Despite steps toward decreasing deforestation, uncontrolled wildfires are threatening environmental gains in Brazilian Amazonia, one of the world’s most critical carbon sinks and a region of high biological and cultural diversity.
An international team of scientists are raising the alarm in a letter published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. ‘Increasing wildfires threaten progress on halting deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia’ is co-authored by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of South Alabama, which led the study. Other contributors include Michigan State University, the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil and other institutions in North America, South America and Europe.
In June 2023, the number of active fires in the Amazon reached the highest peak since 2007. Total fire counts for the first half of 2023 were 10 per cent higher than in 2022.
Read more at: University of East Anglia
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