The Amazon has lost an “irreversible” amount of vegetation, roughly the size of an NT, in 36 years.
Key points
- Figures are based on annual satellite monitoring since 1985.
- Brazil, which owns about two-thirds of the Amazon, is also wreaking havoc.
- The country accounted for 84 percent of all deforestation during this period.
For comparison, the Northern Territory covers an area of about 1.35 million square kilometers. km.
“The losses were huge, almost irreversible and with no hope of recovery,” RAISG, a consortium of civil society organizations from countries in the region, said in a statement.
Figures calculated based on annual satellite monitoring since 1985 in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. Source: AARP / AP
“The data signal a yellow light and give a sense of urgency to the need for coordinated, decisive and convincing international action.”
Nearly half of Brazil’s carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation.
The RAISG estimates that the region of 8.5 million square kilometers is home to 47 million people.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed slightly last year, a year after a 15-year high, according to carefully monitored data released Wednesday, November 30, 2022. Source: AARP / AP
“At least about 75 billion metric tons of carbon is stored in the Amazon,” said Woods Hole Research Center researcher Wayne Walker.
“If all that carbon were to go into the atmosphere immediately, it would be about seven times the amount of global annual emissions.”