More than a quarter of Amazon basin releasing more carbon than it absorbs
More than a quarter of the Amazon basin is now releasing more carbon than it absorbs, according to a comprehensive study.
Brazilian researchers flew an aircraft over the rainforest every two weeks for nine years, taking air samples from just above the canopy all the way up to 4.5km.
They found that the eastern side of the Amazon, which accounts for around 28% of the total area, is losing more carbon as a result of deforestation than is being removed from the atmosphere by the growth of trees.
Some of the carbon is lost through fires, deliberately started to clear the forest for agriculture.
An area that covers 28% of the Amazon is losing more carbon as a result of deforestation than it is removing from the atmosphere by the growth of trees
But the knock-on effect of an absence of trees is local climate change, with rising temperatures and reduced rainfall accelerating the decline of surrounding areas of forest. Parts of the Amazon have flipped from being a carbon sink to a carbon source.
Mark Wright, director of science for conservation charity WWF, told Sky News that the research showed the Amazon is at a tipping point, where great swathes of forest could be destroyed by self-perpetuating dieback.
“We’re no longer talking about some dystopian future, this is stuff we can see on the ground, these changes are happening here and now,” he said.
“It’s a warning of what is still come to come.
“We know we are moving towards that inextricable situation where the forest will slowly transform into a more grass-like savannah ecosystem and as a result will push more carbon into the atmosphere.”
The world’s plants have absorbed 25% of fossil fuel emissions since 1960, helping to reduce global warming.
The Amazon rainforest has taken up a significant proportion, storing an estimated 123 billion tonnes in the trees and other vegetation.
But the new research suggests it can’t be relied on in future to mop up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere because human activity is disrupting the delicate ecosystem.
The researchers, led by National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, found that on the lush western side of the Amazon basin slightly more carbon is being absorbed through photosynthesis than is being released by dead trees and human impact on the forest.
But it was a significantly different story on the eastern side, where 27% of the forest has been lost, more than twice the rate in the west.
Results published in the journal Nature show that the area has switched from being a carbon sink to a net source during the nine years of the study, with local climate change destabilising the delicate ecosystem.
The researchers say that in the drier months of August to October the temperature in the eastern Amazon has increased by between 1.9C and 2.5C over 40 years. Rainfall has decreased by between 24% and 34%.
The researchers say there is a direct link between the changing climate and tree loss.
Human activity is disrupting the Amazon’s delicate ecosystem
The Amazon receives an average of more than 2m of rain a year, with between a quarter and a third of it resulting from moisture released by trees.
With a shrinking forest in the east the atmosphere is drier, stunting the growth of remaining trees and reducing the amount of carbon they absorb.
Some scientists have predicted that if the Amazon reaches a tipping point it will retreat to cover only a relatively small area in the west, with a devastating impact on biodiversity and atmospheric carbon.
But Mark Wright said: “The future is potentially very, very bleak, but it’s not too late.
“If we follow the science, we can clearly see there is scope to do really good agricultural development in Brazil, in a way that will boost their economy, in a way that does not require further degradation.
“If we can concentrate on restoring those lands there is still hope for preventing that kind of runaway process.
“But we have to act now, we can’t keep pushing this off.”
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World
Israel kills 22 people including nine children in ‘horrific massacre’ in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
Israel killed 22 people – including nine children – in strikes on Gaza City today, Palestinian officials have said.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the killings as a “horrific massacre”.
Video purportedly from the scene of the attack on the Souq Firas area of the city showed the bodies of children being pulled from rubble.
“We were sleeping in God’s care, there was nothing – they did not inform us, or not even give us a sign – it was a surprise,” said Sami Hajjaj.
“There are children and women, around 200 people maybe, six to seven families – this square is full of families.”
Men carry the bodies of Palestinian children killed in a strike on a building where people were sheltering in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted Hamas militants and that its forces tried to reduce harm to civilians in the area.
A total of 51 people have been killed across Gaza today, according to hospital medics in the Hamas-run territory.
Israeli forces pushed towards the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday, placing at risk the lives of Palestinians who had stayed put in hopes that growing pressure on Israel for a ceasefire would mean they would not lose their homes.
“We moved to the western area near the beach, but many families didn’t have the time, tanks took them by surprise,” said Thaer, a 35-year-old father of one from Tel Al-Hawa.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the oxygen station at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza had stopped operating “due to Israeli occupation forces firing at it”.
“Operations are currently being conducted using pre-filled oxygen cylinders, which are sufficient for only three days,” the group said.
“Occupation forces are currently stationed at the southern gate of the society’s Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the hospital.”
The world’s leading authority on hunger crises said last month that Israel’s blockade and ongoing offensive had pushed Gaza City into famine.
Palestinians inspect the site of deadly overnight Israeli strikes on a building where displaced people were taking shelter. Pic: Reuters
More than 300,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks as Israel has ordered the population to move south, but UN agencies and aid groups say an estimated 700,000 remain.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than half of them women and children.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The current wave of violence began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led militants carried out an attack inside Israel that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Israel claims its operation in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages. Israel believes around 20 of the captives are still alive.
Critics say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in peace negotiations and wants to continue the war with a view to displacing Gaza’s population and expand Israeli settlements.
He has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “In Gaza, the horrors are approaching a third monstrous year.
“They are the result of decisions that defy basic humanity,” he continued, citing “a scale of death and destruction beyond any other conflict” in his years as secretary-general.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and the systematic destruction of Gaza,” he added.
The world’s leading association of genocide scholars, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), declared in August that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
Several other leading rights organisations, including two Israeli groups, have also said Israel is committing genocide.
Israel has repeatedly denied its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and claims they are justified as a means of self-defence.
A Spanish military jet with a defence minister on board suffered a GPS “disturbance” while on the way to Lithuania, according to Spanish officials.
The military aircraft was flying near Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave on Wednesday morning when the incident is reported to have happened.
Margarita Robles was the minister on the flight, according to Spanish officials.
A commander onboard the Spanish plane said such incidents are common when flying near Kaliningrad, both for civil and military aircraft – and military satellites could also be used to navigate.
A Spanish defence ministry spokesperson said: “There has been an attempt to disrupt the GPS signal, but as our aircraft has an encrypted system, it was not affected.
“It must be common on this route and also with commercial flights. It is not because it is our aircraft.”
Read more: Who is messing with GPS signals – and why?
Ms Robles was due to have a bilateral meeting with her Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene during a visit to the Siauliai airbase on Wednesday, according to the Spanish government’s agenda.
The plane was also carrying relatives of Spanish airmen forming part of the new NATO air defence mission on Europe’s eastern flank.
It was launched earlier this month after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace.
The Spanish contingent last week intercepted eight Russian aircraft operating over the Baltic Sea, Spain’s defence ministry added in a statement.
Ms Robles, 68, has been Spain’s defence minister since 2018.
In June, she said Spain was “absolutely committed” to NATO and the European Union.
Read more from Sky News:
Kremlin responds after Trump’s ‘big shift’ – UN latest updates
Farage criticised for failing to ‘stand up to idol’ Trump
Ursula von der Leyen speaks in Lithuania on 1 September. Pic: AP
Then in August, the minister said Spain would work to “invigorate” the European fighter jet project, known as FCAS.
It came after Spain revealed it was no longer considering the option of buying US-made F-35 fighter jets and would refocus its defence spending on buying European-made equipment.
At the end of August, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered GPS jamming as a result of suspected Russian interference, an EU spokesperson told Sky News.
Estonia and neighbouring Finland have also previously blamed Russia for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region’s airspace.
Russia has denied interfering with communication and satellite networks.
World
Israel kills 22 people including 9 children in ‘horrific massacre’ in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
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