By Chris Lang Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest increased this year to its highest rate since 2008, according to data released this week by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE). The data reveal that Amazon deforestation rose by 30% compared to last year.
Tag: Tipping points

Guest Post: The Amazon fires mark the end of REDD+
Lauren Gifford, PhD is a human-environment geographer who has studied REDD+, climate policy and forest conservation in the Amazon and beyond since 2007. She submitted this guest post looking at the implications of the fires in the Amazon rainforest for REDD.

Dahr Jamail’s new book, “The End of Ice”. And the end of the Amazon
By Chris Lang Dahr Jamail is a journalist who, since 2003, has reported on the realities of war in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. For the past several years, he’s written about climate change. On Truthout, he writes the Climate Disruption Dispatches – a summary of the month’s science and reporting on climate change….

Tropical forests are a carbon source not a sink. What does this mean for REDD?
By Chris Lang Tropical forests release more carbon each year than all the traffic in the United States. That’s the alarming finding of a recent study published in Science. The report demonstrates the urgent need to protect tropical forests. It also demonstrates the complete insanity of trading the carbon stored against continued emissions from fossil…

Climate tipping point? The Amazon faces intense droughts and fires again this year
By Chris Lang According to NASA, the Amazon is drier at the start of this year’s dry season than any year since 2002. The reason is reduced rainfall during the wet season because of El Niño. The result could be intense fires in the Amazon later this year.