habitat destruction
Credit: CIFOR/Flickr
Amazon rainforest at risk of significant transformation by mid-century, study indicates
The critical balance between human activity and the Earth's natural climate regulators is beginning to tip — and not in a good way.
In short:
- A recent study predicts that by 2050, 10% to 47% of the Amazon rainforest could undergo severe ecological changes due to deforestation and climate change, potentially transitioning into savanna grasslands.
- The Amazon, a critical carbon sink for 65 million years, faces threats from global warming, extreme droughts, and fires, risking the release of stored carbon and accelerating global warming.
- Researchers emphasize the urgency of maintaining "safe" ecological thresholds, including limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and reducing deforestation to below 10% to avoid catastrophic ecosystem degradation.
Key quote:
"At the end of this process, our planet will reorganize itself, find a new equilibrium... humans and other species will have to readapt to very unpleasant conditions."
— Bernardo M. Flores, lead author of the study.
Why this matters:
The Amazon's potential collapse into a degraded ecosystem not only threatens biodiversity and Indigenous communities but also diminishes its role in carbon sequestration, exacerbating global warming. The planet’s largest ecosystems could collapse faster than we thought.
Keep reading...Show less
Credit: Angelos @ Ottawa/Flickr
Canada’s boreal forests badly damaged by logging
A study finds that logging has inflicted severe damage to the vast boreal forests in Ontario and Quebec, two of the country’s main commercial logging regions.
Craig Pittman: Jeff Bezos, welcome back to a very different Florida from the one you left
You announced in 2020 that you were committing $10 billion to the battle against the forces forcing us to endure a warmer world. How about spending some of that $10 billion in your own (new) backyard?
Craig Pittman: These days, it’s Florida developers who are sneaking in and swiping natural resources from the public
I can always tell when I am in Santa Rosa County because it’s the place where developers are doing their dead-level best to cut down every single tree.
Canada rejects emergency order to save spotted owls
The federal cabinet rejected Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s request for an order to protect the endangered spotted owl in Canada.
Muddied tropical rivers reveal magnitude of global gold mining boom: Study
Escalating geopolitical tensions, a weakening dollar, and growing distrust in financial markets has triggered a tropical rush for gold, diamonds and precious metals that’s doing serious ecological damage to Earth’s rivers.
Craig Pittman: Florida county’s swampy politics lead to bad decision on wetlands
Manatee County Commissioners listen to developer’s expert instead of actual wetlands scientist.
ORIGINAL REPORTING
MOST POPULAR
CLIMATE
