Amazon Rainforest Nearing Tipping Point

Context: According to a new study, more than 75 per cent of the Amazon rainforest has been likely heading towards a tipping point since the early 2000s.
Key Findings

• There are signs of a loss of resilience in more than 75% of the forest, with trees taking longer to recover from the effects of droughts largely driven by climate change as well as human activities.
• Around a fifth of the rainforest has already been lost, compared to pre-industrial levels.
• Increasing temperatures due to human-induced climate change and deforestation are pushing the rainforest to transform into a carbon source: Places that release more CO2 than they absorb.
• Human land-use activities — direct removal of trees, construction of roads, and fires — could be another contributor. It has been on the rise since 2010.

Amazon Rainforest

• It is a moist broadleaf, closed canopy tropical rainforest.
• The forest is located in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.
• It spans eight countries in South America, with majority contained within Brazil, up to 60%.
• Other countries include Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. French Guiana, a French territory also houses minor percentage of the forests.

Climate

• They are very wet places, receiving more than 200 cm rainfall per year, either seasonally or throughout the year.
• Temperatures are uniformly high, between 20°C and 35°C.

Significance

• The forest is a repository of rich biodiversity and produces approximately 20% of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere.
• Trees in the forest take up water through the roots and releases it into the atmosphere, influencing precipitation over South America.
• The rainforest is also a carbon sink — a place that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it releases.
• It plays an essential role in combating climate change.
• The rainforest is home to 30 per cent of the world’s species, comprising 40,000 plant species, 16,000 tree species, 1,300 birds and more than 430 species of mammals.

Threats facing the rainforests: Ranching & Agricultur; Commercial Fishing; Forest fires; Bio-Piracy & Smuggling; Poaching; Damming; Logging and Mining.
About Savannah-Like Ecosystem

• It is a tropical grassland with warm temperatures year-round and with its highest seasonal rainfall in the summer.
• The savanna is characterized by grasses and small or dispersed trees that do not form a closed canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the ground.
• The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa, South America, Australia, India, the Myanmar (Burma)–Thailand region in Asia, and Madagascar.

Road Ahead

• Reducing deforestation will protect the forest’s threatened parts and boost Amazon rainforest resilience.
• Limiting global greenhouse gas emissions is also necessary to safeguard the Amazon.