Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist, measuring the circumference of a tree during research in the Tapajos National Forest, Brazil in 2019 Marizilda Cruppe Rede Amazonia Sustentavel/AFP
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster universities, is one of the most prominent scientists studying how the rainforest functions when humans throw it off balance.
AFP asked the 38-year-old Brazilian to break down the latest research on the Amazon and what it means for us all.
There are lots of headlines on the destruction of the Amazon. What does the science say?
"The results are truly horrifying. They are in line with discussions about the 'tipping point' (at which the rainforest would die off and turn from carbon absorber to carbon emitter).
"One study found that in the southeast of the Amazon in the dry season, the temperature has increased by 2.5 degrees Celsius (over the past 40 years). That is truly apocalyptic.
"I don't think even academics were prepared for that. The Paris deal is trying to limit the world to 1.5 degrees; 2.5 in the Amazon is huge.
"And in the northeast Amazon, we've seen a decrease of 34 percent in precipitation in peak dry season (from August to October).
"The implication of all this is that if you have a hotter and dryer climate, fires are just going to escape more into the forest. So it gets into this feedback loop, this vicious cycle of horror."
Can we still save the Amazon? What happens if we don't?
"That's the million-dollar question. We'll never know the tipping point until we're past it. That's the definition of a tipping point. But different parts of the Amazon are speeding up toward it at different paces.
"If we pass the tipping point, it's the end. And I don't say that lightly. We're talking about the most biodiverse place on the planet collapsing.
"Millions and millions of people becoming climate refugees. Rainfall patterns being disrupted across South America.
"Without rainfall, we don't have hydroelectricity, so it means the collapse of industry in Brazil, and therefore the collapse of one of the largest economies in the world, of one of the biggest food suppliers in the world.
"We cannot live in a world without the Amazon."
Your WhatsApp profile picture has the word 'hope' written in big letters. What keeps you hopeful for the Amazon?
"Chocolate (laughs).
"But really, there is definitely hope for change. Within my lifetime, I saw a decrease of more than 80 percent in deforestation, between 2004 and 2012. It wasn't easy.
"You require coordination between several (government) agencies. But they did it. So why can't we see it again?
"Globally, there are several levels of solutions for everyone in the world. Everybody has to reduce their carbon footprint. Nobody's going to go back to living in a cave, but we all need to have a deep reflection on what we can do.
"We also need to pressure for transparency on commodities that come from Amazonia. Know where your gold is coming from, know where your beef is coming from.
"But most importantly, we need to insist on structural changes. We need to pressure our governments and corporations to cut emissions."
© 2021 AFP
The Amazon: a paradise lost?
Issued on: 09/11/2021
A forest fire in Porto Jofre, in the Pantanal area of Brazil's Mato Grosso state -- studies indicate the rainforest is near a 'tipping point' at which it will dry up and turn to savannah, its 390 billion trees dying off en masse CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
Sao Felix do Xingu (Brazil) (AFP) – Seen from the sky, the Amazon is an endless expanse of deep green, a place where life explodes from every surface, broken only by the blue rivers snaking across it.
Endless, that is, until it isn't.
Fly toward the edges of the world's biggest rainforest, and you will come to the vast brown scar tissue, the places where the jungle is being razed and burned to make way for roads, gold mines, crops and especially cattle ranches.
This is the fast-advancing "arc of deforestation" that cuts across South America, and it is a cataclysm in the making for our planet.
Thanks to its lush vegetation and the miracle of photosynthesis, the Amazon basin has, until recently, absorbed large amounts of humankind's ballooning carbon emissions, helping stave off the nightmare of rampant climate change.
Issued on: 09/11/2021
A forest fire in Porto Jofre, in the Pantanal area of Brazil's Mato Grosso state -- studies indicate the rainforest is near a 'tipping point' at which it will dry up and turn to savannah, its 390 billion trees dying off en masse CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
Sao Felix do Xingu (Brazil) (AFP) – Seen from the sky, the Amazon is an endless expanse of deep green, a place where life explodes from every surface, broken only by the blue rivers snaking across it.
Endless, that is, until it isn't.
Fly toward the edges of the world's biggest rainforest, and you will come to the vast brown scar tissue, the places where the jungle is being razed and burned to make way for roads, gold mines, crops and especially cattle ranches.
This is the fast-advancing "arc of deforestation" that cuts across South America, and it is a cataclysm in the making for our planet.
Thanks to its lush vegetation and the miracle of photosynthesis, the Amazon basin has, until recently, absorbed large amounts of humankind's ballooning carbon emissions, helping stave off the nightmare of rampant climate change.
A forest fire in Porto Jofre, in the Pantanal area of Brazil's Mato Grosso state -- the Amazon jungle is being razed and burned to make way for roads, gold mines, crops and especially cattle ranches CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
But studies indicate the rainforest is near a "tipping point," at which it will dry up and turn to savannah, its 390 billion trees dying off en masse.
Already, the destruction is quickening, especially since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 in Brazil -- home to 60 percent of the Amazon -- with a push to open protected lands to agribusiness and mining.
The devastation is growing for the Amazon's exquisitely intricate web of interdependent species -- more than three million of them -- including iconic wildlife such as the powerful harpy eagle and sleek, majestic jaguar.
But studies indicate the rainforest is near a "tipping point," at which it will dry up and turn to savannah, its 390 billion trees dying off en masse.
Already, the destruction is quickening, especially since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 in Brazil -- home to 60 percent of the Amazon -- with a push to open protected lands to agribusiness and mining.
The devastation is growing for the Amazon's exquisitely intricate web of interdependent species -- more than three million of them -- including iconic wildlife such as the powerful harpy eagle and sleek, majestic jaguar.
A bull and felled trees in Alta Floresta, in Brazil's Mato Grosso state in August 2021 CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
Violent incursions by illegal gold miners into indigenous lands have also taken a terrible toll on native peoples, the best guardians of the forest because of their traditions of deep respect for nature.
"The sun is hotter, the rivers are drying up, the animals are disappearing. Things are falling apart," says Eldo Shanenawa, a leader of the Shanenawa people in northwestern Brazil, who at 42 years old says he has seen the Amazon change before his eyes.
Scientists say if the Amazon reaches the tipping point, instead of helping curb climate change, it will suddenly accelerate it, spewing up to a decade's worth of carbon emissions back into the atmosphere.
Devastation is growing for the Amazon's exquisitely intricate web of interdependent species -- more than three million of them -- including iconic wildlife such as the powerful harpy eagle CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
"As bad as the predictions are (on climate change), they're actually optimistic.... We're going to reach the horror-show scenario way sooner," says Brazilian atmospheric chemist Luciana Gatti.
"We're killing the Amazon."
This is, in some ways, a story of evil: of violent bad guys in black hats exploiting a lawless frontier, political corruption and massive inequality to increase their wealth on riches ripped from the land.
But it is also the story of all humanity: our relationship with nature, our endless appetites, our seeming inability to stop.
A jaguar in Porto Jofre, in the Pantanal area of Brazil's Mato Grosso state CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
After all, the gold, timber, soy and beef destroying the rainforest are a question of global supply and demand.
The products killing the Amazon can be found in homes around the world.
© 2021 AFP
Violent incursions by illegal gold miners into indigenous lands have also taken a terrible toll on native peoples, the best guardians of the forest because of their traditions of deep respect for nature.
"The sun is hotter, the rivers are drying up, the animals are disappearing. Things are falling apart," says Eldo Shanenawa, a leader of the Shanenawa people in northwestern Brazil, who at 42 years old says he has seen the Amazon change before his eyes.
Scientists say if the Amazon reaches the tipping point, instead of helping curb climate change, it will suddenly accelerate it, spewing up to a decade's worth of carbon emissions back into the atmosphere.
Devastation is growing for the Amazon's exquisitely intricate web of interdependent species -- more than three million of them -- including iconic wildlife such as the powerful harpy eagle CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
"As bad as the predictions are (on climate change), they're actually optimistic.... We're going to reach the horror-show scenario way sooner," says Brazilian atmospheric chemist Luciana Gatti.
"We're killing the Amazon."
This is, in some ways, a story of evil: of violent bad guys in black hats exploiting a lawless frontier, political corruption and massive inequality to increase their wealth on riches ripped from the land.
But it is also the story of all humanity: our relationship with nature, our endless appetites, our seeming inability to stop.
A jaguar in Porto Jofre, in the Pantanal area of Brazil's Mato Grosso state CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File
After all, the gold, timber, soy and beef destroying the rainforest are a question of global supply and demand.
The products killing the Amazon can be found in homes around the world.
© 2021 AFP
Amazon deforestation threatens jaguars, giant eagles
Ousado, a wild jaguar, was badly burned in devastating wildfires in Brazil in 2020; the destruction of the Amazon is putting many species at risk (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)
Conservationists use an aerial radio to track and locate the jaguar Ousado, after it suffered injuries in wildfires (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)
- 'Flying rivers' drying up -
The jaguar and harpy eagle are already feeling the impact.
Ousado, a four-year-old, 75-kilogram (165-pound) male, was wounded a year ago when wildfires tore through the Pantanal, fueled by the region's worst drought in 47 years.
The region, which sits just south of the Amazon, is known for its stunning wildlife, drawing tourists from around the world.
But nearly a third of it burned in last year's fires, killing or wounding countless animals -- including Ousado, who was found with third-degree burns on his paws, barely able to walk.
Veterinarians took the big black-and-yellow spotted cat to an animal hospital, treated him, and then reintroduced him to the wild with a tracking collar to monitor his recovery -- which is going well.
The destruction of the Pantanal, Tortato explains, is directly linked to that of the Amazon.
The rainforest's 390 billion trees generate water vapor that dumps rain across much of South America -- a phenomenon known as "flying rivers."
Sometimes appearing as wisps of mist streaking skyward, then gathering into giant clouds that look like streams of cotton, these "rivers" likely carry more water than the Amazon River itself, scientists say.
As humans raze the forest for farms and pastureland, "the rainfall that would normally arrive in the Pantanal via the 'flying rivers' has diminished," says Tortato, 37, of conservation group Panthera.
Classified as "near threatened," the jaguar, the biggest cat in the Americas, has its stronghold in the Amazon.
Its population declined an estimated 20 to 25 percent over the past two decades.
- Facing starvation -
Known for its massive size, fearsome claws and tufts of feathers protruding Beethoven-like from its head, the harpy eagle is, like the jaguar, an apex predator in the Amazon.
Weighing up to 10 kilograms, harpies scope their prey from the canopy, and then swoop in with deadly precision, snatching monkeys, sloths and even small deer.
But despite their hunting prowess, they are at risk of starvation.
It takes the gray and white eagles, which mate for life, about two years to raise their young. They fledge just one eaglet at a time, but need enormous territory to hunt enough food.
A recent study found harpy eagles are not adapted to hunt for prey outside the forest, and cannot survive in areas with more than 50 percent deforestation -- increasingly common at the Amazon's edges.
"They are at high risk of extinction in this region because of deforestation and logging," says Stofel, 43, who works on a harpy conservation program in Cotriguacu, in Mato Grosso state.
The area sits on the so-called "arc of deforestation."
In a poignant snapshot of the harpy's plight, AFP journalists saw one eagle eating food set out for it by conservationists, against the backdrop of a logging truck hauling giant tree trunks from the forest.
"We've monitored nests where the eaglets starved to death because the parents couldn't hunt enough food," Stofel says.
- Matter of survival (our own) -
For Cristiane Mazzetti of environmental group Greenpeace, it is crucial to protect the Amazon's threatened biodiversity -- and not just for the plants and animals' sake.
Nature's complex interlocking web plays an essential role in the planet's ability to provide food, oxygen, clean water, pollination and myriad other "ecosystem services" on which all life depends.
"Biodiversity isn't something that can be resuscitated," says Mazzetti.
"It's important to protect it for our own survival."
bur-jhb/sst
Ousado, a wild jaguar, was badly burned in devastating wildfires in Brazil in 2020; the destruction of the Amazon is putting many species at risk (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)
Conservationists use an aerial radio to track and locate the jaguar Ousado, after it suffered injuries in wildfires (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)
Florian PLAUCHEUR, Carl DE SOUZA
Mon, November 8, 2021,
Boating slowly upriver through the Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, Brazilian biologist Fernando Tortato scans the bank for signs of Ousado, a jaguar badly burned in devastating wildfires last year.
A thousand kilometers (600 miles) to the north, at the rapidly receding edge of the Amazon rainforest, conservationist Roberto Eduardo Stofel peers through his binoculars, monitoring a baby harpy eagle sitting alone in a giant nest, its parents apparently out searching for increasingly hard-to-find food.
The sleek, majestic jaguar and spectacularly powerful harpy eagle are two of the most iconic species threatened by the accelerating destruction of the Amazon, whose breathtaking biodiversity risks collapsing as the world's biggest rainforest approaches a "tipping point."
Scientists say that is the point at which a vicious circle of deforestation, wildfires and climate change could damage the rainforest so badly it dies off and turns to savannah -- with catastrophic consequences for its more than three million species of plants and animals.
Mon, November 8, 2021,
Boating slowly upriver through the Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, Brazilian biologist Fernando Tortato scans the bank for signs of Ousado, a jaguar badly burned in devastating wildfires last year.
A thousand kilometers (600 miles) to the north, at the rapidly receding edge of the Amazon rainforest, conservationist Roberto Eduardo Stofel peers through his binoculars, monitoring a baby harpy eagle sitting alone in a giant nest, its parents apparently out searching for increasingly hard-to-find food.
The sleek, majestic jaguar and spectacularly powerful harpy eagle are two of the most iconic species threatened by the accelerating destruction of the Amazon, whose breathtaking biodiversity risks collapsing as the world's biggest rainforest approaches a "tipping point."
Scientists say that is the point at which a vicious circle of deforestation, wildfires and climate change could damage the rainforest so badly it dies off and turns to savannah -- with catastrophic consequences for its more than three million species of plants and animals.
Amazon deforestation threatens jaguars, giant eaglesOne wild Harpy eagle eats food set out for it by conservationists -- the birds are threatened by deforestation, and in the background, a logging truck hauls giant tree trunks from the forest (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)
- 'Flying rivers' drying up -
The jaguar and harpy eagle are already feeling the impact.
Ousado, a four-year-old, 75-kilogram (165-pound) male, was wounded a year ago when wildfires tore through the Pantanal, fueled by the region's worst drought in 47 years.
The region, which sits just south of the Amazon, is known for its stunning wildlife, drawing tourists from around the world.
But nearly a third of it burned in last year's fires, killing or wounding countless animals -- including Ousado, who was found with third-degree burns on his paws, barely able to walk.
Veterinarians took the big black-and-yellow spotted cat to an animal hospital, treated him, and then reintroduced him to the wild with a tracking collar to monitor his recovery -- which is going well.
The destruction of the Pantanal, Tortato explains, is directly linked to that of the Amazon.
The rainforest's 390 billion trees generate water vapor that dumps rain across much of South America -- a phenomenon known as "flying rivers."
Sometimes appearing as wisps of mist streaking skyward, then gathering into giant clouds that look like streams of cotton, these "rivers" likely carry more water than the Amazon River itself, scientists say.
As humans raze the forest for farms and pastureland, "the rainfall that would normally arrive in the Pantanal via the 'flying rivers' has diminished," says Tortato, 37, of conservation group Panthera.
Classified as "near threatened," the jaguar, the biggest cat in the Americas, has its stronghold in the Amazon.
Its population declined an estimated 20 to 25 percent over the past two decades.
- Facing starvation -
Known for its massive size, fearsome claws and tufts of feathers protruding Beethoven-like from its head, the harpy eagle is, like the jaguar, an apex predator in the Amazon.
Weighing up to 10 kilograms, harpies scope their prey from the canopy, and then swoop in with deadly precision, snatching monkeys, sloths and even small deer.
But despite their hunting prowess, they are at risk of starvation.
It takes the gray and white eagles, which mate for life, about two years to raise their young. They fledge just one eaglet at a time, but need enormous territory to hunt enough food.
A recent study found harpy eagles are not adapted to hunt for prey outside the forest, and cannot survive in areas with more than 50 percent deforestation -- increasingly common at the Amazon's edges.
"They are at high risk of extinction in this region because of deforestation and logging," says Stofel, 43, who works on a harpy conservation program in Cotriguacu, in Mato Grosso state.
The area sits on the so-called "arc of deforestation."
In a poignant snapshot of the harpy's plight, AFP journalists saw one eagle eating food set out for it by conservationists, against the backdrop of a logging truck hauling giant tree trunks from the forest.
"We've monitored nests where the eaglets starved to death because the parents couldn't hunt enough food," Stofel says.
- Matter of survival (our own) -
For Cristiane Mazzetti of environmental group Greenpeace, it is crucial to protect the Amazon's threatened biodiversity -- and not just for the plants and animals' sake.
Nature's complex interlocking web plays an essential role in the planet's ability to provide food, oxygen, clean water, pollination and myriad other "ecosystem services" on which all life depends.
"Biodiversity isn't something that can be resuscitated," says Mazzetti.
"It's important to protect it for our own survival."
bur-jhb/sst
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