforest could apparently be emitting more greenhouse gases than it absorbs.

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

AP

The research, published on Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, looked at several factors at play in the Amazon, including fires, deforestation, weather and the expansion of ranching. It concludes that greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide being emitted in the Amazon basin offset and most likely exceed the region's ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

It definitely is concerning, but it isn't for the first time that a study has suggested Amazon's declining ability to absorb carbon. But this is the first report to look at a broader picture of the cumulative effects from both human and natural activities that contribute to global warming, according to National Geographic, which supported the research.

Also read: Two-Thirds Of The World's Tropical Rainforests Have Been Destroyed & Degraded, All Thanks To Us

Greenpeace

¡°Cutting the forest is interfering with its carbon uptake; that¡¯s a problem,¡± lead author Kristofer Covey, a professor of environmental studies at New York¡¯s Skidmore College, said.

¡°But when you start to look at these other factors alongside CO2, it gets really hard to see how the net effect isn¡¯t that the Amazon as a whole is really warming global climate," he added.

Also read: Last Year Brazil Lost Forest Area Equivalent To Two Football Pitches, Every Minute