Environmental News Network - Forest Fires Increasingly Dominate Amazonian Carbon Emissions During Droughts

Details: By University of Exeter; 15.Feb

Carbon emissions from the Brazilian Amazon are increasingly dominated by forest fires during extreme droughts rather than by emissions from fires directly associated with the deforestation process, according to a study in Nature Communications.

Michael Hammer

The authors suggest that recurrent 21st century droughts may undermine achievements in reducing emissions from deforestation in this region.

Dr Luiz Aragão, from the University of Exeter and the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and colleagues used satellite data and greenhouse gas inventories to assess drought impacts on fire incidence and associated carbon emissions between 2003 and 2015 in the Brazilian Amazon.

The authors found that despite a 76% decline in deforestation rates over the past 13 years, fire incidence increased by 36% during the 2015 drought compared to the preceding 12 years.

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Image via Dr. Liana Anderson, University of Exeter

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Forest Fires Increasingly Dominate Amazonian Carbon Emissions During Droughts