Amazon rainforest now spews out more greenhouse gases than it can store

The Amazon rainforest now spews out more greenhouse gases than it can store, a study has found. Analysis shows the net impact on the environment of the tropical rainforest, the most- biodiverse place in the world, has become negative as a result of human actions. Deforestation, illegal fires and cattle farming have led to increased flooding and more frequent droughts, which means the forest is now spewing out higher levels of methane and nitrous oxide than it is soaking up carbon dioxide. Worryingly, the findings indicate that the Amazon rainforest may actually be making global warming worse rather than helping to mitigate it.

  • Researchers say that the Amazon 'is one of the largest ecosystem carbon pools on the Earth' and stores up to 200 gigaton of carbon, equivalent to all the carbon emissions humans produced for five years. (One gigaton is the same as 1,000,000,000 tons).
  • Amazonian trees alone emit 3.5 per cent of all global methane through a variety of ways

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