Issue Amazon rainforest near a tipping point toward savanna

Summary

The Amazon rainforest faces dual pressure from deforestation, degradation and wildfire on one side and climate change on the other. The foreword warns that crossing its tipping point could turn up to 70 percent of the forest into dry tropical savanna, releasing hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and wiping out countless species. A new study confirms that under current climate projections even a little more deforestation would likely push the region past that point, costing two-thirds of the remaining forest, while the land chapter says clearing and warming could drive up to 40 percent of the region toward a savanna-like state. The forest recycles its own rain, which supplies up to half of local precipitation in the west, and a weakened Atlantic circulation that shifts the rain belt could disrupt this process. Clearing typically begins with illegal timber extraction and ends in conversion to pasture. The consequences would reach far beyond the region, affecting climate stability, food and water security and human health, including epidemic risk.