- BRASILIA (AFP) -- Brazil's
lush Amazon rainforest could become a vast, grassy savanna within the century
if fires and global warming continue, a Brazilian scientist said Tuesday.
-
- "Nearly all scenarios point to a 'savannization'
in 50 to 100 years," Brazil's National Space Studies Institute scientist
Carlos Nobre said at the third conference on a Large-Scale Project for
the Biosphere and Atmosphere of Amazonia.
-
- "In the worst case, the forest loses some 60 percent
of its area. In the best, everything continues as it is now. In the intermediate
case, 20 percent of its area disappears," he said.
-
- "Even without deforestation, global warming could
cause a 'savannization' of 20 to 30 percent" of the Amazon rain forest.
-
- According to official sources, from the 1970s through
2002, fires destroyed more than 630,000 square kilometers (243,244 square
miles) of the Amazon's 3.68 million square kilometers (1.42 million square
miles), or 70 percent of the rain forest.
-
- Nobre said the combined forces of deforestation, soy
bean cultivation and livestock have already had an impact on the climate,
locally as well as internationally.
-
- Eight hundred scientists will present their work before
the conference closes on Thursday.
-
- All rights reserved. © 2004 Agence France-Presse
http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040727233325.fy81wet1.html
|
