<
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-amazon-degradation-years-deforestation-falls.html>
'The accelerated degradation of the Brazilian Amazon, primarily due to fires,
has overshadowed the significant reduction in deforestation from 2022 to 2024.
This "negative balance" in protecting the biome jeopardizes the international
goals for combating the climate crisis that have been assumed by the country,
which is hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) this
year.
This warning comes from an article in the journal
Global Change Biology
published by scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research
(INPE) in partnership with the University of São Paulo (USP, also in Brazil)
and institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States. Deforestation
completely removes native vegetation cover, whereas degradation weakens forests
without destroying them entirely (e.g., selective logging).
According to the study, alerts indicating forest degradation in the Amazon
increased by 44% from 2023 to 2024—a 163% increase compared to 2022. Last year
alone, 25,023 square kilometers (km²) of forest were degraded, around 66% of
which was due to forest fires. This is slightly larger than the area of Israel.
Conversely, deforestation fell by 27.5% and 54.2%, respectively, marking the
smallest increase in ten years. According to data from INPE's Brazilian Amazon
Forest Satellite Monitoring Program (PRODES), 5,816 km² were deforested in the
period up to 2024.
"Degradation is a more difficult process to identify than deforestation because
it occurs while the forest is still standing. It's mainly due to fire, which in
the last two years has been aggravated by the drought situation in the Amazon.
There's also selective logging and the edge effect. All of this reduces the
ecosystem services provided by these forests. Understanding this data
contributes to the formulation of public policies," says Guilherme Mataveli, a
postdoctoral fellow at INPE's Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division.
Between 2023 and 2024, the Amazon experienced a severe drought, with
precipitation deficits of 50 to 100 millimeters per month, an increase in
temperature of over 3 °C, and a delayed rainy season. This left rivers at
minimum levels. Consequently, last year, the biome recorded the highest number
of hotspots since 2007—140,328 in total.'
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
