Amazon Deforestation Threatens Its Role As World’s Carbon Sink

The Amazon rainforest stores the equivalent of almost two years of global carbon emissions, but its role as a carbon sink is under threat, according to a recently released study, Fabiano Maisonnave reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Clearing vegetation eliminates trees that absorb carbon. Cutting and burning them releases more carbon into the atmosphere.

The U.S. nonprofit Amazon Conservation used satellite data provided by the Planet company to calculate how much climate-changing carbon the Amazon forest stores.

An analysis of the data concluded that with deforestation, there’s a danger the Amazon could start contributing more carbon than it absorbs from the atmosphere. Researchers found that Amazon trees held 56.8 billion metric tons of carbon above ground in 2022.

They said that’s 64.7 million metric tons more than in 2013, making the Amazon a carbon sink over the last decade.

However, it’s now a “very small buffer,” according to an analysis by Planet. “There’s reason to worry that the biome could flip from sink to source with ongoing deforestation.”

Clearing vegetation eliminates trees that absorb carbon. Cutting and burning them releases more carbon into the atmosphere.

Cleared land is often used for farming and livestock grazing, which produce greenhouse gases. David Lapola, a professor at the State University of Campinas who was not part of the study, told AP that the findings are consistent with other studies.

While overall carbon absorption in the Amazon basin remains positive when considering only intact areas, the inclusion of forest degradation changes the picture, Lapola said.

However, he added that deforestation, which has destroyed roughly 20% of the Amazon, is an easier problem to solve than the impact of climate change on the rainforest, which is struggling with a severe drought for the second year in a row.s