Amazon is approaching the ‘point of no return’, says Mapbiomas; loss of vegetation has reached 125 million hectares
December 7, 2022
12:12
Marcela Leiros – from Amazon Agency
MANAUS – The Amazon has already lost 15% of its vegetation (almost 125 million hectares), according to a Mapbiomas study, a percentage that is close to the “inflection point” or “point of no return” – when the forest will no longer be able to recover from the devastation, will lose the ability to reestablish its balance and may become savannah – calculated by scientists in the range between 20% and 25% of loss.
The data shows that in 1985 only 6% (around 50 million hectares) of the Amazon had been transformed into anthropic areas, such as pastures, crops, mining or urban areas. In 2021, this area almost tripled.
“If the current trend verified by MapBiomas Amazônia continues, the biome, which is a carbon sink of planetary importance, will reach a point of no return, irreversibly affecting its ecosystem services, and may become a savanna”, says the document issued by Mapbiomas.
The research also shows that the magnitude of destruction varies from one country to another, reaching 1.6% in Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana, and 19% in Brazil.
Concern
Environmentalist Ricardo Ninuma recalls that the forest has the capacity for self-regeneration of the fauna and flora, made up of various species, each with characteristics of adaptation to the conditions of the ecosystem and which come together for maintenance and recovery.
“The action of man is destroying species that are part of the process, making it difficult for the primitive vegetation to return, making it almost irrecoverable”, he explains, also stating that the unbridled exploitation of the forests triggers processes that, in some stages, are irreversible.
“It causes the increase in the earth’s temperature, causing the glaciers to melt above normal, which are responsible for approximately 70% of the earth’s fresh water. In this process, the water once melted no longer freezes”, he concludes.
Mapbiomas
The data are from the MapBiomas Amazônia 4.0 Collection, an initiative resulting from the collaboration between the Amazon Network of Geo-referenced Socio-environmental Information (Raisg) and the MapBiomas Network.
“The MapBiomas Amazônia 4.0 Collection is invaluable for understanding the dynamics of the use of natural resources in the region, besides contributing to climate modeling and calculation of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases due to changes in land use in the region”, said Tasso Azevedo, general coordinator of MapBiomas.
The study has been mapping the Amazon region for over three decades, of 18 different classes of land cover and use, such as forests, savannahs, mangroves, agricultural areas, urban areas, mining and glaciers, within the 8.4 million square kilometres of the Amazon region, which includes the Andes Mountains, the Amazon plain and the transitions with the Cerrado and Pantanal.
Check the full study:
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