Amazon rainforest “close to irreversible tipping point”

The Amazon rainforest is dangerously close to an irreversible “tipping point” within two years according to a new report, the Guardian writes. After this point the rainforest would stop producing enough rain to sustain itself and start slowly degrading into a drier savannah, releasing billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, which would exacerbate global heating and disrupt weather across South America.

The report sparked controversy among climate scientists. Some believe the tipping point is still 15 to 20 years away, while others say the warning accurately reflect the danger that Preseident Bolsonaro and global heating pose to the Amazon’s survival.

The report noted that Brazil’s space research institute, INPE, reported that deforestation in August was 222 per cent higher than in August 2018. Maintaining the current rate of increase reported by INPE between January and August this year would bring the Amazon “dangerously close to the estimated tipping point as soon as 2021 … beyond which the rainforest can no longer generate enough rain to sustain itself”.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/23/amazon-rainforest-cl...