Despite the enactment of forest protection laws in Brazil, new research suggests that the Amazon rainforest's biodiversity remains under threat from human disturbances.
The rainforest has become even more flammable as such activities as forest fragmentation and selective logging continue in the area, further increasing the chances of wildfires, researchers said.
"Rainforests don't normally burn," said Professor Jos Barlow, lead scientist of the study and expert from the Lancaster Environment Center. "But human activities are making them much more flammable."
Losing Conservation Value
A law that would protect forests and establish clearer rules for ranchers, soy growers and other producers was enacted in Brazil in 2012.
The law required rural landowners to maintain at least 80 percent of their forest cover on rural properties in the Amazon, 20 percent in other regions of the country and 35 percent in the central savanna region.
When an international group of scientists investigated forest degradation in the Para region, however, they found that those areas with the highest protection under the 2012 forestry code still lost about 46 percent to 61 percent of their conservation value.
In the Para region, the impact of human disturbances has resulted in the loss of more than 92,000 square kilometers (about 9.2 million hectares) of primary forests -- an area greater than the size of Austria. The impact on the environment is even larger than all of the deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2006 to 2015, scientists said.
Toby Gardner, co-author of the study and an expert from the Stockholm Environment Institute, told Reuters that many forests that remain today are mere shadows of the pristine forests that once stood in their place.
Gardner acknowledged that Brazil's conservation efforts deserve praise, but the combined effects of human disturbances weaken those efforts.
For instance, selective logging can leave the forest fragmented or punch holes in the canopy. This dries out the vegetation below. Combined with the effects of climate change, this is driving the likelihood of wildfire.
Furthermore, the effects on animal biodiversity is evident. Alexander Lees, Gardner and Barlow's co-researcher, said that many bird species endemic to the Amazon were suffering most from the effects of human disturbances on the rainforest. He said that these animals cannot survive in disturbed forests.
What Must Be Done?
Silvio Ferraz of the University of Sao Paulo, who was also part of the research, said immediate action is needed to combat forest disturbance.
Barlow suggested that experts keep focusing efforts on reducing deforestation while at the same time, giving attention to forest disturbance -- how we can monitor it, reduce it, as well as how we can maintain pristine forests.
"If we're interested in conserving the life that lives with us on this planet today," said Barlow, "then we need to conserve these systems."
Details of the study are issued in the journal Nature.
Photo: Neil Palmer/Center For International Forestry Research | Flickr
