Matt is an environment correspondent.
According to a new study, carbon emissions in the Amazon region more than doubled in the next two years.
The increase was caused by deforestation for agriculture and fires.
The scientists say there has been a collapse in law enforcement.
The research findings have yet to be reviewed.
The Amazon plays an important role in maintaining the Earth's climate by storing huge amounts of carbon in trees.
Over the last few decades the forest has been under increasing pressure due to the clearing of land for farming in Brazil and other countries.
The eastern part of the forest was being cut down at such a rapid rate that more carbon was being released than was absorbed by the trees.
Scientists think that the western part of the Amazon has become a source of carbon emissions.
Over the last decade, the researchers have collected hundreds of air samples from different parts of the forest.
Their study shows that emissions increased by 89% in 2019. The picture was even worse in 2020.
The removal of trees by land clearing was the main reason for the increase.
Fines for illegal forest clearances fell by 89% in 2020 due to a rapid decline in prosecutions.
The scientists say that this is due to the policies of the president, who has pushed for the expansion of agriculture in Brazil.
The new study theorizes that the collapse in enforcement led to an increase in depredation, degradation, and carbon losses.
The climate around the trees has been affected by the increase in emissions from the forest.
Lead author Dr Luciana Gatti from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research said that in the wet season of 2020 there was a decline in the amount of rain and the temperature went up.
Climate change is promoted by the human destruction of the forest, which leads to the emissions. She told the news that the situation was very alarming.
An area larger than the US state of Delaware has been lost because of this hands-off approach to prosecution.
The collapse in law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon has allowed land grabbers and illegal loggers to continue with devastating consequences.
The Amazon is close to a crucial tipping point which could see large areas transform from a resilient, moist rainforest into a dry, fire- ravaged, and irreversibly degraded state.
The question of the future of the forest is an important issue in Brazil's presidential election taking place in early October with the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, being challenged by a former president.
Scientists like Dr Gatti fear that the Amazon may be reaching a point where it will emit more carbon than it takes in.
She said that consumers and governments around the world needed to do more to prevent this from happening.
She said that there needs to be an international commitment with countries in international commerce that they don't buy the products that destroy nature.
You can follow Matt on the social networking site.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
