article thumbnail

Amazon risks becoming a savannah as deforestation impact grows, study war

Business Green

The Amazon rainforest is becoming less resilient and approaching a potential tipping point which could turn its vital ecosystem into arid savannah, a new report has warned. They found that resilience dropped during the major droughts of 2005 and 2010, as part of an ongoing decline from the early 2000s to the most recent data in 2016.

article thumbnail

Rainforest study: Scientists now know the temperature at which photosynthesis stops

Grist

Still, the Amazon covers a land area roughly twice the size of India , and is among the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, with over 3 million species of flora and fauna. But deforestation has slowly eaten away at its edges, and drought and fire have limited rainforests’ ability to withstand extreme temperatures.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Fighting deforestation should be a top priority for 2021, and here’s how it can be

GreenBiz

While the rate of annual deforestation slowed to about 25 million acres between 2015 and 2020, the trendlines in several regions — especially countries in Africa and South America — aren’t moving in the right direction. Soybean production and cattle raising activities are linked to deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado region.

Policy 545
article thumbnail

It's not totally unlike a comet

Business Green

If the world warms more than 4C by 2100, the number of days with climatically stressful conditions for outdoor workers will increase by up to 250 workdays per year by century's end in some parts of South Asia, tropical sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Central and South America. That's the future our children have to contemplate.

article thumbnail

A deforestation roadmap that leaves a lot to be desired

Business Green

While the palm oil commitment requires zero deforestation in all sourcing regions, soy and cattle mainly focus on South America's Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco regions. Grasslands, shrublands, peatlands and other carbon and biodiversity-rich ecosystems are also being plowed up too.

article thumbnail

5 Countries Taking Action to Reach Net-Zero Targets

The City Fix

To date, over 90 countries have set net-zero emissions targets, committing to help prevent the most harmful impacts from climate change. But questions remain around the credibility of many of these pledges and whether these goals will be met. Together, countries with net-zero targets — which.

article thumbnail

Fighting deforestation should be a top priority for 2021, and here’s how it can be

AGreenLiving

While the rate of annual deforestation slowed to about 25 million acres between 2015 and 2020, the trendlines in several regions — especially countries in Africa and South America — aren’t moving in the right direction. Soybean production and cattle raising activities are linked to deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region.

Policy 28