Amazon deforestation falls more than 20% to its lowest levels in 5 years | CNN
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Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon dropped by 22.3% in the 12 months through July, government data showed Thursday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made progress on a pledge to rein in rainforest destruction.
      • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        20·
        1 year ago

        Hi, Brazilian biologist here!

        You’re correct that the current deforestation rate is still positive, meaning, we are still losing forest area daily.

        You’re incorrect about us being past the point of no return - we are dangerously close to it though.

        The post is correct about a massive reduction in the deforestation rate in the last 5 years.

        • Uranium3006@kbin.social
          43·
          1 year ago

          what if we replant the trees? we’ll lose species we didn’t even know existed let alone could save but we can save what’s left, right?

          • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            The issue with the Amazon rainforest is that the soil isn’t fertile enough to sustain a forest by itself. It heavily relies on the already existing plant mass to die and give up nutrients to new plants (and some complicated air currents that include desert minerals).

            If you remove enough trees, you kill this nutrient cycle and when you try to plant new ones, they will not grow.

            That’s ignoring all the other living beings that would get disrupted in this process, and that we couldn’t feasibly achieve this due to the insane amount of different species interdependent in a forest like the Amazon - we can’t just select three or four native trees and replant everything.

          • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            There are different models that predict the so-called “point of no return” at different points in time given the current parameters. Some do indeed presume we are already there, but they’re not the majority.

            Keep in mind we are not talking about “species lost forever” as this is already true. We are talking about the point where the forest can no longer sustain itself.

  • set_secret@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    1 year ago

    fun fact australia is clearing Forrest (including old growth rainforests) faster than the Amazon and has been for quite a while now. No one seems to give a fuck. and most Australians don’t even know it’s happening.