Climate change
Over 10,000 species risk extinction in Amazon, says landmark report
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Follow topic:
SAO PAULO • More than 10,000 species of plants and animals are at high risk of extinction due to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest - 35 per cent of which has already been deforested or degraded, according to the draft of a landmark scientific report published on Wednesday.
Produced by the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA), the 33-chapter report brings together research on the world's largest rainforest from 200 scientists from across the globe.
It is the most detailed assessment of the state of the forest to date and both makes clear the vital role the Amazon plays in global climate and the profound risks it is facing.
Cutting deforestation and forest degradation to zero in less than a decade is critical, the report said. It also called for massive restoration of already destroyed areas.
The rainforest is a vital bulwark against climate change both for the carbon it absorbs and what it stores. According to the report, the soil and vegetation of the Amazon hold about 200 billion tonnes of carbon, more than five times the whole world's annual CO2 emissions.
The continued destruction caused by human interference in the Amazon puts more than 8,000 endemic plants and 2,300 animals at high risk of extinction, the report added.
Science shows humans face potentially irreversible and catastrophic risks due to multiple crises, including climate change and biodiversity decline, said University of Brasilia's Professor Mercedes Bustamante during a virtual panel discussion.
"There is a narrow window of opportunity to change this trajectory," Prof Bustamante said. "The fate of Amazon is central to the solution to the global crises."
In Brazil, deforestation has surged since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, reaching a 12-year high last year and drawing international outcry from foreign governments and the public.
Mr Bolsonaro has called for mining and agriculture in protected areas of the Amazon.
Of its original size, 18 per cent of the Amazon basin has already been deforested, according to the report - mostly for agriculture and illegal timber. Another 17 per cent has been degraded.
REUTERS
