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The drivers and impacts of Amazon forest degradation

Journal Article · · Science
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [8];  [9];  [2];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [16];  [17];  [2] more »;  [18];  [19];  [20];  [21];  [22];  [14];  [23];  [24];  [2];  [25];  [26];  [27];  [28];  [19];  [29] « less
  1. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil)
  2. Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais da Amazônia (Brazil)
  3. Lancaster Univ., (United Kingdom)
  4. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos (Brazil); Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom)
  5. Lancaster Univ., (United Kingdom); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  6. Univ. of East Anglia, Norwich (United Kingdom)
  7. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States); NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies (GISS), New York, NY (United States)
  8. Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais da Amazônia (Brazil); Lancaster Univ. (United Kingdom); BeZero Carbon Ltd., London (United Kingdom)
  9. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL); Universidade Federal do Maranhão-UFMA, São Luís (Brazil)
  10. Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais, São José dos Campos (Brazil)
  11. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá (Columbia)
  12. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg (Germany)
  13. Ghent Univ. (Belgium); Univ. of Eastern Finland, Joensuu (Finland)
  14. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  15. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  16. Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Brazil)
  17. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Norte de Minas Gerais, Diamantina (Brazil)
  18. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Belém (Brazil)
  19. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos (Brazil)
  20. Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
  21. Beijing Normal University (China)
  22. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Washington, DC (United States)
  23. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
  24. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg (Germany); Ludwig Maximilian Univ. of Munich, Munich (Germany)
  25. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany); Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
  26. NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies (GISS), New York, NY (United States)
  27. University of Kassel (Germany)
  28. Universidade Federal do Acre, Cruzeiro do Sul (Brazil)
  29. Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States)

Approximately 2.5 × 106 square kilometers of the Amazon forest are currently degraded by fire, edge effects, timber extraction, and/or extreme drought, representing 38% of all remaining forests in the region. Carbon emissions from this degradation total up to 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year–1), which is equivalent to, if not greater than, the emissions from Amazon deforestation (0.06 to 0.21 Pg C year–1). Amazon forest degradation can reduce dry-season evapotranspiration by up to 34% and cause as much biodiversity loss as deforestation in human-modified landscapes, generating uneven socioeconomic burdens, mainly to forest dwellers. Projections indicate that degradation will remain a dominant source of carbon emissions independent of deforestation rates. In conclusion, policies to tackle degradation should be integrated with efforts to curb deforestation and complemented with innovative measures addressing the disturbances that degrade the Amazon forest.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP; National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); UK Natural Environment Research Council; Brazilian Space Agency; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Amazonas Research Foundation-FAPEAM
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1969562
Journal Information:
Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6630 Vol. 379; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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