Amazon: A Third Destroyed by Humans and Drought
Fires, deforestation and water scarcity have damaged more than a third of the Amazon rainforest. Twice as much as previously assumed.
Twice as much damage as previously assumed
Human activities and drought may have damaged more than a third of the Amazon rainforest, twice as much as previously assumed. This is the finding of a study in Science .
Fires, land use changes, deforestation and water scarcity have weakened the resilience of up to 2.5 million square kilometres of forest. This area is now drier, more flammable and more vulnerable than before.
This damage is in addition to the 17% of the original forest cover that has been completely deforested over the past 50 years. “There is hope, but our study shows that this is not enough to stop deforestation,” said Jos Barlow of Lancaster University.
Degradation often not visible
Water scarcity is responsible for the largest share of the increase in forest degradation. The amount of carbon released through degradation could even be greater than through deforestation.
The authors recommend that policymakers strengthen monitoring of forest degradation, increase firefighting capacities and restrict deforestation. More on the topic of Environment and Nature Conservation and Climate Change.
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More on the subject of recreational hunting: What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
