Simon Lewis

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The results of the study have implications for The Fight against Climate Change .

Up to One -fifth of the Amazon Rainforest is emitted absorbs more CO2 than it, new research suggests.

results from a decade-long study of greenhouse gases over the Amazon Basin appear to show about 20% of the entire area has become a net source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

One of the most important causes of deforestation.

While the trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; dead trees release it again.

millions of trees, the logging is lost, and fires in recent years.

the results of The study have not yet been published, have an impact on the efforts to combat Climate Change .

they suggest that the Amazon Rainforest is an important carbon storage, or "sink" that slows down the pace of Global Warming turning into a carbon-intended to be source faster than in The Past .

Every Two Weeks for the last 10 years, a team of scientists, led by Prof Luciana Gatti, a researcher at the Brazilian National Institute For Space Research (INPE), was the measurement of the greenhouse gases from flying planes equipped with sensors over the various parts of the Amazon Basin .

What The Group found was astonishing: set during the most of the rain forest still retains its ability to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, especially in wet years - a part of The Forest , especially cut down heavily, seems to have lost this ability.

Gatti, the research suggests that this South-Eastern part of The Forest , about 20% of the total area, has a source of a carbon.

"worse Every year," she said.

"We observe that this area is in the South-East, an important source of carbon. And it doesn't matter whether it's a wet year or a dry year. 2017-18 was a wet year, but it made no difference. "

A forest May be more likely to be a source of carbon as a business, or fall, when the trees die and emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

clearing of the Amazon do not contribute, able to absorb carbon.

Carlos Nobre, of the show as a co-author Prof Gatti, the study, called the remark "very worrying" because "it could be the beginnings of a great tipping point".

He believes that the new findings suggest that in the next 30 years, More Than half of the Amazon, the conversion of Rainforest to Savannah.

for decades, scientists have warned, an "Amazon tipping point": The Point at which The Forest loses its ability to renew itself and begins to emit more carbon than it absorbs.

"[Amazon] will be used, the sink in the 1980s and 90s, a very strong carbon, maybe to extract two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere," says Prof Nobre, who is also a researcher at the University of São Paulo (the Institute for higher studies, and Brazil's leading expert on the Amazon.

"Today, the strength will be reduced, maybe to 1-1. 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year. "

For comparison, a billion tons of carbon dioxide is almost Three Times of what was said in the UK, it is officially issued in the year 2018.

But this figure does not take into account the amount of carbon dioxide released by deforestation and forest fires.

And, after almost a decade of decline, deforestation in the Amazon has increased dramatically in recent times. 2019 was a particularly bad year.

Between July and September last year, the destruction of More Than 1,000 sq km (386 sq mi) was per month.

"In our calculations, we exceed that 20-25% of the deforestation and Global Warming continues unabated, high emissions scenarios, then the tipping point would be reached," says Prof Nobre, One of The First proponents of the tipping point theory. "Today, we are at about 17%," he adds.

opinions on if this turnaround will occur could be different to the scientists.

"Some people think that it is not up to three degrees warming at the end of The Century , whereas other people think that we were able to get [it] deforestation of up to about 20% or so and that could happen in the next decade or two. So it's really, really unsafe," said Simon Lewis , a professor of global change science at UCL.

But the Prof Lewis called the results of Nobre's research is "shocking". "It says to me that maybe more near-term than perhaps I was initially thinking. "

Prof Nobre theory was based on climate models. The new study is based on real observations, the more accurate results.

Prof Gatti, told Newsnight they wanted to see a moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon in order to determine whether the trend could be reversed. But that looks unlikely.

Brazil's President has been his priority for the rain forest very clearly: development and conservation.

Save the Amazon is now A Question of political choice. But science is not going to be on offer for very much longer proposes that the choice can.

on Bbc Two from 22:30. Catch-up on, subscribe to the program and then run it.

amazon rainforest, brazil, amazon fires, carbon dioxide, deforestation of the amazon rainforest, climate change

Source of news: bbc.com