Amazon Rainforest in Danger of Contributing to Climate Change

The Amazon rainforest could become a contributary factor to climate change following droughts, according to latest research.

In the last 5 years the Amazon has been hit by two significant droughts with water levels along the Rio Negro dropping to their lowest ever.

 As reported by Cool Earth, some scientists argued that although last year's drought caused more tree deaths, leaf loss may lead to increased regeneration.

However in the journal Science, Dr Lewis from Leeds University who is leading investigations commented that; "Two unusual and extreme droughts occurring within a decade may largely offset the carbon absorbed by intact Amazon forests during that time. If events like this happen more often, the Amazon rainforest would reach a point where it shifts from being a valuable carbon sink slowing climate change, to a major source of greenhouse gasses that could speed it up."

In 2005, the Amazon was struck by a ''one-in-100 year'' drought which resulted in an estimated five billion tonnes of CO₂ being released into the atmosphere. It's thought that last year's drought may have been even more severe.

Current deforestation rates reduce rainforest which acts as a carbon sink, absorbing global CO₂ emissions.

source The Telegraph / Cool Earth

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