The Independent: Amazon Rainforest 'could become a desert'

[arenean]

From The Independent

Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'
And that could speed up global warming with 'incalculable consequences', says alarming new research

By Geoffrey Lean in Manaus and Fred Pearce
Published: 23 July 2006

The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year.

Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down.

Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.

The alarming news comes in the midst of a heatwave gripping Britain and much of Europe and the United States. Temperatures in the south of England reached a July record of 36.3C on Tuesday. And it comes hard on the heels of a warning by an international group of experts, led by the Eastern Orthodox " pope" Bartholomew, last week that the forest is rapidly approaching a " tipping point" that would lead to its total destruction.

The research ­ carried out by the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole centre in Santarem on the Amazon river ­ has taken even the scientists conducting it by surprise. When Dr Dan Nepstead started the experiment in 2002 ­ by covering a chunk of rainforest the size of a football pitch with plastic panels to see how it would cope without rain ­ he surrounded it with sophisticated sensors, expecting to record only minor changes.

The trees managed the first year of drought without difficulty. In the second year, they sunk their roots deeper to find moisture, but survived. But in year three, they started dying. Beginning with the tallest the trees started to come crashing down, exposing the forest floor to the drying sun.

More at link...

Fred Pearce is the author of 'The Last Generation' (Eden Project Books), published earlier this year
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EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[Selatius]

1. Quick! Cut down all the trees before they die and burn!

We'll put them to good use!

:sarcasm:

[dipsydoodle]

6. They are already being cut down too fast

"The World Bank has been funding the expansion of the soya industry in Brazil that we now learn has been causing this massive problem of deforestation in the Amazon."

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=550182005

see also : http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,5197975-111023,00.html

I'm aware that's from last year - situation is even worse now. Had a news item on UK tv last week specifically refering to high UK imports of soya for chicken feed - suggested we stop buying chicken.

ps it's ok I did see your sarcasm emoticom !

[fasttense]

2. Watched a show last night on the Learning Channel about global warming

Computer models indicate the Amazon is in serious trouble and could easily becoming a desert. This same model predicted the current melting of the ice caps and rise in temperatures. But of course according to our lying government there is no such thing as global warming.

[DELUSIONAL]

3. kick -- I'm beyond word . . . .

[YankeyMCC]

4. K & R

there is Nothing more important than these issues.

[LiberalVoice]

5. K&R

[slor]

7. I just cannot get over...

how stupid we humans can be when it comes to taking care of our planet.

[Triana]

8. Proper link:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1191932.ece

[progressoid]

9. B - b - b - but it's all cyclical.

Really! I read a LTTE that said that. Micheal Crighton wrote it in a book. SO there. Nya Nya Nya.

[unhappycamper]

10. arenean:

Please be aware that DU copyright rules require that excerpts of copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs and must include a link to the original source.

In the future, please insure your posts adhere to this standard.

TIA,

unhappycamper
DU Moderator

[NNadir]

11. With the trees out of the way, they'll be lots of places to install solar

cells and soy farms for biodiesel, and sugar cane, assuming of course there's water for all that stuff.

[mcscajun]

12. McDonald's can't wait...

more acreage to raise their cheap, stringy beef. Of course, those cattle need water, too.

Gah! We're so f'ing Doomed.

[glitch]

13. Heartbreaking. Thanks for posting and welcome to DU. nt

[highplainsdem]

14. K&R