Brazilian agribusiness is losing up to $1 billion dollars a year as rising deforestation cuts rainfall in the southern Amazon - a problem set to expand if forest loss continues, a group of Brazilian and German researchers have warned.
Updated:
June 05, 2021 13:59 IST
The new study looked at rainfall changes between 1999 and 2019 in the southern Brazilian Amazon as a model for future rainfall shifts
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In this Nov. 25, 2019 file photo, highway BR-163 stretches between the Tapajos National Forest, left, and a soy field in Belterra, Para state, Brazil. | Photo Credit:
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The new study looked at rainfall changes between 1999 and 2019 in the southern Brazilian Amazon as a model for future rainfall shifts
Brazilian agribusiness is losing up to $1 billion dollars a year as rising deforestation cuts rainfall in the southern Amazon a problem set to expand if forest loss continues, a group of Brazilian and German researchers have warned.
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BRASILIA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Brazilian agribusiness is losing up to $1 billion dollars a year as rising deforestation cuts rainfall in the southern Amazon - a problem set to expand if forest loss continues, a group of Brazilian and German researchers have warned.
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications in May, they found that smaller-scale forest losses can enhance rainfall on adjoining agricultural land - but once losses pass 55-60%, rainfall plunges.
Losses of tree cover in particular seem to delay the start and shorten the length of the rainy season, they found.
As Brazilian Amazon forest destruction continues, drier conditions could put a massive strain on the region’s mainly rainfed agricultural industry, the authors said.
May 19th, 2021, by Jan Rocha
After the Brumadinho dam burst in 2019: There are fears of a repeat if Brazil’s environmental licensing system is weakened.
Image: By Diego Baravelli, via Wikimedia Commons
President Bolsonaro wants to slash Brazil’s environmental licences, a move critics say will open a free-for-all in the Amazon.
SÃO PAULO, 19 May, 2021 − The pro-government majority in the lower house of the congress has rushed through a bill (PL3792) which will virtually eliminate the need for Brazil’s environmental licences for a wide range of economic activities, opening the way for widespread exploitation.
The activities which will be freed from licensing include agriculture, cattle raising, logging, dam and road building, sewage plants and water management. Their abolition will impact the Amazon and other biomes, including hundreds of indigenous and