The Amazon rainforest could be reaching an irreversible tipping point beyond which it will decline until “we’re just left with scrub,” conservationists have warned.
WWF’s biennial Living Planet report said the world’s largest rainforest has been ravaged by deforestation, extreme drought and catastrophic wildfires to such an extent that the ecosystem could now collapse.
It also warned that United Kingdom consumers are contributing to the destruction, and called on the government to bring forward legislation that bans the sale of commodities linked to global deforestation.
WWF said the thinning number of trees means they can no longer effectively recycle the moisture that maintains the ecosystem, leaving large areas dry and further susceptible to fire—a risk that is then further compounded by climate change.
This year, an extreme drought across South America has contributed to five million hectares of the Brazilian Amazon being burned—an area twice the size of Wales, it said.
Experts predict that if 20–25% of the Amazon is lost, it could go into irretrievable decline, but even before this year’s wildfires, up to 17% of the Amazon rainforest was estimated to have already been destroyed.