Climate Change and the Amazing Amazon Rainforest (UK)

Earth Talk Environmental News

Being a crucial component of the Earth�s system, the Amazon rainforest faces the dual threats of climate change and deforestation. Now, scientists covering a number of disciplines are working together to determine the extent of these threats. Yesterday (Thursday), their findings were published in Science, the periodical. Consequences for the forest ecosystem, its human population, and future options were the result of climatologists, sociologists, and ecologists effort.

Prof. Yadvinder Malhi, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, led a study that looked at the consequences for the rainforest from every angle, not just focusing on how climate change may degrade the forest and the likely impacts of deforestation on regional and global climate. The study also considered the balance between human pressures and forest resilience.

Yadvinder Malhi will speak at a side event on Friday 7 December 2007 about �How can we get more GHG emissions out of the atmosphere and contribute to sustainable development?�

The scientists also offer a range of ideas to combat climate change in the region, ranging from well-managed clearance programs with limited fragmentation, through maintaining broad species migration and river corridors, to maintaining a biological refuge by keeping intact the areas least vulnerable to climatic drying.

The paper has added significance as the world�s leading climate scientists gather for the UN Conference of the Parties (COP13) from 3 December 2007, where the issue of deforestation is likely to be high on the agenda. The UK�s Met Office will participate in side events at the conference.

UK�s Met Office climate scientist, Dr Richard Betts, a joint author on the paper, said: �The Amazon is facing threats on two fronts; climate change and direct deforestation. Forests will be a key topic at the conference in Bali. Reducing further deforestation could slow global warming, maintain rainfall and conserve bio-diversity.�

About the UK�s Met Office:

The Met Office is the UK�s National Weather Service, providing 24�7 world-renowned scientific excellence in weather, climate change and environmental forecasts, and severe weather warnings for the protection of life and property.

The Met Office Hadley Centre is the UK�s official center for climate change research. Partly funded by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Ministry of Defence.

Source for this post: UK�s Met Office