Environmental News Network - Human Activity Has Degraded More Than a Third of Remaining Amazon Rainforest

Details: By University of East Anglia; 14.Feb

The Amazon rainforest has been degraded by a much greater extent than scientists previously believed with more than a third of remaining forest affected by humans, according to a new study.

Julie Swatson

The Amazon rainforest has been degraded by a much greater extent than scientists previously believed with more than a third of remaining forest affected by humans, according to a new study.

The paper, published today in the journal Science, was led by an international team of 35 scientists and researchers, from institutions including Brazil’s University of Campinas (Unicamp), the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), and the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Lancaster University in the UK.

It shows that up to 38% of the remaining Amazon forest area – equivalent to 10 times the size of the UK – has been affected by some form of human disturbance, causing carbon emissions equivalent to or greater than those from deforestation.

The work is the result of the Analysis, Integration and Modelling of the Earth System (AIMES) project, linked to the Future Earth international initiative, which brings together scientists and researchers who study sustainability.

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Human Activity Has Degraded More Than a Third of Remaining Amazon Rainforest