Forest degradation and the tipping point crisis

The State of the World’s Forests report states that 26 percent of the forests in the southeastern Amazon have already been lost, releasing more carbon than it absorbs for the first time, equivalent to 1.3 times Japan’s annual emissions. If current rates of deforestation continue, in 2047 the Amazon will release carbon stocks equivalent to 10 years of global fossil fuel emissions. More critically, the break in the water cycle caused by forest degradation has reduced the resilience of the remaining rainforest by 34 percent, and once the tipping point is breached, the entire system will irreversibly degrade into savannah. Currently, the rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia are already showing signs of “savannahization”, with only 74% of the original forest remaining, a far cry from the Indigenous Peoples’ Organization’s goal of preserving 80% of the rainforest by 2025.